Brian Niccol
CEO of StarbucksWikipedia
174
MENTIONS
102
EPISODES
66
PODCASTS
Search complete. 174 mentions across 102 episodes found for "Brian Niccol".
Oct 16, 2026
Austin CarrGUEST
Thank you for having me.
Stacey Vanek SmithHOST
Let's set the stage a little bit for people who might not be as familiar with Marc Andreessen, because I feel like he is a little bit more behind the scenes than some of the other kind of big, splashy CEOs who are in the news all the time.
Stacey Vanek SmithHOST
Who is Marc Andreessen, and, like, set the stage for us a little bit before this particular moment.
Austin CarrGUEST
Sure, um, so Marc Andreessen, for a, a certain generation that grew up after the Web Tw- 1.0 era, I mean, he was the biggest name in tech in the 1990s.
Jessica LeseskyHOST
Au contraire, my friend, because you're forgetting that the turnaround is working.
Jessica LeseskyHOST
Brian Niccol is on his victory lap tour.
Rick WatsonHOST
[laughs]
Jessica LeseskyHOST
We've had four consecutive quarters of growth.
Rick WatsonHOST
Those hot signs are, they make you come.
Jessica LeseskyHOST
A- absolutely.
Jessica LeseskyHOST
Brian Niccol's forward-looking, like, "My six-point strategy of where we go from here-
Rick WatsonHOST
Mm-hmm
Gino SchellenbergerHOST
Mm-hmm
Jack WesterkampHOST
... pickup only stores, but since Brian Niccol came over as CEO, he's trying to instill the idea of, like, the Starbucks coffee house, and that to me is the difference between a brand like Starbucks that tried to play in the game-
Gino SchellenbergerHOST
Mm-hmm
Jack WesterkampHOST
... of pickup only.
Andrew WalkerHOST
So you take another competitor off, like it doesn't change the competitive dynamics for the high traffic locations at all, right? So there's like literally zero synergies between merging Starbucks and Chipotle.
Andrew WalkerHOST
But you know what there is? Starbucks and Chipotle, I believe Brian Nichols is the CEO of Starbucks.
Andrew WalkerHOST
He was hired in August 2024 is when he was announced.
Andrew WalkerHOST
He was the CEO of Chipotle, right? So he's the CEO of Starbucks now.
Andrew WalkerHOST
unless you knew the CEO and the CEO clearly wants to do this, at least in my opinion.
Andrew WalkerHOST
Again, I'm not in the boardroom, I don't know, but it seems pretty logical that if he was the CEO two years ago, they're exploring this merger that makes no sense.
Andrew WalkerHOST
It's driven by him, right? And that's interesting because, again, this merger doesn't make sense unless you think Brian Nichols, the CEO of Starbucks, is so uniquely qualified that Chipotle and Starbucks, I suppose, under him is worth more than anyone else, right? In that case, there actually are synergies, right? Because if he is so talented, he's so unique, he's such a visionary in whether it's the restaurant space or the fast, casual Mexican space with Chipotle, that it works under him, then there are synergies.
Andrew WalkerHOST
And that is just really...
Ben MillerHOST
It was.
Chris WaltonHOST
And for those that are probably very much in the know, uh, Starbucks current CEO Brian Niccol used to run Chipotle.
Chris WaltonHOST
Um, so you can see potentially what some of the rationale is there.
Chris WaltonHOST
But the market caps are, you know, pretty sizably different.
Ben MillerHOST
But it, this would not be the first time that a story gets leaked so the parties can get a, a, a handle on what the potential market response might be.
Ben MillerHOST
And I did...
Ben MillerHOST
You know, I, I'm not for one minute suggesting that this is what happened here, but I did, I did note one analyst note that described this as Brian Niccol potentially jumping the shark.
Ben MillerHOST
So on that basis, it probably is no surprise that they're denying it, and I think that's right.
Camille MooreHOST
... to Starbucks is back to Starbucks.
