Who is Brian Niccol and why is the CEO leaving Chipotle to head Starbucks?

Brian Niccol, who has served as the CEO of Chipotle since 2018, will be leaving to take on the same position at Starbucks. Before Chipotle, Niccol was the CEO of Taco Bell, highlighting the rotation nature of the executive class within corporate America.

According to his profile on the Chipotle website, he had been with Taco Bell since 2011, initially taking on the role of Chief Marketing and Innovations Officer. Before that, he worked in various executive roles at Pizza Hut and at Procter & Gamble, where he began his career.

He obtained an undergraduate degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and later earned his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

So far, very little has been said about why he is leaving the fast-casual chain for Starbucks, but such movements through the corporate world are normal for people like Niccol, who has spent the last two decades in the C-suite of different companies.

Niccol’s tenure at Chipotle

During his time at Chipotle, the company has seen increased organizing among its workers. The company has been subject to scrutiny by the National Labor Relations Board for firing workers leading unionization efforts and closing a location in Augusta, Maine, where workers were organizing. In 2021, the company voluntarily increased the minimum wage offered to workers in the US to $15 an hour to fill open roles as many within the industry struggled to attract workers back to the labor force after the pandemic.

Off to Starbucks

Now, he heads to Starbucks, where workers have been organizing in droves for fair pay and conditions. The coffee giant has taken an adversarial approach to unionization efforts and has been subject to a handful of NLRB cases in which employees have accused the company of retaliation. In one case heard by the NLRB in 2021, Starbucks was forced to offer two workers their jobs back after they had been fired for their organizing.

Additionally, in 2023, the federal agency released their review of dozens of complaints made by Starbucks workers and found that the company “had violated the National Labor Relations Act hundreds of times to affect workers’ organizing efforts through ‘egregious and widespread misconduct demonstrating a general disregard for the employees’ fundamental rights.’”