Unionized Starbucks workers at the 305 E. Mitchell Hammock Road store in Oviedo join national strike (Dec. 11, 2025) Credit: Clay Blastic/Starbucks Workers United
After voting overwhelmingly to go on strike if needed to secure a fair union contract, baristas at one of Central Florida’s only unionized Starbucks locations in Oviedo have joined a national strike that began last month, as part of a pressure campaign to get Starbucks to agree to their demands.
Workers at other stores, unionized with Starbucks Workers United have gradually joined the strike, leveraging an escalation strategy used by the United Auto Workers union during their “Stand Up” strike against automakers Ford, General Motors and Stellantis in 2023.
“If we get a good contract, that sets a standard that other stores can look at and go, ‘This is better than what the store — this company that says it’s progressive — is offering,’” said Clay Blastic, a local Starbucks barista of more than 10 years. Blastic, a union leader at his store, told Orlando Weekly that they’re fighting for a union contract with Starbucks that not only lifts up the wages and working conditions of unionized baristas, but sets higher standards for others, too.
“A rising tide lifts all boats, as they say,” he said. Starbucks workers at the 305 E. Mitchell Hammock Road location in Oviedo joined the strike early Thursday morning, which has now spread across 180 locations in 34 cities, including two unionized Starbucks locations in West Palm Beach — the first in Florida to join the strike last week — and Clearwater. Baristas at the Oviedo location first voted to unionize in 2022. They were joined Thursday on the picket line by allies with labor union UNITE HERE and Central Florida Jobs with Justice.
Unlike one-day strikes organized by Starbucks baristas in the past — a rarity in an industry where so few workers are actually unionized — this strike is an open-ended strike, meaning the end date for their work stoppage is yet to be determined.
“Baristas like me shouldn’t be worrying about making rent or whether we’ll qualify for healthcare coverage, especially in the holiday season,” Zarian Antonio Pouncy, a barista of 12 years from Las Vegas, said in a statement from his union. “We need Starbucks to end the illegal union busting, and we need a fair contract with fair pay, reliable hours, and on-the-job protections. Until then, the message from baristas and our allies across the U.S. and beyond is clear: No Contract, No Coffee!”
Workers are asking for customers to boycott of all Starbucks locations and products for the duration of the strike
Starbucks, despite is progressive branding, has been accused of hundreds of labor law violations since 2021, when baristas in Buffalo, New York, unionized the first corporate-owned location in the United States. Allegations range from Starbucks illegally firing workers for their union activity to cutting the hours of and otherwise retaliating against baristas who are organizing at their store.
Earlier this month, Starbucks also reached a $38 million settlement with New York City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, according to The City NYC, over Starbucks “arbitrarily” cutting workers’ hours, in violation of the city’s “fair workweek” law. Fair workweek laws, which guarantee predictability in workers’ schedules, were banned by Florida lawmakers through legislation approved by Gov. Ron DeSantis last year.
Blastic, the local barista, said that meeting baristas’ economic demands in a union contract — the primary sticking point in negotiations — would cost Starbucks less than just one average day of sales. Other union leaders have argued the same. “It’s just a question of priorities,” he said.
Starbucks, for instance, found the money to gift its new CEO Brian Niccol, the former head of burrito chain Chipotle, a nearly $100 million compensation package last year. According to an annual report from the AFL-CIO, Niccol made 6,666 times the pay of the average Starbucks barista in 2024.
“They call us ‘partners,’ but I’d like to see them put their money where their mouth is when it comes to that,” Blastic said. While critics might argue that barista jobs are meant to be entry-level jobs for younger workers, Blastic argued, “All jobs deserve dignity.”
Starbucks workers in Oviedo join national strike (Dec. 11, 2025) Credit: Clay Blastic/Starbucks Workers United
“We used to see a lot more older people that were able to make a living with Starbucks, and that has changed over the years,” he said. The union last year sought a $20 minimum wage in their contract with Starbucks, plus annual 5 percent raises and cost-of-living adjustments. Starbucks, instead, offered a contract delivering no immediate pay raises — a deal soundly rejected by union baristas earlier this year.
“This is a college store,” Blastic admitted of his location, referring to the fact that they see frequent turnover from students at the University of Central Florida who are looking for a job outside of their studies. Even if this is a student’s first job, he said, “They still deserve the basic dignity of being able to support themselves off the job and respect from their management and protections in the workplace.”
According to Starbucks Workers United, nearly 4,000 unionized Starbucks workers are now on strike, as of Thursday morning, as part of the union’s latest expansion of the work stoppage. Workers are asking customers and their communities to boycott Starbucks for as long as they’re on strike — meaning, no gift cards, no coffee, no merch.
“There are plenty of wonderful local coffee shops in the area, in Oviedo, that would love their business,” said Blastic. “But it’s time for the customers as well to say … ‘if there’s going to be no contract, there’s going to be no coffee.’”
Starbucks spokesperson Jaci Anderson, in response to the strike, told Orlando Weekly in a statement that 99 percent of their 17,000 U.S. locations are still open and welcoming customers, “including many the union publicly stated would strike but never closed or have since reopened.”
In response to the union’s economic demands, Anderson said that pay and benefits for Starbucks jobs average $30 per hour for hourly positions. “Regardless of the union’s plans, we do not anticipate any meaningful disruption,” she said. “When the union is ready to return to the bargaining table, we’re ready to talk.”
Politicians like U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, and U.S. Congressman Maxwell Frost (a former Starbucks barista) have shared support for the striking Starbucks workers — with the former two even joining a picket line with workers up in Brooklyn.
“Right now, Starbucks workers are on strike,” Congressman Frost, a Democrat from Orlando, shared in a Nov. 25 social media reel. “As a former Starbucks barista myself, I’m proud of @sbworkersunited for organizing nationwide. They need our support and solidarity.”
If you’re interested in showing your support for union baristas on strike, you can find a map of Starbucks Workers United public picket lines at NoContractNoCoffee.org.
Starbucks workers in Oviedo have also set up a strike fund through GoFundMe, to help cover workers’ lost income while they’re on strike.
Proceeds from merch on the union’s website, including shirts with messages like “Be Gay and Organize” and “Trans Rights Are Labor Rights,” are also currently going toward workers’ strike funds.
Starbucks workers in Oviedo join national strike (Dec. 11, 2025) Credit: Clay Blastic/Starbucks Workers United
While some progress has been made in contract talks with Starbucks, the union is threatening a potential strike if they don’t reach a deal that workers approve.
Union workers accuse the coffee company of violating federal labor law.
The local workers could join more than 10,500 Starbucks workers across the U.S. who have already unionized
Starbucks brings back holiday customer favorite with the long-awaited Eggnog Latte return—millions of fans celebrate the classic winter flavor.
Coffee lovers, it’s time to rejoice: after years away, Starbucks brings back holiday customer favorite – the beloved Eggnog Latte. Fans across the country couldn’t be more thrilled. Starting 2 December, the seasonal classic returns nationwide as part of Starbucks’ holiday menu, finally answering the pleas of thousands of disappointed drinkers and this media company.
The Eggnog Latte first debuted in 1986, when (then a smaller Seattle-based coffee chain) incorporated the recipe from espresso bar Il Giornale. Over decades it became one of the most cherished seasonal drinks — a treat, which for many, defined the holiday season. Then, after the 2020 holiday run, Starbucks quietly dropped it from the U.S. menu. By 2021, the company officially confirmed the discontinuation.
That decision shattered many fans — especially those who looked forward to the warm, spiced flavor each December. Critics accused Starbucks of being tone-deaf to holiday traditions and loyal customers alike. But this year, Starbucks is returning to form. In addition to the classic hot latte, fans will also be able to enjoy an iced version — and for the first time, a brand-new Eggnog Cold Foam topping has been introduced as part of the 2025 holiday menu.
Eggnog
Starbucks’ customer base is broad, but demographic data suggests its core audience tends to be adults between the ages of roughly 22 and 60, with the “average” customer around 42 years old. These patrons include students, professionals, parents, and a wide swath of middle- and upper-income consumers, many of whom rely on Starbucks not just for their daily caffeine fix but for seasonal treats and indulgences.
In recent years, cold drinks have surged in popularity at Starbucks. In fact, Millennials and Gen Z are credited with driving the growth of cold coffee beverages, which reportedly account for a large majority of Starbucks’ beverage sales.