Camille MooreHOST
This past week, there was a full article in CNBC that announced that the numbers that, and the strategy that Brian Niccol, ex-Chipotle, has implemented, is working.
Phillip MillarHOST
Again, we learn from history.
Phillip MillarHOST
I think too many people give an opinion, they're wrong about it, they never go back and find out why I was wrong about it.
Phillip MillarHOST
... and not what the targets want, they were just hiring people who thought this was the place that you're supposed to work because you had blue hair or whatever, 15 earrings in your nose.
Phillip MillarHOST
Now I can tell that the employees have been told to care more about the cl- the customer, regardless of where you're from.
Phillip MillarHOST
And if I was giving Brian Niccol any advice to take Starbucks to the next level, I would do some campaigns that actually, y- the biggest competition that you have from my perspective, is that there's so many great coffee shops in America that make amazing lattes.
Phillip MillarHOST
You know what I mean? Like, they just have that dark, rich creaminess.
Dave PackerHOST
A spokesperson for Starbucks says it's not buying burrito chain Chipotle after reports that the coffee giant was exploring a possible deal to take over the chain.
Dave PackerHOST
Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol had previously headed Chipotle for six years.
Dave PackerHOST
The takeover would have been the largest restaurant deal ever.
Dave PackerHOST
Dave Packer, ABC News.
Ben MillerHOST
I think when I look at Boots, I, I am excited about the opportunity for a business that can do better if it has some support from its owner.
Ben MillerHOST
Um, and I think one of the things that, that is in its favor is they're just in the process of bringing in a new CEO, so literally starting at the moment.
Ben MillerHOST
A gentleman called Alex Baldock, who formerly ran Currys, which is the biggest consumer electronics business in the UK.
Ben MillerHOST
He's done a fantastic job with that business.
Ben MillerHOST
They're gonna have to spend, and I think the length of time that I'm aware they've been talking about making this acquisition, and the fact that they were being able to bring the price down again from what was initially being offered, makes me think that they know that they need to invest some time, effort, and capital to really get Boots, Boots flying.
Chris WaltonHOST
Yeah, right.
Chris WaltonHOST
That's a great point too about the, the new CEO too.
Chris WaltonHOST
And, um, and particularly the other point I mentioned too is that, you know, he's from the UK.
Tim LanceHOST
A report earlier by CNBC said that the deal will not occur, that according to Starbucks representatives.
Tim LanceHOST
Some of the rumors appear connected to the fact that current Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol came to the coffee chain from Chipotle.
Tim LanceHOST
Shares of Starbucks were up 1%, while Chipotle was down 4%.
Tim LanceHOST
Global smartphone shipments were down 20% in the third quarter, according to Counterpoint Research, and that's the lowest level in the period since 2012.
1 HR 4 MINS LATER
Dan LoneyCORRESPONDENT
Reports of Starbucks looking to buy Chipotle are apparently premature.
Dan LoneyCORRESPONDENT
A report earlier by CNBC said that the deal will not occur, that according to Starbucks representatives.
Dan LoneyCORRESPONDENT
Some of the rumors appear connected to the fact that current Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol came to the coffee chain from Chipotle.
Dan LoneyCORRESPONDENT
Shares of Starbucks were up 1%, while Chipotle was down 4%.
Reilly NewmanHOST
It was about a year ago, maybe two years now, he became the CEO of Starbucks, which is kind of interesting.
Reilly NewmanHOST
His name is Brian Niccol.
Reilly NewmanHOST
And so he's been, uh, leading Starbucks for a wh- uh, you know, some time now and making changes.
Reilly NewmanHOST
He was the one who did a lot of the kind of getting Starbucks back to its roots with the writing on the cup, the Sharpie, all these new campaigns they're pushing out, and they're also, like, not charging for add-ons in drinks, uh, bringing back the little mix stations where you can put in your own creamer and sugar and all that.
92 more episodes mention Brian Niccol.
Create an account to see the whole feed, search across every transcript, and follow the entities you care about.