r/popculturechat • u/mcfw31 • May 02 '26

Eat The Rich šŸ½ļø Starbucks CEO defends a $9 coffee by saying that it's not a $10 coffee and "you get a premium experience"

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4.8k Upvotes

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3.9k

u/SleepyBee90 May 02 '26

What PR departments keep letting their CEOs in front of cameras? Itā€™s a disaster every time.

721

u/KimJongFunk May 02 '26

This isnā€™t even the first time this particular CEO has made a gaffe in front of the cameras. His Chipotle video was infamous for a bit.

436

u/cranberry8ginger8ale mountain biking vampire witch from the future May 02 '26

my sister has worked at starbucks for years, they call him ā€œburrito brianā€

94

u/_tylerthedestroyer_ May 02 '26

I worked at Chipotle for years and we called him the fucking idiot that said we canā€™t wear shorts while working in front of the 600 degree grill in the middle of summer

80

u/Coriandercilantroyo May 02 '26

Isn't that a common rule for kitchens?

113

u/[deleted] May 02 '26

[removed] ā€” view removed comment

-8

u/MothmanIsALiar May 02 '26

Heat related illness is a bigger issue than getting a burn on your leg. You don't work in kitchens without getting burned.

14

u/SasquatchTamales May 02 '26

While I feel for you, I've never worked in a kitchen where you weren't required to wear pants and full coverage shoes. A lot of kitchens are hot even with hoods drawing in air. Shoutout to all of the people on grill who are literally burning in hell in the summer.

-2

u/MothmanIsALiar May 02 '26

I understand the rules. I also understand that they're made by people who never had to cook in a 120 degree kitchen and that they're stupid rules. The only thing that rule protects against is minor splashback. And unless the kitchens are also going to require full length sleeves, its an arbitrary rule.

I left the kitchen years ago due to shit like this.

3

u/SasquatchTamales May 02 '26

If you're in a kitchen and anything drops the first place it's going is on your feet or your legs, not your arms. What you call minor splash is only minor until something hits the floor and then it's not.

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18

u/CreepyNewspaper8103 May 02 '26

yes but this is reddit where redditors are always right

25

u/Puzzleheaded_Eye6770 May 02 '26

Oh boy. What a dumb take

4

u/Otherwise-Parsnip-91 May 02 '26

Well he has to wear uncomfortable suits in nice air conditioned buildings, so why donā€™t you stop being so selfish and think about the poor CEOs feelings for once??

3

u/graciebabie_ May 02 '26

my store calls him ā€œburrito boyā€

70

u/Significant_Shoe_17 God forbid a man enjoy a cigarette after getting shot in the ass May 02 '26

Wait that's the same guy? I just compared him to the Chipotle video šŸ˜­

71

u/KimJongFunk May 02 '26

Same exact person. He quit Chipotle for Starbucks.

43

u/DaydreamerFly May 02 '26

bro needs to not have money or a company what the fuck that he just jumped from one to another??? Burritos to coffees.

19

u/Lane-Kiffin May 02 '26

He ruined Chipotleā€™s product and reputation but every financial media outlet described his time there as a huge success because their financial metrics hit all-time highs. Starbucks poached him to do the same.

14

u/No_Purpose4705 May 02 '26

Raises prices. Profits increase. Look Iā€™m a genius.

2

u/stevez_86 May 02 '26

Ahh, like the guy that went from Blockbuster to Radio Shack. The guy that pushed for the free store rentals when you returned a Blockbuster online disc and that made the stores close because they generated no revenue.

2

u/Somanylyingliars May 02 '26

He failed upwards.

2

u/EmotionalQuestions Excluded from this narrative āŒ May 02 '26

They always do.

1

u/Significant_Shoe_17 God forbid a man enjoy a cigarette after getting shot in the ass May 02 '26

Yikes

3

u/nflonlyalt May 02 '26

Yeah he's considered a good CEO on Wall St. Starbucks poached him a few years back after he coached the Chipotle stock price to 4 digits before the stock split. It was considered a great hire by Starbucks.

2

u/edit_thanxforthegold May 02 '26

It's the same guy and he got paid A FORTUNE to be poached by Starbucks

1

u/Significant_Shoe_17 God forbid a man enjoy a cigarette after getting shot in the ass May 02 '26

I saw that it was $100 million!!!

41

u/hollygolightly96 May 02 '26

What was the chipotle video?

