Starbucks' longtime former chief executive Howard Schultz will return temporarily after Kevin Johnson said today that he will retire from the role on April 4, as a unionisation drive at US cafes heats up.
Shares of the coffee chain surged 7% on the news.
"Schultz is a revered leader and uniquely well-qualified to steward" the company, said Credit Suisse analyst Lauren Silberman.
Johnson signaled to the board of directors a year ago that he might retire when the Covid-19 pandemic waned, he said in a company statement.
Johnson, who is 61, has been at Starbucks for 13 years, the last five as CEO.
After the pandemic closed Starbucks cafes around the globe, the company, under Johnson's watch, said it would start building some smaller stores with less room for seating and more emphasis on to-go and drive-through orders.
Customers also placed more orders through the Starbucks mobile app, but that has led to long queues and overworked employees in some areas.
That barista burnout, as well as accusations by some workers that they were not getting enough protection from the deadly virus when at work, contributed to a surge of union organising in US locations.
On Tuesday, a federal labour board accused Starbucks of unlawfully retaliating against two employees in a Phoenix, Arizona, cafe for trying to unionise their store.
The same day, a group of investors with $3.4 trillion under management urged the company to stop sending anti-union communications to its employees and to adopt a neutral policy towards unions.
The group, led by Trillium Asset Management and SOC Investment Group, said Starbucks risked damaging its positive reputation as a pro-employee brand by fighting the union.
Schultz has long said Starbucks did not need unions because it works so closely with employees, whom it calls "partners."
He has already had a run-in with Workers United, the union now representing employees at six stores. Employees at more than 140 stores in 27 states have asked for union elections in the last seven months.
In November, Schultz spoke to employees who had been ordered to a large meeting with managers in Buffalo, where the first of Starbucks' 9,000 US company locations were deciding whether to join the union.
Schultz is practically synonymous with the company he took over in 1987. He expanded it into a coffee behemoth that made venti cappuccinos a global phenomenon.
Johnson took the helm after Schultz resigned in 2017.
In a letter to employees today, Johnson said that he has "fond memories of making beverages together, laughing together, and sharing stories with one another."
The company expects to have selected a new leader by the Autumn, with help from executive search firm Russell Reynolds Associates, which it enlisted in 2021.
