Starbucks' new CEO trained as barista to prepare for role

One of the first areas of focus for the former PepsiCo Inc. executive: the brand’s sprawling supply chain.

- Heather Haddon

New Starbucks Corp. Chief Executive Laxman Narasimhan plans to be in regular contact with departing CEO Howard Schultz—but it will be clear who is in charge, both men said.

“There’s places where he can be really helpful. The world, though, needs boxes and lines,” Mr. Narasimhan said in an interview. “There’s one CEO, and that’s me.”

Mr. Narasimhan, who officially stepped into the CEO role on March 20, has for months immersed himself in the operations of the world’s largest coffee chain, including spending time as a barista at different cafes, he said. 

Starbucks has too many different cup and lid pairings, for example, Mr. Narasimhan said. 

“It was startling to me, how many we had,” he said. “We’ve got things to do to become more disciplined.”

Mr. Narasimhan, who most recently served as the CEO of U.K.-based consumer-products company Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC, is Starbucks’s fifth chief executive and the first to come from outside the operation since Mr. Schultz acquired it in 1987. The 55-year-old India native now oversees a company in flux. 

The Seattle-based chain has generated record sales in recent quarters, but it has acknowledged that service has suffered. Customers regularly queue up in cafes and drive-through lanes, ordering often complex beverages, most taken to go. Starbucks is set to spend billions of dollars over the next three years to try to improve its stores and labor situation. 

Mr. Narasimhan said he plans to regularly work alongside baristas in cafes to understand why it sometimes is so aggravating to get a customer a simple cup of coffee. He intends to work four hours in a different Starbucks store each month and expects his senior leaders to do the same.