Why Starbucks is letting Brian Niccol use the company plane for more personal travel

Tech Insider : Business, Travel
Mark Wilson and Brian Niccol speak onstage during the Fast Company Innovation Festival 2025 on September 16, 2025 in New York City.
Starbucks is encouraging its CEO, Brian Niccol, to use the company jet for all his personal travel.

Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Fast Company

America's new sink-or-swim era is here

Tech Insider : Business, Economy, Environment
A worker hunched over chair working on laptop

Tyler Le/BI

A few years ago, HR practitioner T. Tara Turk-Haynes hired yoga instructors and meditation gurus to help employees handle burnout at the media company where she worked.

She's not doing anything like that today.

I compared protein drinks from Starbucks and Dunkin'. The winning latte was so good that I couldn't tell it had protein in it.

Tech Insider : Business
The writer holding up a protein drink from Starbucks in one hand, and a protein drink from Dunkin' in the other.
captionTK

Haein Jung

Brian Niccol said a Reddit thread of people interviewing for his company showed him that his 'Back to Starbucks' plan was working

Tech Insider : Business
Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol at Fast Company conference
Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol said Luckin Coffee is forcing product innovation.

Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Fast Company

Brian Niccol said he wants Starbucks to feel like the coffee shop from 'Friends'

Tech Insider : Business
Customers leave a Starbucks Coffee shop on September 25, 2025 in Corte Madera, California.
Brian Niccol said he wanted Starbucks to feel like the coffee shop from "Friends."

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Starbucks made a lot of changes in 2025. Some were great — but one was terrible.

Tech Insider : Business, Environment
Starbucks drink with whipped cream
A fancy Starbucks coffee drink with whipped cream

Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images

All of the changes Brian Niccol has made at Starbucks so far

Tech Insider : Business, Environment
Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol stands in front of a step-and-repeat banner featuring the Fast Company logo.
Brian Niccol has spent his first year as CEO of Starbucks making a series of changes, big and small, to improve operations at the coffee giant.

Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Fast Company

Major food chains are reinventing themselves. We ranked their efforts to see who's winning the Great Restaurant Reset.

Tech Insider : Business
Two large billboards displaying a Pizza Hut and Cracker Barrel logos
Brands including Chili's, Starbucks, and Cracker Barrel have undergone revitalization efforts this year.

Getty Images; Tyler Le/BI

More than 4,100 stores and restaurants are closing across the US this year. Here's the list.

Tech Insider : Business, Environment
The Zara logo appears on a storefront.
Zara's parent company, Inditex, said it closed 132 stores across its portfolio in 2025.

Kevin Carter/Getty Images

Starbucks gift cards dominate the holidays

Tech Insider : Business
A Starbucks gift card display.
Starbucks projects it will sell $60 million in gift cards on December 24th alone, its biggest sales day for gift cards of the year in the US and Canada.

Starbucks

Subscribe to Starbucks