Episode 244: Kevin Johnson's Abrupt Departure as Starbucks CEO

Peter Romeo from Restaurant Business joins us this week to discuss a variety of topics including Kevin Johnson who is abruptly out as CEO of Starbucks despite the strong performance of the company as they navigated the pandemic. Was it the combination of the burgeoning unionization campaign, the perceived missteps of the company in addressing it, formal reprimands from the NLRB and the subsequent unrest of key shareholders that made the move necessary? We’ll discuss. And we’ll take a look at the opioid issue within the industry and a new pilot program rolled out by the state of Delaware targeting restaurant workers. And then we are joined by Brennan Duckett, the Director of Technology & Innovation Policy at the National Restaurant Association to discuss data privacy and the growing political and legislative challenge that the industry is facing in that very important space. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.