Starbucks to hire 300 coffeehouse coaches, expand leadership path for baristas

Starbucks will hire more than 300 full-time coffeehouse coaches in the next month and plans to put the role in thousands more stores by the end of the year, a move aimed at most of its roughly 10,000 company-operated U.S. locations. It is both a floor-level operations fix and a clearer promotion path for baristas who want to move into management.

The coffeehouse coach sits above hourly work but below the top store leader. It supports the coffeehouse leader across more dayparts, provides real-time coaching, and creates more consistency on the floor. In stores where one manager has been stretched across opening, rush, close, and everything in between, the extra layer is meant to cut down on the constant firefighting that leaves little time for training, coaching, or fixing service problems before they snowball.

Starbucks tested the concept in 62 coffeehouses across six U.S. markets, with more than 90 percent of the pilot roles filled internally. The test stores showed better execution, stronger support for hourly partners, and more capacity for store managers to step away from the line long enough to focus on development. Hourly baristas can reach the role in about two to three years, with higher base pay, larger bonuses, and a guaranteed full-time schedule. Coffeehouse coach is an entry-level leadership step, not a permanent ceiling, and Starbucks wants about 90 percent of retail leadership jobs filled from within over the next three years.

Starbucks introduced the idea at its Leadership Experience 2025 in Las Vegas, where more than 14,000 North America coffeehouse leaders gathered. About 20 percent of its coffeehouses already had some version of a coach before the new rollout, but those versions were usually temporary or varied by store. The new structure is part of the Back to Starbucks turnaround under Brian Niccol and Mike Grams, with the extra leadership layer meant to support service, retention, and promotion.