Starbucks Corporation has announced that it will lay off 300 corporate employees in the United States.
The layoffs represent the third round of job cuts that the coffee chain has initiated in the last 15 months. They come as the company is in the midst of efficiency and cost-cutting measures under the leadership of CEO Brian Niccol, who assumed the role in 2024.
Here’s what you need to know about the latest Starbucks layoffs.
Starbucks to cut 300 corporate jobs in the U.S.
On Friday, Starbucks confirmed that it was cutting 300 corporate jobs in the United States. The news was first reported by CNBC.
The job cuts will not impact the majority of the company’s workforce, which consists primarily of its retail workers who are employed in the chain’s thousands of coffee shops across the globe.
Instead, the job cuts will impact the company’s roughly 19,000-strong U.S. corporate workforce. Starbucks employs an additional 5,000 non-retail employees across the globe.
When reached for comment, a Starbucks spokesperson told Fast Company that the layoffs consisted of “300 U.S. support roles” and that the company was reviewing its international support organization and that it expects “additional role impacts outside the U.S.”
Starbucks also said that it was streamlining its real estate footprint, which includes a consolidation of U.S. regional office space.
Why is Starbucks cutting workers?
The layoffs announced this morning are a direct result of the retail chain’s “Back to Starbucks” strategy, which involves streamlining operations, enhancing customer experiences, and redesigning its shops to feel less soulless and more like a comfortable place to hang out and enjoy a coffee.
The job cuts announced today are being made to support the streamlining operations pillar of the company’s Back to Starbucks initiative.
“We are taking further action under the Back to Starbucks strategy, building on our strong business momentum and working to return the company to durable, profitable growth,” a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
The third round of corporate layoffs to hit Starbucks
Unfortunately, this is not the first time Starbucks has laid off workers since Niccol took the helm in 2024.
In February 2025, Starbucks announced 1,100 layoffs while also eliminating hundreds of unfilled positions. At the time, Niccol said the cuts were designed “to create smaller, more nimble teams.”
“We believe it’s a necessary change to position Starbucks for future success,” Niccol said in a memo at the time. “Our intent is to operate more efficiently, increase accountability, reduce complexity, and drive better integration.”
Just seven months later, in September 2025, Starbucks announced more layoffs. These layoffs consisted of 900 non-retail job cuts.
In addition, the company said it would close about 1% of its North American coffeehouses.
“Our goal is for every coffeehouse to deliver a warm and welcoming space with a great atmosphere and a seat for every occasion,” the CEO wrote in a public letter at the time. “[We] identified coffeehouses where we’re unable to create the physical environment our customers and partners expect, or where we don’t see a path to financial performance, and these locations will be closed.”
Starbucks sees sales and stock price growth
While the layoffs under Niccol’s leadership are now doubt unpopular with the majority of Starbucks’s corporate workforce, they are part of his broader Back to Starbucks turnaround plan, and that plan does seem to be working.
As CNBC reported at the time, Starbucks in April posted its second straight quarter of traffic growth at U.S. locations. That growth led to a 7.1% increase in same-store sales.
Investors have also rewarded the company’s stock price recently.
As of this writing, Starbucks shares (Nasdaq: SBUX) are hovering around $105. That’s a more than 26% increase since the year began. Over the past 12 months, Starbucks shares are up nearly 23%.