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周二,星巴克突然宣布任命Chipotle公司CEO布莱恩·尼科尔接替拉克斯曼·纳拉西姆汉,担任新任CEO,他常用的卷饼碗和玉米饼,将换成奶油冷萃咖啡和南瓜风味拿铁咖啡。
尼科尔曾在塔可钟(Taco Bell)和必胜客(Pizza Hut)的母公司百胜餐饮集团(Yum! Brands)担任领导职位,后来加入Chipotle,因此他对快餐业并不陌生。自2018年担任Chipotle的CEO以来,他领导这家连锁墨西哥餐厅进行大规模转型,帮助公司摆脱了大肠杆菌危机,并将其重新定位为以烹饪和美食为导向的快速休闲餐厅帝国。他甚至还制定了雄心勃勃的计划,要将在美国的餐厅数量翻一番,增加到7,000多家。
星巴克需要尼科尔像在Chipotle时一样,提振公司的士气。作为该连锁咖啡厅两年内的第四任CEO,尼科尔要接手的是一家日渐衰弱的帝国,很难打动受通胀影响的客户。除了销售下滑和顾客因为门店人满为患而放弃在线订单以外,星巴克还要面对投资者要求建立稳健管理团队的压力。现任首席财务官瑞秋·鲁杰里将接替纳拉西姆汉担任临时CEO,直到9月9日尼科尔接班。
对星巴克而言,幸运的是,有30年零售食品业从业经历的尼科尔,擅长接手需要改进的公司。
混搭大师
尼科尔在2015年至2018年期间曾担任百胜餐饮旗下的塔可钟的CEO,后来加入Chipotle,墨西哥快餐对他而言就是舒适区。在塔可钟任职期间,他像科学怪人一样,帮助开发出目前大受欢迎的Doritos Locos Tacos,还有限时供应的Cap’n Crunch甜甜圈球混搭食品。他还为该连锁餐厅策划了“Live Más”广告,并推出了手机点餐应用。
在设计出塔可钟风靡一时的创意食品之前,他在迈阿密大学(Miami University)主修工程学。他恰好参加了一个市场营销课程,这让他对工程学以外的其他领域产生了兴趣。尼科尔在1996年毕业,修了经济学和商务学分,毕业后加入宝洁(Procter & Gamble)担任Scope漱口水的品牌经理,后来被任命为营销总监助理。
在宝洁工作近十年后,尼科尔在2005年加入百胜餐饮,从必胜客和塔可钟的副总裁被提拔为首席营销官,后来负责Chipotle这家连锁墨西哥餐厅。
Chipotle转型
尼科尔在2018年接任Chipotle的CEO时,这家快速休闲连锁餐厅因为大肠杆菌爆发的影响陷入困境。那次危机导致20名顾客住院。除此之外,Chipotle开展了防御性的营销活动,强调其食品安全措施,并推出了大量折扣和促销活动,导致公司声誉进一步受挫。尼科尔调整了公司的战略方向,取消了促销活动,并且在“早餐大战”中表现出克制,他并没有像其他连锁快餐厅那样,投入大量资源扩展菜单和延长营业时间。
相反,尼科尔鼓励Chipotle采取以烹饪和美食为中心的策略。他帮助培训门店员工,让他们了解食材的季节性,并强调了连锁餐厅员工的厨师角色,以及顾客观看他们烹饪食物的“戏剧性”体验。Chipotle转向在线订餐,并尝试使用自动化和推出限时新品,如蒜味墨西哥瓜希柳辣椒牛排和烤腌鸡肉等,这让人回想起尼科尔在塔可钟任职期间的表现。
虽然在尼科尔的领导下,Chipotle的处境有所好转,但该连锁餐厅依旧需要面对挑剔的顾客。随着餐厅的价格持续上涨,顾客已经表达了对于食物数量和份量一致性的担忧。
他在今年春季对《财富》杂志表示:“我们一直希望给顾客提供大份食物,让他们对食物感到兴奋。如果你想要双份肉,就必须付钱,但我们的目标是用真正美味的食物打动顾客。”(财富中文网)
译者:刘进龙
审校:汪皓
周二,星巴克突然宣布任命Chipotle公司CEO布莱恩·尼科尔接替拉克斯曼·纳拉西姆汉,担任新任CEO,他常用的卷饼碗和玉米饼,将换成奶油冷萃咖啡和南瓜风味拿铁咖啡。