At the same time, Starbucks’ loyalty program (Starbucks Rewards) remains a backbone of its business: as of 2024, there were roughly 34.3 million active U.S. members — and loyalty-program users visit more often, spend more, and tend to order the same items repeatedly.
All of this suggests the Eggnog Latte’s return isn’t just a nostalgic sideshow. For many regulars — especially seasonal drink fans — this is a major win for Starbucks’ holiday strategy, likely to draw in both longtime holiday-drink loyalists and newer cool-drink seekers.
To appreciate why this latte means so much this time of year, it helps to know where eggnog itself comes from. The drink — typically made with milk or cream, sugar, eggs, and spices like nutmeg — traces its roots back to medieval Britain’s “posset,” a warm, curdled milk drink often enriched with wine or ale. Eggs were added over time, as were spices and sugar.
The term “eggnog” is thought by some historians to be a fusion of “egg” and “noggin” (a small wooden mug), or possibly “grog” — an old word for a strong alcoholic drink — served in a “noggin.” By the time it crossed the Atlantic to colonial America in the 18th century, eggnog had become a holiday staple — often made with rum or bourbon when available, and consumed during winter celebrations.
Over the centuries, eggnog evolved from an aristocratic luxury to a ubiquitous holiday tradition. Today, most versions served are non-alcoholic but still rich, creamy, and sweet — the kind of cozy, indulgent treat many Americans (especially around the holidays) crave.
The return of the Eggnog Latte to Starbucks is more than just a menu update — it’s a nod to nostalgia, holiday tradition, and consumer demand. The Fresh Toast has been on the forefront of charge for the return. For many, the first sip evokes memories of chilly December mornings, holiday shopping, and the scent of nutmeg and cream in the air. With Starbucks’ wide and loyal customer base, the return could rekindle old traditions and create new ones. And the new Eggnog Cold Foam gives fans a chance to enjoy the flavor even with iced drinks or cold brews.
For purists of warmth and comfort, the classic hot latte remains a perfect choice. But for those curious or looking for something lighter, a steamed eggnog — hot eggnog with a shot of espresso and nutmeg on top — is also a great option. After all, a steamed eggnog is how many classic holiday memories were born.
On Feb. 14, 2022, a Starbucks manager pulled Michaela Sellaro aside for a meeting.
Just a few weeks earlier, Sellaro and a group of her fellow baristas at the coffee shop at 2975 East Colfax Ave. in Denver informed the company’s CEO that they planned to organize a union.
In the early afternoon, at a table by the windows, the store and district managers sat Sellaro down for a chat. The message, though light and breezy, was clear: “You know Starbucks’ stance is that we don’t need a union to represent our partners,” Kaylin Driscoll, the district manager, told Sellaro, according to a recording reviewed by The Denver Post.
Relationships with leadership will degrade if employees vote to organize, the managers told her. Promotions could be nixed. Benefits might change.
“The dynamic of having those conversations will change with a union,” said Ariel Rodriguez, the store’s manager, in the recording. “I have no personal desire to be part of a store that has to work through a union to have those conversations with you. I have zero interest in that.”
The East Colfax store, which the company has since closed, represents one of 18 Starbucks cafes in Colorado that have unionized since 2022, despite the Seattle-based coffee giant’s well-documented union-busting activity. What started with one unionized store in Buffalo, New York, in 2021 has blossomed into a nationwide movement encompassing 640 locations and thousands of workers around the United States.
Union supporter Pete DeMay of Chicago chants into a bullhorn along with other picketers during a labor organizing action at the Starbucks location at 2975 E. Colfax Ave. in Denver on Friday, March 11, 2022. (Photo by Eric Lutzens/The Denver Post)
Starbucks has nearly 18,300 locations, company-operated and licensed, across the U.S. and Canada. So far, despite the rapid growth in organizing, fewer than 4% of Starbucks workers are employed in unionized stores.
Starbucks has fought these efforts tooth and nail along the way. The National Labor Relations Board, which regulates private sector union activity in the U.S., has found the company illegally fired workers in response to organizing, closed stores because of union votes and engaged in widespread unfair labor practices designed to quash workers’ efforts.
The coffee conglomerate is the biggest violator of labor law in modern history, according to Starbucks Workers United, the national union representing company workers. The NLRB and its judges have found Starbucks has committed more than 500 labor law violations, the union says. Workers have filed more than 1,000 unfair labor practice charges, including more than 125 since January. More than 700 unresolved charges remain.
Despite the hundreds of union votes over the past four years, baristas are still working without a contract. This month, 92% of union workers voted to authorize an open-ended unfair labor practices strike ahead of the holiday season. The vote comes after six months of Starbucks “refusing to offer new proposals to address workers’ demands for better staffing, higher pay and a resolution of hundreds of unfair labor practice charges,” the union said in a news release.
On Nov. 13, more than 1,000 workers — from 65 stores in more than 40 cities, including Colorado Springs and Lafayette — walked off the job. The union said it was “prepared to continue escalating” its strikes if the company failed to deliver a new contract.
“Union baristas mean business and are ready to do whatever it takes to win a fair contract and end Starbucks’ unfair labor practices,” said Michelle Eisen, a Starbucks Workers United spokesperson and 15-year veteran barista. “We want Starbucks to succeed, but turning the company around and bringing customers back begins with listening to and supporting the baristas who are responsible for the Starbucks experience.
“If Starbucks keeps stonewalling, they should expect to see their business grind to a halt. The ball is in Starbucks’ court.”
The union’s push comes amid a wave of public support for organizing efforts. More than two-thirds of American adults approve of labor unions, according to Gallup polling, a level last reached in the 1950s and early 1960s. Support remains especially strong among young people — a demographic common for Starbucks baristas.
Starbucks representatives declined an interview request for this story. Sara Kelly, Starbucks’ chief partner officer, told employees in a letter this month that the company had bargained in good faith with the union, reaching more than 30 tentative agreements on full contract articles.
“Our commitment to bargaining hasn’t changed,” Kelly wrote. “Workers United walked away from the table, but if they are ready to come back, we’re ready to talk. We believe we can move quickly to a reasonable deal.”
Starbucks, she said, remains the best job in retail, paying, on average, $30 per hour for hourly workers once benefits are factored in.
The first Colorado union shop
But employees at Colorado’s first unionized cafe quickly learned the extent to which Starbucks would go to dissuade organizing efforts.
Harris didn’t know much about labor organizing, but she was intrigued. She and her colleagues were sick of the low compensation, of underscheduling and understaffing, and of not learning their weekly schedules until the night before.
Harris connected with the Buffalo workers over Twitter, and the resulting conversations helped launch the first Starbucks union efforts in Colorado.
Many of her colleagues were scared. One quickly told management about the plans.
Within a week, a rarely seen district manager suddenly showed up at the store, Harris said. Management organized an hour-long meeting about how the union was a bad idea, she said.
“They laid it on thick,” Harris said.
The day the workers officially filed with the NLRB, the Marshall fire broke out in Boulder County. As the blaze raged in Superior and Louisville, the Starbucks employees continued to work. Several staffers lost their own homes or were forced to evacuate.
Harris said she got a call that night from her manager, asking if she was OK. Then she said she was told to be at work first thing the next morning.
“It was a total exploitation of us,” Harris said.
As the vote neared, Starbucks amped up its anti-union activity, she said. Management initiated more two-on-one meetings with staff members. For many of the teenage baristas, this represented one of their first jobs. And here leadership was telling them that they wouldn’t be able to transfer stores or enjoy the perks that nonunion employees would receive, such as credit card tips.
Len Harris fires up the crowd during a rally at Trident Booksellers and Cafe in Boulder on Thursday, July 25, 2024. Harris helped to organize the first unionized Starbucks in Colorado, in Superior, before she was fired. (Matthew Jonas/Boulder Daily Camera)
“The individual intimidation was infuriating beyond belief,” Harris said. “I was sick to my stomach that they were taking advantage of these younger workers to terrify them.”
An executive flew in from Seattle and observed staff at work for weeks, Harris said. Management started cutting workers’ hours.
In April 2022, 12 of the 14 employees at the Superior location voted in favor of forming the union. The company, though, refused to negotiate with the newly formed body. So they went on strike in November, shutting down the store for the entire day.
