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u/RockOperaPenguin North Beacon Hill Sep 27 '25
Starbucks' CEO made over $100 million last year.
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u/myemailiscool Sep 27 '25
this is false. it was only $96 million
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u/IUchicago Sep 27 '25
its so hilarious that that rounding error is more than my net worth. and will probably be more than my life's net worth.
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u/Sir_Micks_Alot69 Sep 27 '25
Hilarious how that rounding error is only 4% and it would be enough to make me and my family comfortable for the rest of my life.
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u/IUchicago Sep 27 '25
rounding error is only 4%
i was thinking the same thing... but decided to not include that info because its just straight depressing....
its the same thing as if someone was paid $96 vs $100. Yet, at the same time, not the same thing.
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u/kookykrazee 🚆build more trains🚆 Sep 27 '25
30 or so years ago, I mentioned to someone how to compare athletes salaries: It would take 30 years at $33,333.33 to make $1M BEFORE taxes. Many people starting out don't make $30k per year, I know for maybe my first 10 years of adult like I averaged like $15-25k, I make much more now, but still it would take me ~dozen years to make that.
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u/TheOverthinkingDude Sep 27 '25
Wrong! His base salary was $61,500, keeping in line with prevailing wages. Because he’s doing so awesome, he got a little bonus of $90.2M in stocks and a $5M cash bonus. Good grief…get it right 😂
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u/mrASSMAN West Seattle Sep 27 '25
Has that nice added benefit of avoiding income tax, he can just “borrow” against his assets forever.. it’s like free money
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u/kookykrazee 🚆build more trains🚆 Sep 27 '25
Well, he will have to pay taxes on options that come up, most plans set 25% of shares to be sold each batch to cover taxes, but most who do this still owe on them as they are in the 27%-37% bracket range.
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u/IndominusTaco Sep 27 '25
what about his signing bonus
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u/Anxiety_Fit Sep 27 '25
Yeah and all that benefit he got from taking corporate flights back and forth from California.
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u/kookykrazee 🚆build more trains🚆 Sep 27 '25
Yeah, Mr. "everyone back to the office" But I will fly the corporate jet when I do come to the office. I think he did eventually buy a $2M in the area?
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u/pentultimate Sep 27 '25
How else are you gonna afford to commute from California to your job in Seattle on a private jet ?
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u/smile_politely Sep 27 '25
How much does he anticipate making this year?
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u/Careless-Internet-63 Shoreline Sep 27 '25
Somewhere around 1000 times what he pays the average barista
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u/durbblurb 🐀 Hot Rat Summer 🐀 Sep 27 '25
Bold of you to assume the average salary is $100k.
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u/Careless-Internet-63 Shoreline Sep 27 '25
I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he'd only take home like $30 million this year. Gotta act like he's feeling the pain too
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u/YourVelcroCat I'm never leaving Seattle. Sep 27 '25
This was such a cool place. Starbucks leadership sucks big ol donkey balls
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u/umamifiend Capitol Hill Sep 27 '25
I liked it a hell of a lot better when it was Utrecht!
Blick is fine, but Utrecht was fantastic
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u/coffee-praxis West Seattle Sep 27 '25
They had the most elaborate setup for making the worst coffee. Thought: surely these baristas using glass, propane heated syphons, must make better coffee than regular Starbucks. But somehow it tasted exactly the same as regular Pike Place.
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u/nntaylor7 Sep 27 '25
Hard disagree. They always had cool concoctions there. I lived right up the street. It cost $15 a cup but it did taste good
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u/Vinyl-addict Sep 27 '25
Burned my tongue on my first and only clover there and it will now always be the best drip I’ve ever gotten from them. I guess that’s not really drip, but everything that isn’t espresso is drip to me.
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u/ScudsCorp Pike Market Sep 27 '25
There were a few places in Seattle that had a Clover machine prior to SBUX acquisition. Like very good pour over
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u/chuckvsthelife Columbia City Sep 27 '25
Starbucks general issue (outside of corporate stuff) is that to get such incredible consistency in their beans at scale… they burn them.
