Former Starbucks Executive Appointed As President At Dutch Bros

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Drive-thru chain in Oregon Christine Barone, a former Starbucks executive, has been hired by Dutch Bros to lead the business, the firm announced on Monday. The CEO of Dutch Bros is still Joth Ricci.

Barone, 49, served as a vice president at Starbucks for five years, overseeing several divisions of the company's operations. She has served as the CEO of True Food Kitchen, an Arizona-based restaurant chain with dozens of outlets across the nation but none in the Northwest, since 2016. She also serves on the Ninkasi Brewing Co. advisory board, which is based in Eugene. The largest IPO in Oregon history took place last year when Grants Pass-based Dutch Bros went public.

The coffee and energy drink chain already has more than 640 shops and plans to open well over 100 more this year as it expands in Texas, California, and Oklahoma. Within 15 years, Dutch Bros wants to have 4,000 locations countrywide.

According to Dutch Bros, it hired Barone because of her familiarity with the coffee and service industries as well as her skill in digital marketing. Her primary location, according to the business, will be Oregon.

 Ricci stated, “As we look to the next phase of our brand story, we’re committed to bringing in best-in-class leadership to help us scale and grow,”

Barone will get a $625,000 annual salary from Dutch Bros, plus a potential $625,000 bonus. She also received a $900,000 signing bonus from it. Barone will also earn restricted stock awards totaling $3.1 million from Dutch Bros next year, according to the company.

Two brothers who left the dairy business in 1992 to sell coffee from a pushcart in the small town of Grants Pass equipped with a single espresso machine and a stereo founded the company Dutch Bros.

Last Updated - 24 May 2022

Starbucks Corp has officially announced its plans to exit Russia completely, making it the latest corporate to withdraw from Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. 

Starbucks said in March that its licensed partners had agreed to immediately shut down all 130 stores in Russia. Starbucks told employees on Monday that the recent decision is to end its domestic brand presence by paying about 2,000 workers for six months and providing support for career changes.

Following the invasion of Ukraine, many large corporations suspended or closed their operations in Russia. McDonald's left the country this month and sold its local business to a former Siberian mine owner. 

The days of tens of thousands of people lined up to open their first store in Moscow's Pushkin Square are over in 1990. A memo to McDonald's boss Chris Kempczinski's employee quoted "the humanitarian crisis caused by the war."