The following day, Starbucks fired Harris, citing a policy about handling cash that she said she had never heard of. An administrative law judge with the NLRB later found the company had illegally fired Harris based on her union activity. She’s still waiting for tens of thousands of dollars in court-ordered back pay.
“I feel like I’ve gotten a peek behind the curtain to the levels of depravity that the company will sink to to take advantage of their employees,” she said.
The Starbucks playbook
The tactics Starbucks used to try to quash worker organizing in Superior are part of the playbook deployed by company leadership across Colorado and the rest of the country, according to interviews, NLRB documents and news reports.
Emily Alice Dinaro started organizing a Starbucks location on Denver’s 16th Street mall in 2022 because of what she saw as management’s failure to protect staff from violence, drug use and volatile customer interactions that were occurring daily.
After the union activity began, management started enforcing existing rules more strictly, while introducing new edicts, she said. Union supporters were singled out, and these new enforcement steps were used to push people out of the store, Dinaro said.
Out of the 26-person staff, 18 workers signed union cards, while 10 of them signed a letter to the Starbucks CEO informing him of their support. But the implementation of these new rules — concerning dress code, cell phone use and cash handling, among other things — forced widespread turnover at the store, Dinaro said. Only five people ended up voting in the union election, which passed successfully.
Dinaro was fired shortly after the vote over what the company said were repeated violations of its attendance and punctuality policy. In 2024, an NLRB judge ruled that Starbucks had fired her illegally due to her union activity.
“When I first started at Starbucks, I thought they were an outstanding, virtuous company,” Dinaro said. “I’ve come to learn they just have an outstanding PR team.”
Starbucks barista Brenna Bellfield holds roses, a symbol of the labor movement, in front of the unionized East Colfax location of Starbucks in Denver, Colorado, on Saturday, Jan. 2022. (Eli Imadali/Special to The Denver Post)
A Starbucks spokesperson, in a statement to The Post this month, said the company “respects our partners’ right to choose through a fair and democratic process, to be represented by a union or not to be represented by a union.”
But federal judges have repeatedly said otherwise. The NLRB, time and again, has found that Starbucks violated the National Labor Relations Act in dealings with employees and their efforts to unionize.
The coffee giant shuttered a store in Colorado Springs in 2022 shortly after its workers voted to unionize and one day before a requested bargaining date. The NLRB, the following year, ordered Starbucks to reopen that store, along with 22 others around the country, because the company had failed to give notice to labor groups.
The NLRB invalidated another union election at a different Colorado Springs location in 2022, finding that management threatened employees through “highly coercive” questioning and “textbook unlawful interrogation.” One manager gave “dire” warnings to workers that unionized stores would not receive certain benefits, such as pay raises.
In several instances, Starbucks violated federal law by firing Colorado workers over pro-union activities, the NLRB found.
The company has employed these same tactics to dissuade union activity across the country.
Federal labor regulators in 2022 asked a court to force Starbucks to stop the company’s “virulent, widespread and well-orchestrated response to employees’ protected organizing efforts.”
Starbucks has refused to divulge how much it has spent on its response to worker organizing campaigns. A federal judge in 2023 ordered the company to comply with a U.S. Department of Labor subpoena seeking expenditure documents for its investigation into the company’s compliance with the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act.
“We will not sit idly by when any company, including Starbucks Corp., defies our request to provide documents to make certain they are complying with the law,” Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda said in a statement at the time.
Howard Schultz, the coffee chain’s billionaire founder, has said the unionization drive felt like an attack on his life’s work. In previous speeches to his employees, he has cast the union as “a group trying to take our people,” an “outside force that’s trying desperately to disrupt our company” and “an adversary that’s threatening the very essence of what (we) believe to be true.”
Sharon Block, a former NLRB member under President Obama and a professor at Harvard Law School, said the coffee giant has used a tried-and-true playbook to stifle union activity. But with weak federal laws and a National Labor Relations Board that has been stunted by the Trump administration, she said, there is little incentive for unscrupulous companies to play by the rules.
“This is a continuing pattern of behavior that sends a signal to the workers that this is a company that will do almost anything to stop them,” she said in an interview.
Starbucks has earned the distinction as a model for unlawful corporate union busting, the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, wrote in a January article. The National Labor Relations Act lacks teeth, making companies more than willing to accept a few slaps on the wrist in order to achieve their broader goals, the report’s author noted.
“There is no mystery as to why corporations like … Starbucks … violate the (law) with such regularity: Crime pays great dividends, as it produces the desired chilling effect on worker organizing and as corporations consider the law’s paltry sanctions an insignificant price to pay to prevent unionization through fear and disruption,” the article states. “The penalties for violating the (law) are utterly meaningless for multibillion-dollar corporations.”
‘No contract, no coffee’
Despite these aggressive union-busting efforts, Starbucks workers continue to organize in Colorado and across the country.
Unionized shops in Colorado have grown to 17 stores, including five in Denver. More than 640 member stores have joined the cause since 2022, making the drive one of the fastest organizing efforts in modern history, according to Starbucks Workers United.
Now workers want a contract.
The union and the company conducted their first bargaining session in April 2024, meeting monthly that summer. In December, however, the union says Starbucks backtracked on the agreed-upon path forward. Starbucks Workers United accused the company of failing to bargain in good faith.
In April, the company rejected Starbucks’ package. The two sides have yet to return to the bargaining table.
Workers voted overwhelmingly on Nov. 5 to authorize an open-ended unfair labor practice strike. The union on Nov. 13 turned Starbucks’ Red Cup Day — an annual free cup giveaway around the holiday season — into a “red cup rebellion,” forcing the closure of nearly all 65 stores where workers were striking.
Starbucks Workers United said they planned to continue escalating the strike, warning that it could be the “largest, longest strike in company history” if the company refuses to deliver a fair contract.
Colorado Sens. John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet, along with 24 of their Senate colleagues, wrote a letter this month to Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol, pushing the company to end its “illegal union-busting efforts and negotiate a fair contract with its employees.”
“It is clear that Starbucks has the money to reach a fair agreement with its workers,” the senators wrote. “Starbucks must reverse course from its current posture, resolve its existing labor disputes, and bargain a fair contract in good faith with these employees.”
Jeremy Dixon, right, and Starbucks baristas picket outside a Starbucks store during a rally to demand a new union contract in Colorado Springs on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
Kelly, Starbucks’ chief partner officer, said the company already offers the best overall wage and benefits package in retail. She touted strong benefits that include health care, 100% tuition coverage for a four-year college degree and up to 18 weeks of paid family leave. The union, she wrote, is proposing pay increases of 65% immediately and 77% over three years, along with other proposals that would “significantly affect store operations and customer experience.”
“These aren’t serious, evidence-based proposals,” Kelly wrote.
The union, though, says many workers don’t get enough hours to qualify for benefits. Starting wages for baristas, they say, are $15.25 an hour in a majority of states, though Denver’s minimum wage stands at $18.81, requiring higher rates. Barista positions listed on the company’s website start at $17 per hour in Colorado, while shift supervisor roles begin around $21 per hour.
Baristas in Fort Collins and Colorado Springs last month participated in a national wave of pickets as they demanded a fair contract and prepared to strike.
“No contract, no coffee!” workers and their allies shouted as they rallied outside a Starbucks cafe on South College Avenue in Fort Collins. “Respect our rights or expect our strikes!”
Drivers honked their horns in support, while supporters gave thumbs-down reactions to those frequenting the coffee chain.
Three days later, a dozen people picketed outside a cafe on Carmela Grove in Colorado Springs, chanting in call-and-response choruses.
“I’m proud so many other stores are willing to step up with us,” said Blue Taylor, a shift supervisor and strike captain at the store. The 19-year-old watched as the company, during the store’s unionizing drive, spread misinformation about the consequences of organizing and tried to dissuade workers from supporting the cause. It didn’t work.
Thousands of unionized Starbucks workers plan to walk off the job Thursday after workers authorized a strike “with no set end date,” after the company failed to reach a contract agreement with the union.
Starbucks Workers United is calling the strike the “red cup rebellion,” since the strike coincides with the coffee chain’s annual Red Cup Day promotion. Starbucks Workers United, which represents more than 9,500 baristas across 550 Starbucks cafes, is asking for better pay, increased staffing and a resolution of labor disputes.