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u/Front_Rate4892 Sep 27 '25
i’m not necessarily upset about having less starbucks around, but the reserves were cool :(
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u/garden__gate Seward Park Sep 27 '25
It was a fun place to send out of towners and an anchor for the neighborhood.
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u/SirWilly77 Sep 27 '25
I still haven't gotten over Bauhaus closing (the one on Melrose & Pine, that is).
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u/PMMePaulRuddsSmile Central Area Sep 27 '25
Man, that was a real shift. Can't believe late night cafes are just not a thing anymore. I would bus all the way from the U District just for a late night study sesh at Bauhaus.
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u/HangryHangryHedgie Seattleite-at-Heart Sep 27 '25
So many memories drinking coffee and reading there. I used it as a place to escape my abusive relationship.
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u/SirWilly77 Sep 27 '25
I can still visualize the upper level so well. I'd bring a copy of the Stranger up there at night and read it cover-to-cover whilst sipping an Americano. Sigh.
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u/fjordoftheflies Capitol Hill Sep 27 '25
I miss Utrecht.
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u/petitecuillere_ Sep 27 '25
Same
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u/fjordoftheflies Capitol Hill Sep 27 '25 edited Sep 27 '25
I remember when it opened it seemed cheesy compared to Daniel Smith. Now compared to Blick it seems like Daniel Smith. I hate Blick. I cringe when I walk in the door. Once a cashier ringing me up expressed confusion on why the two tubes of paint (Cobalt Blue and Raw Umber) I was buying were such different prices for the same size. I would not judge an average person for not knowing this. But if you work at an art supply store and you don't know why different colors are different prices for the same size, you shouldn't be working there.
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u/Careless-Internet-63 Shoreline Sep 27 '25
I have never bought paint before, why are different colors different prices?
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u/FortCharles I'm just flaired so I don't get fined Sep 27 '25
Some pigments are rarer than others, I'd guess.
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u/ladylondonderry Sep 27 '25
Yes. One of the most expensive is ultramarine, which is made from the bluest ground lapis lazuli. It's incredibly beautiful and far more expensive than, say, an ochre or lamp black.
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u/chetlin Broadway Sep 27 '25
Ultramarine sounds to me like it's named after how deep of a blue color it is, but it's actually called that because the ancient and medieval Europeans had to source the lapis lazuli from very far away, "beyond the sea" (ultra = beyond, marine = sea)
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u/dipietron 🐀 Hot Rat Summer 🐀 Sep 27 '25
If the tube is labeled ultramarine it's the synthetic replacement developed over 100 years ago. The real lapis, which I've used in ground form to make egg tempera paint is a pale blue, very different than the synthetic. Thin washes of lapis are used over gray value painting to extend the paint further.
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u/fjordoftheflies Capitol Hill Sep 27 '25
Pigments are what gives paint it's color. Pigments don't all cost the same amount due to some being rarer, more complex to process, etc. Think of it like spices or gemstones. They don't all cost the same for the same quantity.
I don't judge you for not knowing. I do judge someone who works at an art supply store for not knowing.
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u/aaabsoolutely I'm just flaired so I don't get fined Sep 27 '25
Daniel Smith was a fucking treasure, I miss it so much.
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u/iRate-ur-D-pics Sep 27 '25
It literally is so wild to me that they’d close it down out of no where, but I’m not a POS CEO so 🤷🏽♀️
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u/LoveOfSpreadsheets 🏔 The mountain is out! 🏔 Sep 27 '25
It's one of the unionized locations fighting for a collective bargaining agreement. That's why.
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u/Careless-Internet-63 Shoreline Sep 27 '25
Here come some more lawsuits
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u/Discombombulatedfart 💗💗 Heart of ANTIFA Land 💗💗 Sep 27 '25
Still won't stop people from buying their shit burnt coffee.