尼科尔曾在塔可钟(Taco Bell)和必胜客(Pizza Hut)的母公司百胜餐饮集团(Yum! Brands)担任领导职位,后来加入Chipotle,因此他对快餐业并不陌生。自2018年担任Chipotle的CEO以来,他领导这家连锁墨西哥餐厅进行大规模转型,帮助公司摆脱了大肠杆菌危机,并将其重新定位为以烹饪和美食为导向的快速休闲餐厅帝国。他甚至还制定了雄心勃勃的计划,要将在美国的餐厅数量翻一番,增加到7,000多家。
星巴克需要尼科尔像在Chipotle时一样,提振公司的士气。作为该连锁咖啡厅两年内的第四任CEO,尼科尔要接手的是一家日渐衰弱的帝国,很难打动受通胀影响的客户。除了销售下滑和顾客因为门店人满为患而放弃在线订单以外,星巴克还要面对投资者要求建立稳健管理团队的压力。现任首席财务官瑞秋·鲁杰里将接替纳拉西姆汉担任临时CEO,直到9月9日尼科尔接班。
对星巴克而言,幸运的是,有30年零售食品业从业经历的尼科尔,擅长接手需要改进的公司。
混搭大师
尼科尔在2015年至2018年期间曾担任百胜餐饮旗下的塔可钟的CEO,后来加入Chipotle,墨西哥快餐对他而言就是舒适区。在塔可钟任职期间,他像科学怪人一样,帮助开发出目前大受欢迎的Doritos Locos Tacos,还有限时供应的Cap’n Crunch甜甜圈球混搭食品。他还为该连锁餐厅策划了“Live Más”广告,并推出了手机点餐应用。
在设计出塔可钟风靡一时的创意食品之前,他在迈阿密大学(Miami University)主修工程学。他恰好参加了一个市场营销课程,这让他对工程学以外的其他领域产生了兴趣。尼科尔在1996年毕业,修了经济学和商务学分,毕业后加入宝洁(Procter & Gamble)担任Scope漱口水的品牌经理,后来被任命为营销总监助理。
在宝洁工作近十年后,尼科尔在2005年加入百胜餐饮,从必胜客和塔可钟的副总裁被提拔为首席营销官,后来负责Chipotle这家连锁墨西哥餐厅。
Chipotle转型
尼科尔在2018年接任Chipotle的CEO时,这家快速休闲连锁餐厅因为大肠杆菌爆发的影响陷入困境。那次危机导致20名顾客住院。除此之外,Chipotle开展了防御性的营销活动,强调其食品安全措施,并推出了大量折扣和促销活动,导致公司声誉进一步受挫。尼科尔调整了公司的战略方向,取消了促销活动,并且在“早餐大战”中表现出克制,他并没有像其他连锁快餐厅那样,投入大量资源扩展菜单和延长营业时间。
相反,尼科尔鼓励Chipotle采取以烹饪和美食为中心的策略。他帮助培训门店员工,让他们了解食材的季节性,并强调了连锁餐厅员工的厨师角色,以及顾客观看他们烹饪食物的“戏剧性”体验。Chipotle转向在线订餐,并尝试使用自动化和推出限时新品,如蒜味墨西哥瓜希柳辣椒牛排和烤腌鸡肉等,这让人回想起尼科尔在塔可钟任职期间的表现。
虽然在尼科尔的领导下,Chipotle的处境有所好转,但该连锁餐厅依旧需要面对挑剔的顾客。随着餐厅的价格持续上涨,顾客已经表达了对于食物数量和份量一致性的担忧。
他在今年春季对《财富》杂志表示:“我们一直希望给顾客提供大份食物,让他们对食物感到兴奋。如果你想要双份肉,就必须付钱,但我们的目标是用真正美味的食物打动顾客。”(财富中文网)
译者:刘进龙
审校:汪皓
Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol is trading in his usual burrito bowl and quesadilla for cream-topped cold brew and pumpkin spice lattes, after Starbucks’ surprise announcement Tuesday naming Niccol the coffee giant’s new CEO, replacing Laxman Narasimhan.
