Howard Schultz Steps Down As Starbucks CEO

SEATTLE, WA — Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz will step down in April to focus on developing more of the coffee chain's high-end Starbucks Reserve stores. Kevin Johnson, the president and COO of the company, will take Schultz's place by April 3, 2017.

“As I focus on Starbucks' next wave of retail innovation, I am delighted that Kevin Johnson – our current president, COO, a seven-year board member and my partner in running every facet of Starbucks business over the last two years – has agreed to assume the duties of Starbucks chief executive officer," Schultz said in a release. "This move ideally positions Starbucks to continue profitably growing our core business around the world into the future.”

Schultz will remain with the company as executive chairman.

The Starbucks Reserve stores focus on unique roasting techniques and small-batch roasted coffees. Starbucks opened a reserve in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood in 2014.

Schultz joined Starbucks in 1982. As marketing director, he pioneered the idea of coffee as a lifestyle and eventually helped open 25,000 Starbucks stores around the world. Under Schultz, Starbucks is often credited with ushering in the "second wave" coffee movement. Schultz also helped put Seattle on the map as a mecca for coffee culture.

Laila Ghambiri, a Seattle-area native and the 2014 U.S. Barista Champion, said that Starbucks made coffee an international obsession. However, Starbucks has faced competition lately from specialty coffee chains like Intelligentsia, Portland's Stumptown, and Seattle's Cafe Vita. By focusing on the Starbucks Reserve brand, Ghambiri said, Schultz is bringing Starbucks in line with newer coffee trends.

"With Starbucks Reserve, they are trying to move into the specialty coffee realm that has really developed in the last 10 years," said Ghambiri, who is now Director of Coffee at Seattle's Cherry Street Coffee House. "I think it will be a difficult task for them to bridge that gap, but if anyone can make specialty coffee more mainstream globally it's Schultz and Starbucks. I for one am excited to see how this sector grows for them. "

Johnson has been president and COO since March 2015 and led Starbucks' global operating businesses around the world. He has been a member of the Starbucks board since 2009.

"Over the past two decades, I have grown to know Starbucks first as a customer, then as a director on the board, and for the past two years as a member of the management team," Johnson said in a statement. "Through that journey, I fell in love with Starbucks and I share [Schultz'] commitment to our mission and values and his optimism for the future."

Image via Starbucks