Starbucks crowns Global Barista Champion Nobuki, representing Japan (Starbucks)

BUCK THE TREND

Starbucks goes all in on human baristas after years of slashing the size of its workforce

The coffee giant crowned its first global barista champion on Wednesday, as it pivots away from automation with the rollout of a staff-focused service model.

Millie Giles

6/13/25 8:31AM

What makes a good barista? Extensive coffee knowledge? Intricate latte art? Spelling your name correctly?

According to Starbucks’ first ever global barista champion, Japan’s Nobuki — who beat 84,000 other contenders as he was crowned at the company’s Leadership Experience event in Las Vegas on Wednesday — the first step is a “sparkling smile.”

CEO Brian Niccol would agree. His plight to turn around the flagging company by hiring more in-store employees is centered on a bet that Starbucks is missing a human touch. The ex-Chipotle chief told the Financial Times, “We over-rotated on the idea of equipment and that replacing the humanity of service, and I think service is our point of difference.”

Ex (coffee) machina

Since taking the helm in September, Niccol has been heading a customer-service-focused “Back to Starbucks” strategy to return the world’s largest coffee chain to its coffeehouse roots.

On Tuesday, he told Reuters that Starbucks is accelerating the rollout of its new “Green Apron” service model to all North American stores by the end of summer — announcing to the ~14,000 store managers at the Vegas event that “the biggest human capital investment in connection in the history of Starbucks is about to happen.” For many Starbucks workers, this can’t come soon enough.

2025-06-13-starbucks-employees — Sherwood News

Since 2022, the company has slashed its workforce, moving toward automated equipment for efficiency. Based on our calculations, the company had an average of 26.8 employees per US company-operated Starbucks store at the time. By the end of fiscal year 2024, that figure was 19.8.

But now, Starbucks is doing a U-turn on automation, having halted the use of its high-tech systems in April. Though analysts have raised concerns about the cost of the in-person push, baristas at high-footfall branches will be buzzed: a Bloomberg survey last year found that only one-third of US Starbucks workers said stores were consistently well staffed.

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eBay stock slumps on gloomy Q4 outlook despite solid Q3 earnings

Shares of eBay fell as much as 10.5% in premarket trading on Thursday morning after the company gave a lower-than-expected profit forecast for the important holiday shopping season.

The e-commerce giant reported solid numbers for the third quarter on Wednesday, with revenue up 9% as reported to $2.8 billion and gross merchandise volume rising 10% to $20.1 billion, topping the average analyst forecast of $19.4 billion, per Bloomberg.

However, concerns about the future somewhat overshadowed these results.

eBay outlined its profit outlook for the period ending in December to $1.31 to $1.36 a share, with revenue at $2.83 billion to $2.89 billion. According to Bloomberg-compiled data, this broadly matches Wall Street’s estimates for the top line, but misses on the bottom line, with analysts forecasting EPS to come in at $1.39 — suggesting the company expects some further margin pressure.

The company has been facing macroeconomic challenges since the US ended the de minimis tariff exemption in late August, with the online marketplace reliant on shipments. One small silver lining? CFO Peggy Alford highlighted a “less durable trend” on a post-earnings call: that as commodity prices for precious metals boomed, demand for bullion and collectible coins on eBay spiked.

EBay Falls After Giving Weak Profit Outlook for Holiday Period

However, concerns about the future somewhat overshadowed these results.

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Premium seats help push airlines higher following third-quarter results

Shares of American Airlines are climbing toward the carrier’s best trading day since August 12, when ultra-budget rival Spirit issued its initial warning about its ability to survive. American’s shares are up more than 7% on Friday afternoon.

Investors’ optimism comes a day after American posted a better-than-expected full-year earnings forecast. In a call with investors, American said that it’s ramping up its premium cabin offerings.

“Our ability to grow capacity in premium markets will be further supported as we take delivery of new aircraft and reconfigure our existing fleet. These efforts will allow us to grow our premium seats at nearly two times the rate of main cabin seats,” CEO Robert Isom said. American CFO Devin May said that nose-to-tail retrofits of certain wide-body jets will bump the number of premium seats available on those planes by 25%.

Extra legroom has been a boon for major carriers, particularly this quarter. Delta Air Lines said its premium product revenue grew 9% in Q3, compared to a 4% drop in economy seat revenue. Similarly, United Airlines said its premium revenue grew 6%, outpacing economy. Shares of both airlines were up more than 3% on Friday.

Carriers with less exposure to first- and business-class tickets like Southwest Airlines and JetBlue didn’t see the same amount of momentum on the day.