If Starbucks’ new CEO, Brian Niccol, ever steps on stage and tells consumers they are destroying the planet, we are going to be in trouble.
CNBC reports that Niccol, who has been CEO of Chipotle since 2018, has negotiated a deal with Starbucks that allows the 50-year-old to jet up and down the West Coast in a private jet when he is needed at Starbucks headquarters.
From his home in Newport Beach to Seattle, it will be a 1,000-mile flight. It’s actually nearly 1,200 miles via I-5, but Niccol will have a jet pilot shortcut the route to reduce it to 1,000 miles.
New Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol will commute 1,000 miles from his home in California to Seattle, where he will work three days a week. / Getty Images
Brian, enjoy the comfort of your private jet ride. But don’t even think about lecturing consumers about having to use paper straws that crumble within seconds when they come into contact with liquid.
“Brian will be based in our Seattle Support Center and will spend much of his time visiting partners and customers in our stores, roasteries, roasting facilities and offices around the world,” a Starbucks spokesperson told CNBC. “His schedule will exceed the hybrid work guidelines and workplace expectations we have for all partners.”
Meanwhile, on Starbucks’ Responsibility/Planet page, there is the “Becoming Resource Positive” campaign, in which the company is making commitments it hopes to achieve by 2030. This includes reducing its “carbon” and “waste footprint” by the start of the new decade.
“The 2030 targets now confirmed will not only reduce the company’s environmental impact, but will also strengthen the entire supply chain, from agricultural practices to store energy supply to an environmentally friendly menu,” the company wrote in 2020 when it announced its 2030 plans.
On Reddit, news of Niccol’s commute was met with concern. You’re damn right, this smacks of a “the rules apply to you, not me” scenario.
“It’s things like this that actually lend credibility to climate deniers’ arguments about why climate change initiatives are stupid,” wrote one user.
“Why should we all have to give up something when the rich and powerful (sometimes the same people who preach about the importance of protecting the environment) do shit like this?
“I am a strong advocate of individual citizens AND businesses doing their part to combat climate change (we all live here and right now it’s our only option), but I can never give a substantive answer when it comes up.”
And people wonder why I’m so against the government getting rid of gas-powered lawn mowers. And that’s why people were angry when Gavin Newsom broke his own COVID rules. And that’s why we scream about the climate terrorists attacking Stonehenge while being funded by Aileen Getty from the Getty fortune, who has no problem living a lavish lifestyle.
Niccol can fly up and down the I-5 corridor as much as he wants.
Just don’t give us lectures about saving the world.