Up to 12,000 of the company’s 200,000 retail workers could walk off the job beginning at 4 p.m. local time. Starbucks said it doesn’t expect a disruption at the “vast majority” of its stores.
The open-ended strike will start with more than 65 stores in over 40 cities across the country, the union said.
“If Starbucks keeps stonewalling a fair contract and refusing to end union-busting, they’ll see their business grind to a halt,” said Michelle Eisen, Starbucks Workers United spokesperson and 15-year barista. “No contract, no coffee is more than a tagline—it’s a pledge to interrupt Starbucks operations and profits until a fair union contract and an end to unfair labor practices are won.”
“What their requests to date have been, has been unreasonable,” Niccol said. “We’re willing to, you know, negotiate and have ’em come back to the table and find a solution.”
The union announced last week that its members voted to authorize a strike after no contract agreement, with thousands weighing in and an overwhelming majority — 92% — voting in favor, according to the labor group.
Starbucks spokesperson Jaci Anderson previously told CBS News the company is disappointed that the union voted to authorize a strike instead of coming to the bargaining table. “When they’re ready to come back, we’re ready to talk,” she said in a statement last month.
Contract talks between Starbucks and Workers United began in April 2024 but fell apart in December. The union says it has secured 33 tentative agreements from Starbucks, but maintains that the vast majority are noneconomic proposals.
Starbucks Workers United plans to strike starting on November 13, the company’s Red Cup Day promotion, if the company doesn’t finalize a labor contract by then. The event is one of the busiest days for the coffee chain, when customers receive complimentary reusable holiday cups with a holiday drink purchase.
Starbucks employees are calling for higher take-home pay and more flexible hours. The strike is set to begin in 25 cities across the country, though more stores will join in if the company doesn’t act, a spokesperson for the union said.
Jaci Anderson, a Starbucks spokesperson, told CBS News the company would have welcomed a discussion.
“When they’re ready to come back, we’re ready to talk,” she said.
An Inc.com Featured Presentation
Anderson added that the union proposed an immediate 65 percent and 77 percent pay raise over the next three years. The union spokesperson, however, said the company had combined a group of separate wage proposals the union had laid out.
Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol told CBS News that the union’s proposals have been unreasonable, and said the company “already give[s] them the best job in retail.” He cited the low 50 percent turnover and “best” benefits and wages.
Employees currently earn $30 an hour in pay and benefits, and store managers have salaries. Members of the union say it isn’t enough to get by.
“Our fight is about actually making Starbucks jobs the best jobs in retail,” Jasmine Leli, a Starbucks barista said. “Right now, it’s only the best job in retail for Brian Niccol.”
Over 200,000 people work at the 10,000 Starbucks locations in North America, and the union represents 9,500 baristas across 550 Starbucks cafes. It said Wednesday that 92 percent of members voted in favor of the strike.
If the union goes through with it, the strike would become its third national work stoppage in the past year. In May, employees protested their new dress code and last December they walked out as part of “the strike before Christmas.”
Consumers may be rattled by inflation and fears about the economy, but that hasn’t stopped them from flocking to Starbucks for the coffee chain’s latest limited offering: a 20-ounce cup shaped like a teddy bear.
Starbucks unveiled on Wednesday its “Bearista Cold Cup,” selling for $29.95. The item sold out within hours, with some customers complaining of people in line shoving one another to stake a claim over the product. Others claimed they waited in store lines for an hour, only to see employees take two cups off the shelf and buy them themselves.
Starbucks offered an apology for the limited run of the cup, saying it did not expect it to become so popular.
“The excitement for our merchandise exceeded even our biggest expectations and despite shipping more Bearista cups to coffeehouses than almost any other merchandise item this holiday season, the Bearista cup and some other items sold out fast,” a Starbucks spokesperson said in a statement to Fortune. “We understand many customers were excited about the Bearista cup and apologize for the disappointment this may have caused.”
Last month, the coffee chain reported its first same-store sales growth in two years, turning the corner on a yearlong turnaround plan implemented by CEO Brian Niccol to turn Starbucks back into a cozy “third space.” Company changes included adding more comfortable store seating, and slashing menu items, as well as leveraging AI, taking the pressure off baristas so they can fulfill orders more efficiently.
Defying a cautious consumer
Retailers have long promoted holiday decorations and goods months ahead of schedule, as spending on special seasonal products tends to remain robust, even as other discretionary purchases take a hit. Look no further than Starbucks’ perennially popular Pumpkin Spice Latte, which it rolls out in August—a month before the autumn equinox.
Ravi Sawhney, founder and CEO of product design firm RKS Design, told Fortune thatStarbucks’ success with the Bearista cup goes beyond just seasonal flair. It pulls at the feeling of status that consumers desire, even in challenging economic times.
“In tough times, people look for any level of being unique, special,” Sawhney said. “They need those little tokens, and if it’s rare, that makes it that much more special.”
The designer, interested in the psychology behind why people purchase what they do, said consumers want to feel like they are on a hero’s journey when they go after an affordable trinket: They identify something they want, go through trials and tribulations to attain it, and then are positively viewed by other individuals who covet the item they just obtained.
“What is the low-cost way to be a hero to yourself and to others?” Sawhney said.
In less poetic terms, the Bearista cup is simply an extension of the little treats culture favored by Gen Z to justify small purchases after a challenging day. According to Sawhney, Starbucks is the embodiment of this little treats psychology—People may not be able to afford much, but they still splurge on a cup of coffee. It’s no surprise, then, why the Bearista cup was such a hit.
Starbucks announced its 2025 holiday menu with several existing and new flavored drinks going on sale this week, but what’s generating the most buzz is a new item: a $30 “bearista” mug, a glass cup for cold drinks resembling a honey bear container.
The mug, which is topped with a green silicone beanie, went on sale Thursday as Starbucks stores began offering its holiday menu. The mugs are already popping up for resale on eBay priced at $150 to $400 a pop, with several listed for $300 each.
The bearista cup sold out quickly on Thursday, Starbucks told CBS News.
“Despite shipping more Bearista cups to coffeehouses than almost any other merchandise item this holiday season, the Bearista cup and some other items sold out fast,” a company spokesperson said in an email. “We understand many customers were excited about the Bearista cup and apologize for the disappointment this may have caused.”
Starbucks’ $30 “bearista” mug is popping up for resale, with some sellers charging $300 or more for the item.
Starbucks
Social media users posted videos Thursday of themselves waiting in line to buy a bearista mug, with some writing that their local Starbucks had limited purchases to one bear-shaped mug per customer. Others expressed disappointment that people had scooped up the mugs before they had a chance to buy one.
“I was the second person in line @Starbucks at 4am to get a Bearista cup, doors opened at 4:30am, and they were sold out…there wasn’t even one on the shelf. How?!” one customer posted on Thursday morning.
Starbucks didn’t immediately return a request for comment on whether it will limit purchases of the mug or whether more stock is expected in stores.
Starbucks holiday menu
Starbucks said its holiday menu items this year will be available as of Nov. 6. The drinks include:
Peppermint mocha
Caramel brulee latte
Iced sugar cookie latte
Iced sugar cookie breve
Iced gingerbread chai
Starbucks said its chestnut praline latte and eggnog latte drinks will return later in the season, but didn’t specify a date. The company also said it’s selling “holiday cold foams,” which are frothy toppings that add flavors to cold coffee drinks. They include:
Gingerbread cream cold foam
Peppermint chocolate cream cold foam
Sugar cookie cream cold foam
Caramel brulee cream cold foam
Starbucks is introducing several new holiday bakery items on Nov. 6, including this polar bear cake pop.
Starbucks
New and returning bakery items will also be sold for the holidays:
Starbucks’ union members have voted to strike at the company’s U.S. stores next week unless it finalizes a contract agreement, the union said Wednesday.
The strike would begin on Nov. 13, which is the day Starbucks plans to distribute free, reusable red cups. Red Cup Day, a Starbucks tradition since 2018, is typically one of the company’s busiest days of the year.
Starbucks Workers United, the union organizing baristas, didn’t say how many stores would be impacted. But it said workers in at least 25 cities planned to strike and more locations could be added if the union doesn’t see “substantial progress” toward finalizing a contract.
