Operations

Kevin Johnson’s abrupt departure as Starbucks CEO

Working Lunch: RB Editor-at-Large Peter Romeo joins the Align Public Strategies podcast, as does Brennan Duckett from the National Restaurant Association.

Restaurant Business Editor-at-Large Peter Romeo joins Joe Kefauver, managing partner with Align Public Strategies, on this week’s Working Lunch podcast to talk about a wide range of issues.

Most prominently, they talk about Kevin Johnson’s abrupt departure as Starbucks CEO, despite the company’s strong performance coming out of the pandemic. Did the burgeoning unionization campaign, the company’s perceived missteps in addressing it, formal reprimands by the NLRB and the unrest of key shareholders lead to the move?

They also talk about the opioid issue within the industry, and a new pilot program the state of Delaware is rolling out that targets restaurant workers.

Brennan Duckett, director of technology and innovation policy at the National Restaurant Association, also joins the podcast to talk data policy and the political and legislative challenge the industry faces on this topic.

They also talk legislative scorecard.

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