Catapulting himself from leadership positions at Taco Bell and Pizza Hut parent Yum! Brands to Chipotle, Niccol is no stranger to fast food. Since beginning his CEO tenure at Chipotle in 2018, he’s spearheaded the Mexican-inspired chain’s massive turnaround, helping it shed its E. coli crisis and embrace a new identity as a culinary-forward fast-casual empire, even setting the lofty goal of doubling its restaurant count to over 7,000 locations in the U.S.
Starbucks needs the boost that Niccol gave Chipotle. As the coffee chain’s fourth CEO in just two years, Niccol will inherit an ailing empire that has struggled to romance inflation-fatigued customers. Amid sales dips and customers abandoning online orders due to congested stores, Starbucks is also contending with pressure from investors to install sturdy management. CFO Rachel Ruggeri will fill Narasimhan’s shoes as interim CEO until Niccol’s takeover on Sept. 9.
Luckily for Starbucks, Niccol, a 30-year retail food veteran, is used to taking over fixer-uppers.
The mash-up master
Mexican-style fast food was a comfort zone for Niccol, who held the CEO role at Yum! Brands’ Taco Bell from 2015 to 2018 before his stint at Chipotle. It was there that he helped Frankenstein Taco Bell’s now-mainstay Doritos Locos Tacos, as well as its limited-time Cap’n Crunch doughnut hole mashup. He also masterminded the chain’s “Live Más” ad campaign and pioneered its mobile ordering app.
But before becoming the architect of Taco Bell’s viral creations, Niccol was an engineering major at Miami University. He happened to take a marketing class that piqued his interest more than his initial engineering track. Niccol piled on economics and business credits before he graduated in 1996 and joined Procter & Gamble as a brand manager of Scope mouthwash, then assistant marketing director.
After nearly a decade at the company, Niccol left for Yum! Brands in 2005, where he rose from the rank of vice president to chief marketing officer of Pizza Hut and Taco Bell to eventually lead the Mexican-inspired chain.
Chipotle’s transformation
By the time Niccol transitioned to his role as Chipotle’s CEO in 2018, the fast-casual chain was beleaguered by the fallout from an E. coli outbreak that hospitalized 20 customers. As if the crisis weren’t enough of a stomach ache, Chipotle’s reputation hit was compounded by defensive marketing campaigns about its food safety practices and piled-on discounts and promotions. Niccol redirected the company’s efforts, ditching its promotions and showing restraint in refusing to participate in the Breakfast Wars where fast-food chains were exerting so many resources to expand menus and hours.
Instead, Niccol encouraged a culinary-forward approach to Chipotle. He helped educate store staff on the seasonality of ingredients and emphasized the chef-like role of the chain’s line workers and the theater of customers watching them prepare foods. Chipotle pivoted to online ordering and has experimented with automation and limited-time novelties like garlic guajillo steak and chicken al pastor that harken back to Niccol’s time at Taco Bell.
While Niccol will leave Chipotle in better shape than he inherited it, the chain will continue to contend with sensitive customers, who have made known their concerns about the amount of food and consistency of portion sizes as the restaurant’s prices continue to tick upward.
“We always want to give people big portions that get them excited about the food,” he told Fortune this spring. “If you want to double the amount of meat, you gotta pay for it, but our goal is to get people really excited about what I believe is really delicious food.”