Around 550 of Starbucks’ 10,000 company-operated U.S. stores are currently unionized. More stores have voted to unionize since 2021, but Starbucks closed 59 unionized stores in September as part of a larger restructuring.
The union and the company have yet to agree to a labor contract. In December 2023, Starbucks vowed to finalize an agreement by the end of 2024. But the company ousted Laxman Narasimhan, the CEO who made that promise, last fall. The union said progress has stalled under Brian Niccol, the company’s new chairman and CEO.
Starbucks said Wednesday that it’s disappointed the union plans to strike instead of returning to the bargaining table.
“Any agreement needs to reflect the reality that Starbucks already offers the best job in retail, including more than $30 an hour on average in pay and benefits for hourly partners,” Starbucks spokeswoman Jaci Anderson said Wednesday.
In a letter to Starbucks employees released Wednesday, Starbucks’ Chief Partner Officer Sara Kelly said the union has proposed a 65% pay increase immediately and a 77% increase over three years, with additional payments for things like weekends or days when Starbucks runs promotions. Kelly also said some proposals would significantly alter Starbucks’ operations, such as giving workers the ability to shut down mobile ordering if a store has more than five orders in the queue.
“These aren’t serious, evidence-based proposals,” Kelly said.
The union said Starbucks is unfairly lumping together various economic proposals from the union to arrive at those pay raise figures.
Unionized baristas also said they don’t always get the 20 hours per week they need to be eligible for Starbucks’ benefits. They point to Starbucks’ generous pay package for Niccol, which saw him make $95.8 million in 2024. The package included $75 million in equity to make up for what he forfeited by his abrupt departure from Chipotle, his previous employer.
“Our fight is about actually making Starbucks jobs the best jobs in retail. Right now, it’s only the best job in retail for Brian Niccol,” said Jasmine Leli, a three-year Starbucks barista and strike captain from Buffalo, New York. Leli said starting pay for baristas in most states is $15.25 per hour.
The strike would echo previous labor actions against the company. In 2023, thousands of Starbucks workers at more than 200 stores walked off the job on Red Cup Day. Last year, a five-day strike ahead of Christmas closed 59 U.S. stores.
In her letter, Kelly emphasized that most company-owned stores as well as 7,000 licensed locations in places like airports will remain open if there is a strike.
Starbucks shares rose nearly 4% in Wednesday trading.
Starbucks unionized workers say they plan to strike on Nov. 13 — the coffee chain’s Red Cup Day — if the company doesn’t finalize a contract by then.
Starbucks Workers United announced Wednesday that its members voted to authorize a strike as they continue their effort to secure a labor contract that offers them better pay and more flexible hours. Thousands of union members weighed in, with an overwhelming majority — 92% — voting in favor of the strike.
The union said if Starbucks doesn’t deliver a contract in the next week, the strike would begin the same day as Starbucks’ Red Cup Day, an annual promotional event intended to drum up business for the coffee giant’s holiday menu.
The strike would start at coffee shops in 25 U.S. cities with additional stores later joining in if no progress is made, according to a spokesperson for the union, Workers United.
“The ball is in Starbucks’ court,” Michelle Eisen, a union spokesperson and barista at Starbucks, said in a statement.
Starbucks spokesperson Jaci Anderson told CBS News the company is disappointed that the union voted to authorize a strike instead of coming to the bargaining table.
“When they’re ready to come back, we’re ready to talk,” she said in a statement.
Negotiations at a standstill
Starbucks Workers United, which started in upstate New York in 2021, has grown to represent more than 9,500 baristas across 550 Starbucks cafes, still a relatively small percentage of total Starbucks workers. Overall, the company has roughly 240,000 employees working in 10,000 stores across North America.
Contract negotiations between Starbucks and Workers United began in April 2024 but have reached a stalemate. The union says it has secured 33 tentative agreements from Starbucks so far, but maintains most cover non-economic issues.
The union is asking for increased hours and higher take-home pay, among other issues. According to Anderson, the union has proposed an immediate pay increase of 65%, and 77% total over three years. The union has also asked for added pay if they work a shift within three hours of opening or closing, during a promotional event or over the weekend, she said.
Starbucks’ CEO Brian Niccol recently told CBS News that he’s open to talking with union members but added that their demands “to date have been unreasonable.”
“We already give them the best job in retail. We have the lowest turnover in the industry — it’s below 50%,” he said. “We also have the best benefits in the industry, and we actually have the best wages in the industry.”
Starbucks employees receive $30 an hour in pay and benefits, while store managers, or “coffeehouse leaders” as they’re referred to by the retailer, are salaried.
Union members, for their part, say the pay isn’t enough for them to get by.
“Our fight is about actually making Starbucks jobs the best jobs in retail,” Jasmine Leli, a Starbucks barista from Buffalo, NY, said in a statement. “Right now, it’s only the best job in retail for Brian Niccol.”
Starbucks Corp. agreed to sell a majority stake in its China business to private equity firm Boyu Capital at a $4 billion enterprise value in a bid to improve the coffee chain’s flagging fortunes in the country.
Boyu Capital will hold up to a 60% interest in Starbucks’ retail operations in China through a new joint venture with the coffee seller, the companies said in a statement. Starbucks will hold the remaining 40% and continue to license the brand and intellectual property to the joint venture.
The agreement marks the end of a search for a partner to help chart Starbucks’ next chapter in China, where it has about 8,000 stores after opening its first outlet in Beijing in 1999. However, Starbucks has struggled in recent years, along with other Western companies that have lost ground to local rivals amid rising nationalism and reluctance to pay premiums for foreign brands.
Xiamen-based Luckin Coffee Inc. dethroned Starbucks as China’s biggest coffee chain two years ago by selling coffee at one-third of its price. And while Starbucks’ store format is expensive to upkeep, customers have become less willing to pay higher prices for its drinks since the COVID pandemic and ongoing economic downturn.
“Starbucks’ store expansion has been restrained amid fierce competition from local rivals, and the deal is expected to accelerate growth with sufficient funds and Boyu’s retail experience,” said Jason Yu, Shanghai-based managing director of CTR Market Research. “Boyu needs to balance Starbucks’ brand positioning and its participation in price competition, otherwise it will harm its long-term profitability in China.”
Bloomberg previously reported that Boyu had emerged as the front-runner, and that others including internet companies could join as limited partners to help co-finance a deal.
The private equity firm is also in talks with banks for a loan of around $1.4 billion-equivalent to support its investment in Starbucks’ China business, according to people familiar with the matter.
Real estate expertise
Starbucks is the latest foreign retail business to enlist a local partner to turn around their ailing fortunes in China as a persistent property slump sours consumer appetite for everything from premium luxury goods to ice creams. General Mills, which owns Häagen-Dazs, is also working on a potential sale of its more than 250 stores in China. Restaurant Brands International Inc. is also said to be mulling a sale of a controlling stake in Burger King’s China business to local private equity firms.
McDonald’s Corp. and Yum! Brands Inc.’s KFC, have brought in local investors for their China businesses years ago, helping the fast food chains become successful in staying competitive over the years.
Boyu’s links in China is likely to have been a winning factor in Starbucks’s view. Its expertise in commercial real estate and property management—it recently bought a controlling stake in an operator of China’s top luxury malls SKP and also controls property management services provider Jinke Smart Services Group—could help the coffee chain refine and expand its store network.
“We see a path to grow from today’s 8,000 Starbucks coffeehouses to more than 20,000 over time,” Starbucks Chief Executive Officer Brian Niccol said in a blog post.
China turnaround
As part of its efforts to lure back customers in China, Starbucks earlier this year opened free “study rooms” in some of its stores there. Under new China chief Molly Liu, the chain has also expanded its drinks menu to include more sugar-free options and teas catering to local tastes, slashed prices on a slew of beverages and upped its options for customizing orders. That’s in contrast to recent moves in the US, where the menu has been simplified to boost operational efficiency.
These incremental steps have helped the coffee chain stem a sales decline in China since earlier this year, with comparable sales returning to growth in the past two quarters. Niccol expressed confidence in the brand’s long term growth potential during an earnings call last month and expected the business to enter next year “on stronger footing.”