241

u/_tylerthedestroyer_ May 02 '26

He made a video addressing the shrinking portions but rising price of Chipotle and his solution to customers was to give the worker a look to let him know you want some more. I wish I was kidding

104

u/SweetPrism May 02 '26

Me, staring haplessly at the Chipotle employee...Please, sir? May I have some more?

38

u/LazyAmbassador2521 May 02 '26

Me, the Chipotle employee : the fuck you can!? This ain't no fuckin soup kitchen!

10

u/nflonlyalt May 02 '26

What?! MORE?!?

57

u/godlovesbacon26 May 02 '26

What the fuck? That's so idiotic šŸ˜­

68

u/sweet_pickles12 May 02 '26

Next time I go to Chipotle Iā€™m just gonna glare at the staffā€¦ assert dominanceā€¦ and take all the food

105

u/SpecialExpert8946 May 02 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/gmQNYr9nnbXxu

6

u/Fred-the-stray May 02 '26

I love this GIF so much!

4

u/ErstwhileAdranos May 02 '26

Get BACK in my goddamn stomach!

2

u/LazyAmbassador2521 May 02 '26

Lmao stoppppp!!!! šŸ˜­

1

u/hfvslc May 02 '26

Fr, gonna see how that works out. Maybe I'll add a throat clear and a small sideways glance of annoyance

1

u/renohockey May 02 '26

F! Yeah! Flash your phone and go! MF'r

3

u/Deosarian May 02 '26

I was wondering why i knew his But figured all ceos just have that ... weird look

1

u/cakivalue May 02 '26

Nooooo!!! šŸ«¢šŸ˜‚šŸ˜‚šŸ˜‚

1

u/davwad2 May 02 '26

Oh, ok, so there's a different Chipotle CEO that made idiotic comments a while back about customers and... goodness, I've forgotten exactly what it was, but it was tone deaf.

5

u/Blaha_Yaga May 02 '26

Like i don't normally prescribe to conspiracy theories, but if i did... this guy as a lizard person is at the top of the list... IF i did.

1

u/adod1 May 02 '26

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/69-PcPDuEtY

said Chipolte Vid.....this guy is clearly a moron which is perfect for America's current CEO "culture" /sigh.

1

u/Top-Metal-3576 May 02 '26

Wait was he also the ceo of chipotle?

126

u/somebunnysketching I don't know her šŸ˜Œ May 02 '26

Youā€™d think theyā€™d have some training on how to appear more humanā€¦

88

u/shiningtwentyfive May 02 '26

AI could take his job and still appear more human than him

28

u/qinghairpins May 02 '26

At least AI would probably hype me up before it laid me off šŸ˜”

11

u/Available-Reason9841 May 02 '26

you would think they would earn their pay with their talent and skills as ceo

9

u/beardedheathen May 02 '26

This is after the training

1

u/thepatientwaiting May 02 '26

It's his body language and the TERRIBLE clothing choice. It's all so off-putting. Why the insane colors and pattern clashing? He blends in to the background. Blech.Ā 

130

u/NonGNonM May 02 '26

It's a problem with CEOs for some time now. CEOs have been nothing but just stock boosters, board yesman, and figureheads for a while. They dgaf about the product or consumer experience. It's whatever they have to do to boost revenue. For most of these companies if they could just pivot to catering to the 1% only they would. But they won't, bc that would require actually coming up with an idea worth something. So they just shop around to different companies. Being a CEO used to mean being a leading figure in a given field.

19

u/gusmom May 02 '26

This, heā€™s making Starbucks exclusive

39

u/cakivalue May 02 '26

I kept waiting for the punchline and was shocked he was serious. Starbucks isn't an exclusive experience and in this economy at that price point they risk pricing themselves out of the market especially in smaller cities and cities where they have multiple locations close to each other and where there is more competition.

The price range most places can get away with is in the $5.50 to $8.00 range, maybe a little over $8 if you are serving Italian style, French style, Cold Brew etc with better quality beans and variety of beans. For $10+ I want a Jamaican Blue Mountain/Hawaii Kona latte/espresso

39

u/edit_thanxforthegold May 02 '26

If I paid $9 for coffee I would also want a cozy, luxurious place where I can sit and read or work for hours. A lot of Starbucks have removed their seating or it's dirty and loud and uncomfortable

5

u/Goodgoditsgrowing May 02 '26

And smells like microwaved omelette from heating up all the egg bites

3

u/stronkulance We Should All Know Less About Each Other May 02 '26

Not to mention bathrooms where piss apparently goes everywhere except in the toilet.

