New Starbucks CEO to count coffee beans from home in Newport Beach

Brian Niccol, the incoming CEO at Starbucks, may require employees to report to their offices and cafes — while he works from his home in tony Newport Beach.

The head of the Seattle-based coffee chain, hired this week from the helm of Chipotle Mexican Grill, will be allowed to run the company nearly 1,200 miles from where C-suite executives remain tied to their desks, the New York Post reported. His address was not disclosed.

For Niccol, it will pay to work with Pacific Ocean views of Catalina Island, Newport Harbor and the city’s Back Bay nature preserve.

The 49-year-old executive could earn at least $113 million as the new chief executive, with a $10 million cash signing bonus and base salary of $1.6 million, with annual annual stock awards valued at $23 million, according to a regulatory filing.

Starbucks hired the former burrito boss to replace embattled CEO Laxman Narasimhan after months of slowing sales and growing heat from activist hedge funds. 

Niccol, who boosted Chipotle stock by more than 50 percent over the past year, officially reports to work from his Newport Beach home on Sept. 9. Until then, Narasimhan was ordered to step down immediately, replaced by interim CEO Rachel Ruggeri, the firm’s chief financial officer.

If Niccol does decide to move to Seattle, Starbucks will reimburse him for relocation costs and cover up to three months of temporary housing costs, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Despite cutting a deal allowing him to work from home, Nicoll will spend a majority of the time at the company’s Seattle headquarters, according to an unidentified spokesperson.

In March last year, then-CEO Howard Schultz called back Starbucks employees to the office at least three days a week — a move that was met with protest from corporate staffers, according to the Post.

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Niccol, who majored in engineering at Miami University, joined Chipotle in 2018 from Taco Bell and helped the company overcome salmonella and E.coli outbreaks at several restaurants. 

When he took over the top spot at Chipotle, he relocated its hub from Denver to Newport Beach, a move that cost between $70 million and $80 million, according to Bloomberg.

— Dana Bartholomew