Starbucks’ new CEO drinks up to 4 cups of coffee per day
Starbucks’ new CEO is getting a $113 million payday–and presumably a lot of free coffee.
The coffee giant on Tuesday named Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol as its new chief executive with an official start date of Sept. 9. While he won’t be required to relocate to Seattle for the new gig, he did agree to commute from his home in Newport Beach, Calif., when necessary.
Niccol’s offer includes a $10 million sign-on bonus and equity awards totaling $75 million. Starting in fiscal 2025, he will also be eligible to receive additional annual equity awards worth up to $23 million. All of this is on top of his annual base salary of $1.6 million and an annual cash bonus ranging from $3.6 million to $7.2 million, depending on Niccol’s performance.
Plus, he’ll enjoy personal travel of up to $250,000 on the company’s corporate jet.
Before he left his burrito-bowl empire, Fortune met with Niccol in May at a New York City Chipotle restaurant to learn how he spends his day running a company that pulled in nearly $3 billion in revenue last quarter.
He also revealed his go-to Chipotle order: a chicken bowl with white rice, fajita veggies, pico de gallo, and a little bit of cheese. To complement his meal, he said he orders a barbacoa quesadilla, plus chips and guacamole on the side.
“It’s probably a little too much food for my age,” Niccol, 50, said. “But you know, it’s hard to resist.”
Now the incoming CEO of the largest coffee company on the Fortune 500, Niccol is no stranger to prioritizing caffeine to power his workdays. He told Fortune he starts his mornings enjoying his first cup of joe of the day while reading the Wall Street Journal and tuning for CNBC’s Squawk Box.
“I usually make an Americano in the morning,” he said. “I probably have three or four cups of coffee; one or two in the morning and then one or two in the afternoon.”
Niccol told Fortune he’s partial to espresso, too: “Always hot, and if I can, I like to have a cookie with it.”
Starbucks CEOs’ coffee orders
Niccol’s coffee order resembles that of his Starbucks predecessors.
Former CEO Kevin Johnson, who first joined the coffee company in 2009, served as chief executive from 2017 until 2022 before retiring. In a 2019 interview with Harvard Business Review, Johnson said he often frequented the local Starbucks location to get his caffeine fix in the morning.
“I order a triple espresso with just a splash of hot water,” he said. “So, I guess technically it’s an Americano, but it’s mostly espresso.”
After catching up on the news, checking his email, and arriving at Starbucks’ headquarters in Seattle, Johnson enjoyed his second cup of the day: a French press. With no shortage of fresh brews at the office, he said he and his team also started every meeting with the ritual of a coffee tasting, too.
“I might sample three or four coffees throughout the day before a meeting,” he told the publication.
His successor was a familiar face around Starbucks HQ and the office coffee bar. Howard Schutlz came out of retirement to serve as interim CEO from 2022 to 2023 after previously leading the company from 1986 to 2000 and from 2008 to 2017. In a 2008 blog post, Schultz revealed his “hands-down” favorite coffee blend: Aged Sumatra.
“Aged for three to five years in a warehouse in Singapore, then shipped as green coffee to our plant in Kent, Washington, and roasted to perfection,” he wrote. “The result is a stunning cup of coffee.”
Schultz’s replacement in 2023 opted for a more hands-on approach to coffee immersion. After experimenting with crafting and taste-testing many Starbucks drinks while working alongside baristas for the first six months of his CEO stint, former Starbucks boss Laxman Narasimhan detailed his preference to Fortune in October.
“My favorite go-to drink at Starbucks is the Doppio Espresso Macchiato with some hot milk on the side,” he said, adding that he prefers skim milk.
Narasimhan, who grew up in Pune, India, said the combination helps to replicate the taste of South Indian coffee in the U.S. However, unlike his fellow CEOs, Narasimhan told Fortune’s Leadership Next podcast that he generally avoids drinking coffee, but may opt for tea.
“I stop at two o’clock, and I don’t normally have more than four,” he said. “That’s two doppios, four shots.”