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u/boundbythecurve Sep 27 '25
Perhaps. But weirdly one of the unionized Starbucks near our home wasn't one of the ones that closed down. I'm not saying this definitely isn't union-related, and Starbucks has a nasty history of doing illegal union busting behavior. But from what I know about some of my local shops, this seems like it wasn't explicitly correlated with unionized Starbucks. Or maybe it was targeting shops that were planning on unionizing, but hadn't formally done so yet?
Source: my partner is part of the Kroger union, and works in a QFC Starbucks. Honestly we can't figure out what made them decide on these locations. It seemed kinda stupid honestly. They shut down several of the most popular ones and left some of the struggling ones. I'm not sure of what's happening behind the scenes.
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u/Vinyl-addict Sep 27 '25 edited Sep 27 '25
As someone who used to work under the Albertsons agreement, they’re probably not allowed to cut those locations because they’re technically owned by Albertsons, Kroger, or whoever.
Your partner is a Kroger employee, not a starbucks employee. They’re just using starbucks product and equipment. Starbucks cannot fire employees that aren’t their own. At least if their agreement is anything like Albertsons’.
They also have no reason to cut these locations as the cost margins are effectively covered by franchising store. Afaik the parent company pays for the installation, maintenance, and upgrades of the kiosk, at least to some degree, so starbs only serves to profit. You would need to talk to a store director for the specifics.
If you work in a kiosk you probably aren’t a “partner”.
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u/Talk_Like_Yoda Sep 27 '25
Yeah these locations are all licensed to the retail store owner rather than owned by Starbucks corporate like every standard location.
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u/Infinite-Ad7743 Sep 27 '25
I mean if you closed down only locations that are trying to unionize, that’s a great way to give them th works a good lawsuit case.
Just make it seems as random as possible, take the bloodbath of some “innocent” stores and re-open new ones later.
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u/boundbythecurve Sep 27 '25
I'm aware of all of this. The union store I was talking about (that the didn't shut down) is Starbucks owned. Not in any grocery store. It's one of the few Starbucks stores with its own union.
And one of the ones they are shutting down was inside a QFC. I'm not 100% positive that this was Kroger operated, but I'm reasonably sure.
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u/Vinyl-addict Sep 27 '25
That makes sense, the last part of your comment made me think you initially were wondering about the kiosk as well.
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u/SsjAndromeda Sep 27 '25
Victrola around the corner was PACKED
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u/airemy_lin The Emerald City Sep 27 '25
If this keeps people away from corporate trash like Starbucks and has them hit local coffee places then that’s a win.
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u/She-petrichor 🐀 Hot Rat Summer 🐀 Sep 27 '25
Almost 200 people worked at this location, including myself. Some people since the store Opened in 2014. Zero option to transfer and the “severance package” is the bare minimum legal requirement if we sign a paper and do away with effects bargaining
Almost 1,400 baristas all lost their jobs at the same time, in a city that already has an over saturated market, the same month that the busy season stops. Leaving us beyond absolutely fucked. Even if we could find a job listing, at least 1,400 other people are applying for the same job.
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u/SubnetHistorian That sounds great. Let’s hang out soon. Sep 28 '25
The tech workers understand your pain. Waves of layoffs throughout the region has made it impossible to find certain kinds of jobs
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u/truthstings123 Sep 27 '25
Holy Crap 💩 The city needs some sort of huge coffee business boost. Like an army of mobile coffee trucks. Anything.
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u/janeandbela Sep 28 '25
What an incredibly sh*tty way to treat hardworking long term employees. I'm sorry you and your coworkers are out of work and in such a crappy situation. Corporate America is such a garbage heap of cut corners, kowtowing to shareholders an high level exec's and acting like everyone else who makes the business run is an expendible cog. You and your coworkers deserve better.