Starbucks expects the total value of its China retail business to exceed $13 billion, including the value of licenses, according to the statement.
The coffee seller’s shares rose less than 1% at 6:17 p.m. in after-hours trading in New York. The stock has declined about 11% this year, trailing a nearly 17% advance by the S&P 500 Index.
Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol took the helm in September 2024, inheriting a company facing its first revenue decline in four years amid customer complaints about high prices and long wait times. A year later, the coffee giant has halted the slide but faces fresh pressures, from surging coffee bean costs to store closures.
Coffee prices jumped 30% from January through September, squeezing Starbucks’ profit margins even as Niccol vowed not to raise menu costs this year. The restaurant chain said last month it would spend $1 billion to close underperforming stores and cut 900 jobs.
As Niccol told CBS News’ Jo Ling Kent, the retail chain can’t rule out price hikes in 2026 due to rising coffee prices, although he described this step as a “last resort.” At the same time, Niccol noted that Starbucks has no plans to introduce a value menu like McDonald’s and other fast-food chains appealing to budget-conscious patrons.
“We have a huge point of difference and that is, I think, that customer connection and the experience you get in our stores,” Niccol told CBS News. “I just believe, at the end of the day, the experience sets us apart from everybody else.”
He added, “Pricing would be one of those things that we do as a last resort, and we do it very surgically. To say never, you know, I don’t think you can do that in this environment.”
“Human-to-human”
Starbucks’ reboot involves what the company calls its “Green Apron service model,” which aims to hire more baristas, improve customer service and cut down on customer wait times.
“What we’re doing right now is making sure that we’re staffed correctly,” Niccol said. “The teams are trained correctly for the demand that we know we have in the morning, and we know that we’re growing in the afternoon.”
While other companies are turning to artificial intelligence to replace some workers, Niccol said he doesn’t envision AI supplanting baristas. He said the technology could be useful for behind-the-scenes tasks, such as managing the company’s supply chain.
“I don’t see [AI] replacing our baristas — that human-to-human experience is just too important,” Niccol said. “And I think it really separates our experience from everybody else.”
While Starbucks is bolstering its barista ranks, it also faces the threat of strikes from Starbucks Workers United, which represents 12,000 workers in some 650 Starbucks cafes across the country. Overall, the company has roughly 201,000 employees working in 10,000 stores across North America.
Niccol said he’s open to talking with union members, but also described his company’s pay and benefits as generous, adding that their demands “to date have been unreasonable.”
“We already give them the best job in retail. We have the lowest turnover in the industry — it’s below 50%,” Niccol told CBS News. “We also have the best benefits in the industry, and we actually have the best wages in the industry.”
Although other companies have noted a pullback from low- or middle-income consumers as inflation continues to tick upwards, Niccols said Starbucks patrons are still opening their wallets.
“Transactions are up, our sales are up,” Niccol said. “What we hear from them is they love the experience and they think it’s a great value proposition, so I think they’re being much more judicious in where they want to spend their money.”
He added, “And I think it’s really important that you give them a great experience so that it justifies why they chose to spend money with you.”
Starbucks workers in Oviedo practice picket line in preparation for a potential strike. Credit: by McKenna Schueler
Ahead of a vote on whether to authorize a national strike by unionized Starbucks workers, a group of off-shift baristas at one of Central Florida’s only unionized locations gathered outside their store Wednesday afternoon to practice their picket line.
The action — posing little to no disruption to business inside the Oviedo location, with their fellow co-workers working as scheduled — was organized as part of a pressure campaign by their union, Starbucks Workers United.
The union, which represents more than 12,000 Starbucks baristas and shift supervisors, has been fighting for a contract since 2021, when workers at a Starbucks in Buffalo, New York voted to form the first unionized Starbucks in the U.S.
That victory has been a beacon of inspiration for local baristas, spurring a flurry of organizing efforts at Starbucks locations across the U.S. The movement has been driven largely by a workforce of younger, queer workers initially drawn to work at Starbucks by the coffee giant’s competitive pay (compared to other entry-level jobs) and its progressive branding.
Since the store in Buffalo unionized, Starbucks workers at more than 650 locations in 45 states — including states like North Carolina, where unions are less common — have similarly voted to join the Workers United.
For Kevin Beljan, a barista of seven years at the Oviedo store, the fight for a strong union contract is a noble cause he believes is worth the challenge.
“I think that it has far-reaching implications,” he told Orlando Weekly Tuesday, as co-workers beside him flashed signs with messages like “No contract? No coffee!”
Beljan’s not wrong. Workers for the burrito chain Chipotle (whose former CEO now leads Starbucks) and Trader Joe’s, for instance, have named Starbucks workers as inspiration for their own union drives, too.
“After seeing the victories at Starbucks, it was like ‘Oh, my God, we can accomplish this,’” one Chipotle worker told the Washington Post in 2022 after workers at her Michigan restaurant voted to join the Teamsters. “A lot of young people are in favor of unionizing but thought it would never happen here,” the worker added. “That realism is what is keeping a lot of us down right now. Getting this far shows us we do have to try, because we can succeed.”
Related Stories
Union workers accuse the coffee company of violating federal labor law.
The local workers could join more than 10,500 Starbucks workers across the U.S. who have already unionized
Securing an initial union contract, however, can take well over a year — an analysis by Bloomberg found this can take 465 days on average.
Although progress has been made on finalizing a union contract — including tentative agreements on non-economic items, such as anti-discrimination protections — the union says the company has failed to meet their demands on economic issues, such as pay and scheduling.
After reaching a tentative deal with the coffee giant earlier this year, union members serving as delegates for their stores overwhelmingly rejected it, called Starbucks’ economic offer “insufficient.” The company, however, claims that the union has been the party unwilling to listen.
“Workers United only represents around 4 percent of our partners but chose to walk away from the bargaining table. If they’re ready to come back, we’re ready to talk,” Jaci Anderson, a Starbucks spokesperson, told Orlando Weekly in a statement following initial publication of this story online.
The tentative agreement reached between the two parties earlier this year guaranteed annual raises of at least 2 percent, according to Bloomberg, but did not offer any immediate pay raise guarantees. On average, unionized workers earn 12.8 percent more than nonunion workers in comparable jobs, and the spillover effects of unionization can also force employers to raise standards for nonunion workers, too.
Starting pay at the Oviedo location in Seminole County is currently listed by the company at $16.50 to $18.73. A living wage in Seminole is considered closer to $25 for a single, childless adult.
The union has proposed a starting wage of at least $20 an hour, equal to $41,600 annually if one is working full time. Starbucks, on the other hand, says they already offer the “best job in retail, including more than $30 an hour on average in pay and benefits” for hourly workers.
But that pay, and job security, isn’t guaranteed either. In a major shakeup, Starbucks recently announced plans to close 1 percent of its U.S. stores by the end of 2025, including 59 locations that are unionized. The union has criticized this move, pointing in part to the generous compensation package of nearly $100 million gifted to CEO Brian Niccol last year.
According to a report from the AFL-CIO, a national federation of labor unions, Niccol made 6,666 times the pay of the average Starbucks barista in 2024.
“I think there’s a massive imbalance,” said Beljan, the Oviedo barista. The most important fight by the union, he believes, is to hold Starbucks accountable for their treatment of workers, to “stop this corporate greed,” and to give more power to the rank-and-file like him who “generate the profit for this company.”
Beljan’s never been a union member before this experience and admitted that, compared to what he hears from baristas in places like Philadelphia and New York City — where the percentage of unionized workers is much higher — organizing a strong union in Florida is “an uphill battle.”
“We’re in a deep red state, and it’s more of an uphill battle than in, say, a blue state. But again, for me, you know, it’s worth it to see this through.”
His co-worker Regan Schneider, a barista who transferred to the union Starbucks about a year ago, has similarly been inspired by the union. She previously worked at a non-union Starbucks in Port Charlotte. Although she’s getting ready to leave Starbucks to work as a teacher, she said the experience has inspired her to be an advocate for unions moving forward.
“I think there is this idea that you are more protected if you are neutral, but the truth is, you’re not protected if you’re neutral,” she said. “You need to show your support, whether that’s for the union or against the union.”
Starbucks has been accused of hundreds of unfair labor practices by the union over the years of the organizing drive — essentially, accusations of violating workers’ rights under federal labor law. That includes allegations of illegally firing, surveilling, or threatening the benefits of workers who are involved in union organizing activity.
