Name: Stephen Piacentini
New title: Executive vice president, chief coffeehouse design and development officer, Starbucks
Previous title: Chief development officer, Chipotle
Starbucks confirmed it is bringing on Stephen Piacentini to lead the development of its coffeehouses. Piacentini, who helped lead Chipotle across the 4,000-store mark last year, joins Starbucks in the middle of an ambitious campaign to renovate thousands of its coffee shops and reclaim its role as a space focused on in-person experiences, rather than simple throughput.
Piacentini will focus on customer and worker experience, operational excellence and growth, the company said. Meredith Sandland, who previously had the same job title as Piacentini, will shift toward a role focused on the future of Starbucks’ stores.
Piacentini started at Chipotle when that brand was led by Brian Niccol, Starbucks’ current CEO. Prior to Chipotle, Piacentini worked in development roles at Wendy’s, including as U.S. chief development officer, and as CDO at Jimmy John’s, according to his LinkedIn profile. He also spent more than a decade at Taco Bell, with significant overlap with Niccol, who served as CMO, president and later CEO of the chain.
Niccol’s Back to Starbucks campaign includes significant investment in coffeehouse design, with the brand using “softer seating, warm colors and textures on walls and throughout the space, table lamps, plants, a redesigned espresso bar that gives customers a better view of baristas making drinks,” according to a recent Starbucks blog post emphasizing changes to cafes in the Chicago market. Starbucks has previously estimated the cost of refurbishing coffeehouses to these new standards at about $150,000 per store.
Chipotle’s race to 7,000 total units has continued despite challenging conditions with its core consumers in the U.S. market. The brand opened 334 company-operated units last year and is projecting 350 to 370 openings this year.
