“We finished our fourth quarter and full fiscal year strong, delivering on the higher end of our full-year guidance. Our Reinvention is moving ahead of schedule, fueling revenue growth, efficiency and margin expansion,” commented Laxman Narasimhan, chief executive officer. “Notably, we continue to see the positive impact of our Reinvention on our partner and customer experiences, proof points that we can continue to create, grow and strengthen our business while creating value for all. As we enter the current year, in the face of macro uncertainty, we remain confident in the momentum throughout our business and headroom globally. We expect sustained momentum throughout the company for years to come,” Narasimhan added. (source)
During the end of the last quarter of last year and during the current end of the first quarter of this year Starbucks was cost cutting a lot (these last two quarters is when I paid attention a lot, this happens though every quarter) which I feel like is lying in terms of how they try to portray the health and success of their company to consumers and investors. We will go from having bi-weekly meetings, managers having extra admin time to work on stuff, people coming out quickly to fix broken machines and property, etc. to only focusing on production, managers only on the floor, and focusing only on important fixes such as on the espresso machines. This seems reasonable if profits aren’t as what they expected, sure.
What bothers me here and what I feel like is lying is the reasoning behind the cost-cutting. Costs are being cut because the money isn’t there. Which is fine. However, this isn’t shared explicitly. A recent example that irked me is talks of our growth and expansion while hours across the board are being cut all across the district. Sure, they get their numbers but the way they present these numbers makes it seem like they got in the context of things going good/as expected for the company.