Starbucks Earnings Are a Warning: Take Boycotts Seriously
Customer pushback over the company’s union battle and its statements on the Israel-Hamas war are hitting the coffee chain’s bottom line.
Wall Street used to brush off boycotts. Not anymore.
Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg
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Starbucks Corp.’s earnings miss on Tuesday was bleak but not shocking. Close watchers of the Seattle-based coffee chain had been preparing for lackluster results given a slowdown in discretionary spending, and growing price consciousness and competition in China.
But analysts also pointed to another, more surprising factor weighing on the company’s results: the impact of consumer boycotts over the war in Gaza and the chain’s drawn-out battle against employees’ unionization efforts.