Incoming Starbucks boss to bring consumer insight to coffee culture

Starbucks identified Narasimhan, it's new CEO, as a potential successor to Johnson well over a year ago as they were strategizing the coffee chain's future and evaluating both internal and external candidates.

Laxman Narasimhan may have no experience of running coffee shops, but the outgoing CEO of British packaged goods group Reckitt will bring insight into the changing habits of consumers when he takes over at Starbucks.

At Reckitt (RKT.L), maker of Strepsils throat lozenges and Dettol floor cleaner, the 55-year-old Narasimhan spearheaded a sweeping, but unfinished, corporate turnaround, while honing relationships with retailers ranging from Walmart (WMT.N) to Tesco (TSCO.L).

When he joins Starbucks in October, Narasimhan will have to adapt his focus to serving the millions of people who step into the coffee chain's roughly 32,000 stores every day.

But his background, including a stint of several months as PepsiCo's (PEP.O) chief commercial officer in 2019, should ensure a smooth transition to Starbucks, analysts said.

"I don't think he's had material exposure to direct-to-consumer businesses or in running retail networks," Credit Suisse analyst Eamonn Ferry said.

"He has no direct experience in coffee, so you could question that. However, he does hold a deep understanding of the consumer and this is far more important," Ferry added.

Narasimhan is succeeding interim CEO Howard Schultz, who re-joined the chain a third time after prior CEO Kevin Johnson retired this spring.