Starbucks incoming Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Laxman Narasimhan has announced that he is now barista certified. The incoming CEO completed his four weeks of training and hopes to continue learning from Starbucks' partners (people who work at/with Starbucks) to help the company get even better. He was learning how to make coffee at Starbucks stores so as to become certified as a barista.
In his thanksgiving address, Narasimhan wrote that he felt welcomed across Starbucks stores in the UK, New York, Texas and Washington. He also shared a video in which he is working both behind the coffee counter and up on front. He said that everybody at the stores helped him in knowing what all it takes to keep the well-established brand name of Starbucks flying high.
Admiring the hard work that all the partners put in everyday for one another and for the customers, Narasimhan stated, "This is not easy stuff, and you all work so hard every day to deliver a great experience for one another and for our customers."
He thanked all Starbucks partners and customers for sharing their personal stories and thoughts with him. "Learnt so much from this - both in what we do well and what we need to do better," he wrote. Towards the end of his letter of gratitude, he said that he is proud to be a Starbucks partner.
As the company said, Narasimhan will helm Starbucks in April 2023. Until then, interim CEO Howard Schultz will continue to lead the company and Laxman Narasimhan will work closely with Howard Schultz.
Narasimhan joined the growing list of Indian-born executives at global corporations, including Google, Microsoft, and IBM. He had earlier worked at PepsiCo and McKinsey. He received the majority of his education in Pune, where he earned a degree in mechanical engineering, followed by an MBA from The Wharton School in the United States before joining McKinsey & Company, where he worked for 19 years.
Also read: Starbucks new CEO learns to make coffee to become a 'certified barista'