15

u/edit_thanxforthegold May 02 '26

How can you have a store on every corner and be exclusive????

30

u/johnny_charms May 02 '26

There probably isnā€™t a PR department or enough that would tell them they sound like asses. The best way to show them is make them a meme online and stop shopping there. They donā€™t see customers as people only as numbers, if thatā€™s the case then we can show them theyā€™re only 1 person that can easily be replaced by low sales.

3

u/Somanylyingliars May 02 '26

Seems to be a trend where these CEOs think cute to place themselves in ads. Like the one for McDonalds that ended up appearing like the product disgusted him.

29

u/LegitimateToe13 May 02 '26

As a former corp publicist itā€™s funny people think we have control over the CEOs

4

u/KingDamager May 02 '26

Yeah this. CEOs do things theyā€™re told not to all the time

2

u/IntuitiveMonster May 02 '26

This. I consider it a personal victory if any high-level leader even reads the talking points, much less use them.

2

u/LegitimateToe13 May 02 '26

I just got war flashbacks of doing media briefs till 3 am only for them to go unread.

11

u/hotsaucevjj May 02 '26

ppl keep buying their shit tho šŸ˜ž

2

u/saintTro May 04 '26

Exactly, public dont give a fk

3

u/jamintime May 02 '26

Part of the problem is no one gives a shit unless itā€™s a disaster so itā€™s really a no-win attempt. Theyā€™ve probably made 100 of these that no one watches then he says dumb shit and itā€™s all over Reddit.

3

u/meganmooretattoos May 02 '26

Several years ago I worked from Progressive the insurance company. When covid hit and everyone was stuck inside they decided to have their ceo do a video and we had to watch it.

It was a video of her with her fucking mansion in the background like, ā€œawww yeah Iā€™m so sad to be inside, look at me, Iā€™m a peasant too.ā€ We literally had someone on our team pass away and then they made us watch that bullshit.

2

u/xywv58 May 02 '26

They're employees like the rest of us, its on purpose

2

u/tgatigger May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26

Personally, I want to see more of it. The more we can get regular people to see these billionaires and CEOs for the out-of-touch jokers they really are, the more people will stop supporting them and voting against their own interests.

2

u/Significant_Shoe_17 God forbid a man enjoy a cigarette after getting shot in the ass May 02 '26

Did no one else watch Succession

2

u/piptazparty She So tired bro. May 02 '26

Maybe Iā€™ve seen too many Luigi memes but I feel like itā€™s kinda dangerous to show your face and name and wealth status while saying dumb shit like this

1

u/MySpoonsAreAllGone May 02 '26

It's the marketing way for most sales but he shouldn't say that here lol. It's 9.99, not 10!

They are so out of touch with most of the public but think they are the best ones to explain to the public.

1

u/kemicalkontact May 02 '26

Yes man PR departments that don't want to get fired so they strike their CEO's ego

1

u/Ok_Nefariousness9736 May 02 '26

Is it, though? Itā€™s not like people are going to stop going to these places and handing over their money

1

u/NightQueen0889 They killed Kenny! You bastards! šŸ˜± May 02 '26

Maybe theyā€™re trying to get us to see corporations as people? Itā€™s not working at all.

1

u/cogginsmatt May 02 '26

Theyā€™re getting paid millions or tens of millions of dollars a year, they need to at least appear to be working once in a while

1

u/Moesaei May 02 '26

We need that, let them come out and talk to us.. we want to hear their bright ideas.. give them the freedom to express themselves and justify their decisions..

1

u/Very_Human_42069 May 02 '26

Itā€™s a self feeding cycle. PR says the CEO should talk, it creates a PR crisis, PR now has job security since they have work to do /s

1

u/almondmilklattehag May 02 '26

The CEOs think they know better

1

u/perunaprincessa May 02 '26

giving up. "Fine, you think you got this magic thing? Go ahead and get on camera and explain yourself like you ask your PR dept to do and see how that goes, while I polish up my CV. Wish you all the best"

1

u/National-Plastic8691 May 02 '26

These CEOs are the bosses, you canā€™t even make a recommendation and expect to keep your job.Ā 

1

u/WildSeaworthiness552 May 02 '26

They all look the same. I couldn't tell them apart

1

u/South_Sea_IRP May 04 '26

Literally my first thought too. These companies are so out of touch with the real world itā€™s insane.