Don’t expect as many Starbucks deals this year under its new CEO

Former Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan was big on promos. His successor, Brian Niccol, is less so.

Starbucks Rewards members’ apps may soon be a little quieter.

The coffee company is reversing its recent push into frequent promos on drinks and snacks, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing executives and baristas.

The move is part of CEO Brian Niccol’s effort to reestablish the brand’s upscale, premium vibe by focusing on handcrafted drinks that invite customers to stick around the café a little while longer, the Journal said.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment from B-17.

It’s a sharp reversal of the discount strategy favored by Niccol’s predecessor, Laxman Narasimhan, who touted the traffic-boosting effects of shipping out digital coupons through the Starbucks mobile app. Narasimhan said on an earnings call earlier this year that 60% of the company’s sales were from the nearly 34 million Starbucks Rewards members.

Multiple baristas previously told B-17 that the size and frequency of rewards deals were getting out of hand.

The Journal said that Starbucks would now hand out extra loyalty points instead of discounts and that no broad promo campaigns were planned for the holiday season.

In curbing its discounts, Starbucks is bucking a wider retail trend that has seen companies such as McDonald’s, PepsiCo, and Walmart cut prices.

In a note last week, Sara Senatore, a BofA Global Research analyst, wrote that she expected Niccol to run Starbucks in a similar manner to how he ran Chipotle, “including more efficient use of the existing marketing budget.”

As CEO of the “guac-is-extra” chain, Niccol wasn’t shy about charging customers more, either.