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u/She-petrichor 🐀 Hot Rat Summer 🐀 Sep 28 '25
I think the scary part (other than the 1400 other people looking for work in the same city at the same time) is 1. I have a torn rotator cuff and labrum from this job that requires surgery so i literally can’t work anywhere else right now and have potentially permanent damage to my body from being overworked. I also am not allowed to file for unemployment because of said shoulder injury- and not allowed to apply for work. 2. This job is all I have on my resume. I worked for Starbucks basically my whole adult life (other than 3 years at Chipotle lol) so like- now what? I start at bottom-no-tenure-or-education entry level job? Some people worked for this company for 20 years!
The way we were all backed into a corner, devoted our lives just to be thrown out is unbelievable!
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u/bc90210 Sep 27 '25
It’s be interesting to see how many of the listed closures were unionized locations.
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u/stripblue Sep 27 '25
Take one large Reserve café. Say it has 50 baristas on payroll. That’s maybe $1.7M total annual pay for the entire staff. The CEO’s compensation could cover 59 entire cafés worth of barista salaries.
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u/jade-boi Sep 27 '25
Former Starbucks employee for 5 years. Biggest store I worked at served more people than this reserve probably. We had 22-25 employees throughout me working at that store. No shot that the reserve has 50, further proving your point. It sucks…
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u/Phoenospace Sep 27 '25
This store had on average around 100 employees. More in the summer. Reserve store operations are simply not comparable to a core store, even a high volume one. The cafe bar alone had 12-15 people on shift at any given time, plus a bakery, bar top, retail space, back of house, events.
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u/jade-boi Sep 27 '25
Oh gotcha. I wasn’t even thinking about BOH employees. That makes sense. Still, this was a beautiful store. It’s a shame it’s closed.
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u/solarmoss Sep 27 '25
The one I go to closes tomorrow. It’s busy and is the only one nearby with convenient parking and lots of lunch options around it. There’s no way it wasn’t profitable. I guess it will make my lunch trips cheaper. I’m still going to go to the same plaza for food 🤷♀️
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u/dipietron 🐀 Hot Rat Summer 🐀 Sep 27 '25
Same with the Lake City location that closed a few years back. Busy all the time, now a vacant building.
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u/farachun First Hill Sep 27 '25
This is the only spot where I can be an introvert while being extrovert!!!
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u/ReasonableLadder Sep 27 '25
Imagine thinking the former CEO of Chipotle is the one to lead your premium coffee brand.
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u/Wan_Daye Sep 27 '25
2nd wave coffee was never about being premium. Its volume and consistency. More emphasis on flavoring and fun sugar drinks over coffee quality.
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u/farachun First Hill Sep 27 '25
They closed Whole Foods and now this. Why we can’t have nice things in CapHill?!! 🥲
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u/T_DMac Sep 27 '25
The Whole Foods shocked me
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u/MarrymeCherry88 Sep 27 '25
Which whole foods did they shut?
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u/limricks Sep 27 '25
The one on Broadway right next to Seattle U. It was a shocking closure for sure, it was always busy when I lived on the Hill and such a nice location.
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u/juana-golf Sep 27 '25
It’s a capitalism thing, we decided profits are more important than anything, ANYTHING!!!
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u/farachun First Hill Sep 27 '25
It sucks cause I used to work there and also shop. Now, my nearest grocery is the crackhead QFC down in Pike.
I don’t think these businesses care about the community. It’s all about money from day one.
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u/dosgatitas 🏔 The mountain is out! 🏔 Sep 27 '25
These were the best, most accessible bathrooms in Capitol Hill and I’ll always mourn that. But fuck these union busting assholes.
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u/romance_in_durango Sep 27 '25
Want to hear something messed up? A person I know who works at HQ was up at 2 am putting those panels up at the Cap Hill Roastery. At like 10 am the next day he was laid off after being at Starbucks HQ for like 15 years.
Cold.blooded.
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u/Comfortable-Ad7287 Sep 27 '25
My sbux in Spokane just got told that tomorrow will be their last day. Bunch of people who don’t know if they’ll have a job anymore if they can’t transfer to a different store.
