You will have a private jet to get from home to the office.

Brian Niccol You won’t have to worry about getting from home to the office. Your contract is take on the role of CEO of Starbucks From next month, his travel expenses are covered: the company has provided him with a private jet.

The clause sparked controversy in the US last week, contrasting with the company’s environmental and waste-reduction policies it has been implementing for several years. This year, Starbucks boasted of reducing the use of plastic in its cups by 20%.

Specifically Niccol’s home in Newport Beach, California, is 1,000 miles away. from the company’s headquarters in Seattle. According to the job offer the company extended to him, which was revealed last week, Starbucks did not ask him to move to the city where the company is headquartered. They will set up a small remote office in your home so you can work there for a few days. The rest of us will have to fly to the building.

“Brian Niccol has proven to be one of the most effective leaders in our industry, delivering significant financial returns over many years,” a Starbucks spokesperson said when asked about the matter by CNN. “We are confident in his experience and ability to serve as a leader of our global business and brand, delivering strong, long-term value to our associates, customers and shareholders.”

On its X account, Greenpeace issued a sharp defense. “While most of us are encouraged to cycle or take public transport to work, These guys fly to work on a private jet, it’s unacceptable“They wrote it together with a petition to ban the use of private jets.

According to a report by the Institute for Policy Studies, while private jets use a fraction of the fuel of a commercial airliner, they still burn about 10 times more fuel per passenger kilometer, given their limited capacity. That’s why They are in the spotlight in environmental protection.

Especially when Starbucks makes environmentalism, sustainability, and carbon reduction one of its banners. “We are committed to positive resource use: giving more to the planet than we take. We will store more carbon than we emit, eliminate waste, and conserve and replenish more fresh water than we use,” it says on its website.

This year, they launched a new type of cold-brew glass that uses 20 percent less plastic, and they’re launching a pilot trial of reusable cups in California, where their new CEO lives.

Niccol is one of the big names in the world of mass consumer management. He came from Walmart, but has been at Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Procter and Gamble, among others.

But one of his biggest successes has come at fast-food chain Chipotle. According to the BBC, he played a key role in helping it overcome a major crisis in 2018 following a food poisoning scandal.

During his tenure, the company’s sales doubled and grew from from less than $7 each to over $50They also opened about 1,000 stores and automated food production. It was for this reason that he was sought at Starbucks to replace Laxman Narasimha, the previous CEO, who had been there for less than two years.

That point is key to understanding the lucrative contract they offered him, and the environmental controversies that come with it. Niccol will have a base salary of $1.6 million and a signing bonus of $10 million. It will also attract millions more dollars based on the company’s annual performance, according to Starbucks’ regulatory filings.

Dan Coatsworth, an investment analyst quoted by the BBC, stressed that using a private jet Not only is this bad for the environment, it also sends a bad signal to customers and staff. “It’s not a practical way to run a $105 billion business with about 400,000 employees,” he said.

“A leader must be at the center of the company, not sitting on the beach enjoying the perks of the job,” he says.

That’s another contradiction that the hiring of a new CEO adds. In 2023, Starbucks announced that its corporate employees would be required to work in the office three days a week. Employees within walking distance of the company’s headquarters would be required to be there on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and another day agreed upon by management.