Starbucks is cutting 1,100 workers, paring back menu

Starbucks, the siren logo’d coffee chain, will be reducing the size of its workforce, the company announced yesterday – a siren singing a swan song, if you will.

The cuts will affect ~7% of the chain’s 16,000 employees who work outside company-owned stores (corporate workers); baristas are not included.

The menu is getting a haircut, too. Starbucks also said yesterday that it’s removing 13 uncommonly purchased or complex-to-make drinks from its list of offerings, including some Frappuccino blended drinks, the Royal English Breakfast Latte, and White Hot Chocolate.

• The company has already eliminated iced energy drinks and its controversial olive oil coffees, as it works to trim 30% of its beverage and food menu by the end of September.

📸 Big picture: Starbucks’ moves are part of CEO Brian Niccol’s plan to streamline the coffee chain’s operations following four straight quarters of same-store sales declines, its longest negative streak in years.

Part of this push involves reducing customer wait times by ensuring baristas can make drinks in a timely fashion, even in high-volume periods, and working to restore the more personal coffeehouse atmosphere for which Starbucks was originally known (one move already made to that end: restoring the permanent markers that baristas traditionally used to misspell write names on cups).