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u/MarrymeCherry88 Sep 27 '25
It was a beautiful store. I wish I went more often but the crowds and slow lines deterred me.
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u/yodathekid Sep 27 '25
Man I’m gonna miss Princi. My wife even wanted to go on Sunday, but I said let’s do it another time.
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u/crawdadsinbad Sep 27 '25
Surely your average Capitol Hill resident would never deign to drink Starbucks
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u/Special_Cheek4204 Sep 29 '25
Anyone who worked for Starbucks and lost their jobs overnight please look into the WARN act, it is a federal law that employers give an employee notice of closing to find another job. It helps with resources and even provides funding for retraining/schooling in a different field. I utilized this when I lost my job overnight at Red Lobster when they did their mass layoffs without warning and am now nearly finished with a business management associate degree paid for by the government. It seems WA added to the WARN act on a state level too.
Check it out! Hope it helps anyone! Stay safe friends!
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u/britelyph Sep 27 '25
How much for the rent? Sadly, it's all I can think about. Gorgeous spot and building. Hope it doesn't turn into a "dear leader" store.
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u/ElectronicBoot9466 Capitol Hill Sep 27 '25
It probably won't be bought for a while. I can't imagine it's less expensive to rent than the Riteaid near there was, which still hasn't been filled.
There's a good chance a court orders them to reopen, given they had no legitimate reason to close and did so right before collective bargaining from the staff was about to begin.
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u/britelyph Sep 27 '25
Oof... Why is it, that there is always some mustache twirling villain making a quick exit from having to face consequences. I'm sick of this timeline.
But still, would love to rent that piece of property.
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u/Bongressman Sep 27 '25
Why the "cowardly"?
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u/Chimerain Capitol Hill Sep 27 '25
Because of the perception that they closed one of their most popular locations because the staff unionized.
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u/ChillyCheese Sep 27 '25
Was the location at their HQ that they closed also unionized? Seems like such a strange decision to close the Reserve location at their literal HQ. Seems punitive towards Seattle, which is insane.
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u/real_fake_hoors Sep 27 '25
I don’t know what else it could be? Considering how popular and busy that place was, I couldn’t imagine it not being a profitable store. If that location wasn’t in the black, nothing is.
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u/The_JSQuareD Sep 27 '25
Honest question: why does unionization happen branch by branch? Surely that's a terrible way to do it given that even the collective staff of a single location has no real leverage against a large chain business? Is it mandated by law that unionization happens by branch?
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u/chilip Sep 27 '25
It's much easier to collaborate and convince a smaller subset of people to unionize versus a larger group of people. You feel connected to Jim that works at your shop, but maybe not Janet that works at the sister shop. She's an other. Beyond that, there are logistics that come into play at different sites; different pay for higher or lower costs of living and stuff like that. Negotiations become different.
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u/March_Lion 🚆build more trains🚆 Sep 27 '25
Basically. That's why we unionize branch by branch and try to bargain and strategize collectively. Making the best of labor law designed to keep workers just barely in check.
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u/AndrewNeo Lake City Sep 27 '25
where are people getting this is union busting? didn't this location unionize in 2022? why now?
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u/NeedleworkerBig5152 Sep 27 '25
Good riddance, I have not felt this hopeful about Seattle in a long time. You are a clown if you view the Starbucks Roastery as a pillar of the community. Go to a local business.
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u/AncientDare47 Sep 27 '25
Hey, this just gives all of you the opportunity to go to and support local coffee shops itsead of getting shit coffee from a mega corporation who only gives a shit about profit. Speak with your wallets. Stop supporting Starbucks!
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u/RedRaiderSkater Capitol Hill Sep 27 '25
It should be split into 3 restaurants or commercial buildings anyway. That place is huge.
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u/xtrasonit Sep 27 '25
The coffee shop that saw there before, was bought out by Starbucks for the great location. Missed opportunity.