“I’ve basically been harassed and targeted because of my involvement,” Beljan admitted. Still, he added that, at least with the union, “there’s also mechanisms to fight that that wouldn’t normally be there. And there’s also mechanisms for, like, accountability for management and people above me.”
Schneider said Starbucks, a multibillion dollar company with unionized workers in other countries such as Chile, should be prepared for a fight ahead. “They need to learn to either fight with us,” she paused. “Or, to just get ready for a bigger fight.”
A strike by the union would require a majority of the union’s 500+ delegates to vote in favor of authorizing their union to call for a strike action. It’s not something that a union leader could call for, or force workers to engage in unilaterally. According to Beljan, the strike authorization vote is currently underway.
This post has been updated to include comment from a Starbucks spokesperson that was provided over email after the initial publication of this story.
Chelsea is one of the few Manhattan neighborhoods that feels deliberately built for the long game. Its borders are technical (Sixth Avenue to the Hudson, 14th to 34th), but its cultural footprint sprawls far beyond the map. What began as a Lenape village became a shipping stronghold, then a haven for immigrant labor, then a no-rules frontier for artists priced out of SoHo. Today, Chelsea folds all of it in: dockside grit, industrial bones, progressive politics and a post-gallery globalism that somehow still feels local.
The neighborhood’s transformation wasn’t just about rising rent. It was infrastructure-led. The High Line reengineered the city’s relationship to public space. Piers became parks. Warehouses became megawatt galleries. Rail yards became real estate—some of the most ambitious on the continent. The Hudson Yards development may grab headlines, but Chelsea’s character lives in the contrast between a Dia installation and a 24-hour diner, a sidewalk flower stand and a Jean Nouvel façade.
Chelsea didn’t get interesting by chasing what its other neighborhoods had to offer. It drew energy from what already existed, whether that was freight tunnels, factory space, counterculture or queerness, and built around it. The result is a neighborhood that knows how to absorb change without losing plot. It’s where Zaha Hadid landed her only New York project. Where a community board can still kill a billionaire’s plans. Where you can see work by the next big artist, and then see them at the bodega. Chelsea knows its value isn’t hype. It’s infrastructure, intent and staying power. You don’t need to understand art to get Chelsea. But give it 10 blocks, and you might start pretending you do.
Utilizing California’s consumer privacy law, which allows users to obtain access to their data from companies as well as request their information to be deleted or not sold, Fowler took a look at the information Starbucks had on him from his loyalty card.
Fowler told WTOP that the request revealed the coffee giant had information on all of his purchases and where he made them, building a dossier of his spending habits and building a profile of him.
“Starbucks was trying to start a dossier on me and size me up, and ultimately figure out how much I would pay,” Fowler said.
It even counted how often he opened the app.
“It said one day last March, I tapped on the app more than 90 times,” Fowler said.
Fowler discovered that Starbucks was also selling his information to data brokers and that he was rewarded less, even though he spent at Starbucks more often.
“They call it personalized discounts. You might call it personalized ‘jacked up prices,’” he said.
Fowler said it’s called “surveillance pricing,” where a company figures out what you are willing to pay and charges you exactly that, noting customers who use a company’s loyalty card or app less often are targeted with more deals to entice them back.
“The opposite of what you thought was supposed to happen with a reward card was happening,” Fowler said.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
It is the taste of autumn….but maybe it can be even better with cannabis?
Pumpkin spice season is here — that cinnamon-swirled, nutmeg-scented stretch of the year when every café, candle, and cookie seems dipped in orange nostalgia. From Starbucks to the grocery aisle, it is everyone. But while the once-beloved latte may have lost some of its original sparkle, a new ingredient is giving the fall favorite a modern refresh. Here is how marijuana can make a special pumpkin spice.
As cannabis legalization continues to expand, creative home mixologists and craft brands are adding THC- or CBD-infused oils into their autumn drinks and desserts, giving pumpkin spice a calming, mood-boosting makeover. For millennials, who grew up with both Starbucks and social change, it’s the perfect marriage of comfort and consciousness — a familiar flavor with a fresh, functional edge.
When pumpkin spice first appeared in the early 2000s, it was a cozy novelty that symbolized sweater weather and self-care. Two decades later, the craze has cooled. Over-saturation — from pumpkin-flavored dog treats to room sprays — has dulled the magic. According to recent consumer surveys, younger buyers say pumpkin spice feels “overdone,” while nearly half of Gen Z and millennials prefer “new flavor experiences” inspired by wellness and botanicals.
Enter cannabis. With its herbal notes, stress-reducing benefits, and growing mainstream acceptance, marijuana oil offers a sophisticated upgrade to the tired latte routine. Brands like Kiva, CANN, and Good Day Farm are experimenting with infused fall chocolates, gummies, and seasonal beverages promising calm rather than caffeine jitters.
Want to give your cup a little lift? Try this simple cannabis twist on the classic PSL.
Ingredients
1 cup oat or almond milk
2 tbsp pumpkin purée
1 tbsp maple syrup or brown sugar
¼ tsp each of cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove
1 shot espresso (or strong coffee)
1–2 drops of cannabis oil (start small and adjust for tolerance)
Create
Heat the milk, pumpkin, and spices in a saucepan over medium heat until warm
Stir in espresso and sweetener
Remove from heat and whisk in cannabis oil
Pour into a mug, top with frothed milk or whipped cream, and sprinkle a little cinnamon
The result? A soothing, aromatic drink that captures the cozy essence of fall — with a mellow, modern buzz. Forget the sugar rush and seasonal hype: this year, let your pumpkin spice chill you out instead of just waking you up.
We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
The Starbucks and Hello Kitty merch collection celebrates friendship through drinkware designed for sipping your favorite drink in style throughout the holidays and beyond, including limited-edition collectibles you can’t get anywhere else. Whether you’re getting a head-start on holiday shopping or you’re just a Hello Kitty superfan, you’ve got to check out the Starbucks x Hello Kitty collab.
Each piece of the new collection is cuter than the last — it includes a ceramic mug, stainless steel cold cup, water bottle, acrylic cold cup, stainless steel tumbler, and a boxed Hello Kitty plushie. The sweet and cheerful new merch is available at Starbucks locations across the U.S. and Canada beginning November 6, with prices ranging between $24.95 and $34.95. Items will be available while supplies last — then they’ll be gone for good. Here are some of The Kitchn editors’ favorites.
The classic 16-ounce ceramic coffee mug comes boxed, and it’s decorated with a Hello Kitty design in holiday colors. Plus, it’s topped with a lid that features an adorable red silicone bow!
Hello Kitty Stainless Cold Cup
Take your favorite cold drinks on the go in this venti-size stainless steel Hello Kitty cold cup that comes in a soft neutral beige, Starbucks’ signature green, and a pop of red from Kitty’s bow.
If acrylic cold cups are your preference, this sweet venti cup features Hello Kitty and Tiny Chum surrounded by tiny little coffee beans and mugs.
Hello Kitty Stainless Steel Tumbler
Take your hot and cold beverages wherever you go with this 12-ounce stainless steel tumbler that features Hello Kitty and Tiny Chum, plus a Starbucks’ green lid.
Hydration is so much cuter with this Hello Kitty water bottle that features the beloved character holding a coffee mug and says “Together in Fun Forever.” What could be cuter?
What do you think about this exclusive collaboration? Let us know in the comments below!
Starbucks baristas stand on stage, March 20, 2019, during an annual shareholders meeting in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
SEATTLE, Wash. — Seattle based coffee giant Starbucks is closing more locations as part of their nationwide reduction. A conference call took place this morning which announced the permanent layoff of 369 workers in Washington beginning on December 5th.
The company announced in September that they planned to close around 1% of their locations.
A recently fired Starbucks employee posted a video detailing her last day. The only problem? She didn’t know when she went to her local store that she wouldn’t have a job within hours of arriving.
In a video with over 2.4 million views, @astoldby_honey expressed her frustration at her recent predicament. She arrived at her store in New York City only to get told to clean it out at 3 p.m., with a layoff email in her inbox by 4:06 p.m. that day. In her video, she peruses the store while showing off various pieces of equipment they packed up in a rush to close.
