Even so, operational efficiencies are possible, said David Mayer, senior partner and director of marketing and customer strategy at Lippincott, as are “cross-selling opportunities, and, longer term, the potential to add more brands to the portfolio.”
On the flip side, Chipotle can offer growth opportunities that Starbucks itself cannot.
“If that’s the case,” Mayer said, “the diversion of management attention, combined with weakening brands, may risk creating a combined entity that continues to decline and is even harder to turn around.”
If nothing else, a merger would theoretically return Niccol to the executive suite of Chipotle, where he served as CEO from March of 2018 until August of 2024. Chipotle’s size doubled during Niccol’s time in the corner office—no small part of why Starbucks poached him.