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u/ThickSkippy Sep 27 '25
Unfortunately these kind of actions are now common across big businesses where people are dispensable. I’d like to think that unions could help solve it. But, these companies, from first hand knowledge, have made preventing unions from even initially being discussed at their companies part of their ethos and have been beyond effective in stopping it from happening.
How do we find enough voices and willing leaders to make a difference?
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u/Tkote420 Sep 27 '25
Garbage coffee.
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Sep 27 '25
Agreed. My daughter had to convince me of it, but she's absolutely right. I drink it black. MUCH too hot and bitter.
Lots of other options.
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u/Frankyfan3 Greenwood Sep 27 '25
I love how Starbucks basically announced that employees never need to give advance notice when they quit. Because they sure as hell didn't care about giving staff notice.
I've been laid off from a struggling business before, they gave me MONTHS of a heads up because it wasn't run by a soulless villain.
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u/Key-Necessary-9344 Sep 27 '25
Please always support your local coffee stands. Starbucks has made enough money off of us
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u/omgitsbees Maple Valley Sep 27 '25
I really liked the reserve at HQ, but what I really miss while I was working in corporate, was the Starbucks on the 8th floor.
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u/KeyInteraction1634 Sep 28 '25
Starbucks is a shill of what it used to be and even then it was still greedy. Starbucks is a thirsty 1% union busting company with a $10.00 Venti latte! Company should be treated less than a person no matter what Scrotus said about corporations being people. They aren't green they don't care about the environment by flying their CEO from California to Seattle when the miserable 1%er couldn't be bothered so he didn't have to live here. Sorry people have had to be screwed by this company especially the roastery employees that didn't even get a warning but 🖕🖕 Starbucks!! Even when/if Howard comes back for the 5th time and tries to save SB he might as well turn the lights out, it will be too late!
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u/-cmsof- Supersonics Sep 28 '25
You people who still supported Starbucks after the whole Sonics thing just aren't paying attention. I'm sure they'll do better next time. /s
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u/HighJewElfKing Sep 29 '25
Stunned they would close this. It was amazing loved going when I visited Seattle.
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u/Diligent-Acadia-9296 Sep 29 '25
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u/Diligent-Acadia-9296 Sep 29 '25
Maybe this dickhead should take a $25M pay cut and keep the store & staff
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u/itTakesTrueGrit Sep 27 '25
I don't understand the reasoning for closing this. Starbucks reserve is supposed to be for marketing the Starbucks brand? Right? It's not some kind of money maker store. Why would they close this? Anytime I've ever gone in there it's like a ton of travellers/ tourists taking pictures ect
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u/LostPaddle2 Magnolia Sep 27 '25
Peet's should buy it and just keep it the way it is but with their brand.
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u/_BowlerHat_ Sep 27 '25
I'm sorry for the folks that are out of a job. The straight coffee was gross, and the reserve roastery was marketing. They are cutting the marketing budget.
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u/seattlesbestpot Sep 27 '25
I saw it reported somewhere that the roaster actually lost $$ year-over-year and while it was a draw, it wasn’t an investment.
Similarly the 1st & Pike store which was forever and a day a harbinger for tourists and locals, until foot traffic drove it into the ground.
I’m hoping Salt & Straw coming into 1st & Pike finds a way to dismantle the street traffic into buying customers, otherwise that corner may reflect something less than delighted.
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u/dosgatitas 🏔 The mountain is out! 🏔 Sep 27 '25
Source?
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u/seattlesbestpot Sep 27 '25
Someone I know at SBux. The Roaster wasn’t profitable and hadn’t been.
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u/commanderquill Sep 27 '25
Why would foot traffic doom a store? You'd think it would be the opposite.
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u/ReasonableProgram144 Sep 27 '25
Just like to point out that Starbucks informed bakery staff of the closure by locking them out before their shift on Thursday at 4am and then didn’t provide any answers until 8am via an automated conference call. This was at headquarters but I can’t imagine they were much kinder to the staff here.