A group of baristas was there, organizing equipment for their “final” day before receiving an email that cut them off entirely.
“They made y’all clean the store and then FIRED YOU?!” One commenter incredulously wrote, expressing gall at the fact that Starbucks really did fire hundreds of people in a short amount of time.
What’s going on with Starbucks?
It isn’t surprising that @astoldby_honey’s store closed, especially considering the financial woes Starbucks has faced recently. The company announced a $1 billion restructuring plan on Thursday, Sept. 25, that would lay off 900 non-retail employees and shut down stores across the country. The company plans to grow again in 2026 after some restructuring.
Any stores that couldn’t meet the restructuring plans outlined by executives and were “unable to create the physical environment [Starbucks]’ customers and partners expect” are set to close.
Starbucks CEO backlash
Many people think Starbucks changed too much too soon. A year ago, the company announced Brian Niccol as its new CEO. He introduced a variety of changes to the chain coffee shop, such as coffee cup personalization and some “cozy” touches. These iterations were meant to draw a more loyal customer base toward each establishment, but they came at a price. Many baristas complained about the difficulty of keeping up with the new workflow, and customers didn’t necessarily ask for them.
A CNBC article published earlier in September noted this, interviewing one barista who said, “If we’re in a rush, and we only have two people working, we are still expected to write on every single cup… and if my manager notices a single cup that doesn’t have writing on it, that will immediately become a ‘coaching moment.’”
Niccol said in a statement regarding the restructuring plan: “These steps are to reinforce what we see is working and prioritize our resources against them… I believe these steps are necessary to build a better, stronger, and more resilient Starbucks that deepens its impact on the world and creates more opportunities for our partners, suppliers, and the communities we serve.”
It’s difficult to transform an already established mega-brand into a cozy, more independent-feeling coffee house similar to its early days. The company had been struggling even before it faced sweeping iterations, but only recently had such sweeping developments occurred.
For decades, small company owners hoping to move their business or expand it to a mall were confounded by a lack of available space, or prohibitively high rents for empty storefronts. Now, as the number of big box and restaurant chains pulling out of those locations increases, the entrepreneurs that want to set up shop in shopping centers once reserved for giants like JCPenny, Macy’s, and Starbucks are finding mall vacancies in many parts of the U.S. — and at times paying lower per-foot rents than those corporate giants.
The list of large companies that have gone bankrupt or closed numerous stores in 2025 has been long, and includes craft chain Joann, Party City, Kohl’s, Big Lots, Claire’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and many more. While not all the big retailers and food businesses shuttering outlets have been based exclusively in malls, many maintain sizable footprints in U.S. shopping centers — including Starbucks, which last week announced hundreds of location closures. The subsequent slump in occupancy rates at many malls is now allows many smaller businesses to set up shop in them for the first time.
A recent study by commercial real estate company Cushman & Wakefield estimated the national vacancy rate in malls at 5.8 percent in the second quarter of 2025. While that may not sound high, it represented a 20 basis point increase over Q1, and a 50 point hike since the same period in 2024. That evolution is now leading many owners or managers of underoccupied shopping centers to rethink their earlier aversion to renting to smaller businesses, whose lower cash reserves often prevent them from taking on assured, long-term leases.
Instead, according to a recent report by CNBC, entrepreneurs are not only finding vacant space in malls available to rent. But they’re often also negotiating considerable deals on rent rates, business set up assistance, continual occupancy services, and shorter lease durations from owners. Some shopping centers set aside space for smaller businesses on more flexible terms, in hopes of converting them to longer-term leases, according to ICSC, a trade association of shopping center owners.Not surprisingly, more entrepreneurs want o seize those opportunities to move into shopping centers.
An Inc.com Featured Presentation
“That kind of access wasn’t on the table for startups and small businesses three years ago in most metro areas,” Teresha Aird, co-founder and chief marketing officer of the Offices.net real estate brokerage, told the business news channel. “Now it is, and they’re making the most of it to test physical presence without overextending capital… The result is a more flexible, opportunity-rich environment that can be a lifeline for entrepreneurs navigating tight margins and competitive markets.”
The new opportunities for smaller businesses to rent mall space aren’t evenly spread across the country. For example, experts note that availability of nearly any commercial space in the New York City area is so tight that even converted warehouses are tough to lease. But many major U.S. urban centers — especially in medium-sized city centers and inner-ring suburbs of larger cities where big retailers have shut stores — the chances for entrepreneurs to move in on malls are multiplying.
To be sure, some shopping center owners continue betting they have more to gain by waiting for big box, anchor tenant occupants. Rather than renting to entrepreneurs with smaller budget looking for shorter leases at lower costs, many mall managers hold out for so-called “credit tenants” with large enough reserves to sign 5- to 7-year contracts at full market rates.
But an increasing number of mall landlords are feeling enough pressure ontheir vacancy rates and revenue that they’re now looking to rent to small businesses — even some pop-up stores. Many are even adding sweeteners to bring entrepreneurs aboard.
“In West Des Moines, a family-owned restaurant recently assumed an old chain pizzeria location at a rent of almost 30 percent below the original asking rent,” local real estate broker Jacob Naig told CNBC — adding the owner helped finance the kitchen redesign. “Such a deal wouldn’t have been possible just five years ago.”
There also may be another factor at work in the small business migration to malls. According to a recent study by location intelligence and foot traffic data company Placer.ai, small and niche retail and food companies are helping transform the entire shopping mall experience.
That involves giving consumers used to swooping in for fast, targeted buying blasts reasons to stay longer. Former single-store visitors to malls may now also get medical or wellness treatment, go to the gym, see local service providers, take in a spa, and enjoy a fancier meal than typical food court businesses usually offer.
As part of that, entrepreneurs can take over prime locations that national chains gave up, and add local, quality goods, meals, and services that effectively rebrand some malls. At the same time, they benefit from the work of former corporate occupants, who previously researched and identified those spaces as good for business.
“These spaces already had a site selection review, foot traffic, and locals are used to seeing activity in the space,” said entrepreneur Andy LaPointe, the owner of Michigan gourmet food company Traverse Bay Farms, who told CNBC he now operates locations in two strip malls. “But the magic happens when a small business brings, not a cookie-cutter replacement, but something unique, a place to linger and a sense of belonging… So when a national chain leaves a space, it isn’t just a gap, it’s a canvas for a small, local business to create something lasting.”
And that, after all, is what small businesses do best.
What’s colder than a mocha frappuccino? Losing your job while on maternity leave.
That’s the reality former Starbucks recruiter Leslee Hemenway faces after being laid off by the coffee chain, according to her LinkedIn post on Monday. Hemenway worked at Starbucks for seven years and was one of their retail management interns during college, her LinkedIn profile reads. She was one of the 900 non-retail employees laid off from Starbucks last week.
“Being laid off while on maternity leave feels like a sick joke, but it’s the reality I’m presently facing,” Hemenway’s post said.
Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol said the layoffs were a “difficult decision” to tighten the company’s costs, he announced online. Employees were instructed to work from home on the day laid-off employees were notified. Affected employees will receive “generous severance and support packages including benefits extensions,” according to Niccol. Starbucks did not return a request for comment by the time of publication to offer a more detailed explanation.
An Inc.com Featured Presentation
“I know these decisions impact our partners and their families, and we did not make them lightly,” Niccol said in a company announcement. “I believe these steps are necessary to build a better, stronger, and more resilient Starbucks that deepens its impact on the world and creates more opportunities for our partners, suppliers, and the communities we serve.”
In addition to corporate layoffs, Starbucks is also closing hundreds of its U.S. stores, including its flagship Reserve Roastery near its Seattle headquarters. The company said it was closing locations where they don’t see “a path to financial performance,” and they’re unable “to create the physical environment our customers and partners expect.” Baristas working at the closing stores are being transferred to other locations, when possible, Niccol said. In cases where transfers are not possible, these workers will be given a severance and are encouraged to “come back” when new stores and roles open.
As for Hemenway, she’s going to use the severance package she received to take time to bond with her newborn.
“After the birth of my daughter this summer, I’m going to savor the time I have with her and not actively pursue a new role for now,” Hemenway said on LinkedIn. “However, if you know of something that might be a particularly good fit in recruiting or talent management, please feel free to send it my way.”
