Why Starbucks Australia’s new boss Braeden Lord is not intimidated by nation’s coffee culture

The new boss of Starbucks Australia is not at all intimidated by the nation’s massive coffee culture that’s embedded in independent cafes and their strong base of loyal customers. Instead, Braeden Lord believes the global coffee giant has built its own cult following for its cold brews, trademarked frappuccinos and iced tea refreshers. Fresh from opening Starbucks’ newest store in WA, Mr Lord said he doesn’t see the brand competing with what he describes as artisan, craft cafes. “One of the beautiful aspects about what Starbucks can deliver is that the breadth and depth of our beverage range is just ridiculous,” he said. Product innovation, particularly in the cold-drink sector, will “absolutely keep people’s interest and appetite around the brand”, Mr Lord said. “There’s no doubt (there’s) a brand halo that’s attached to Starbucks and so many people have experienced Starbucks in other occasions outside of Perth — whether it’s the east coast or internationally,” he added. “The coffee market, as any stats would indicate, is an expanding market . . . so I think that carves more opportunities for customers to shift away a little bit from the instant coffee at home.” Starbucks opened its shopfront in Murdoch on December 18 — its third in WA. It opened Piara Waters in late October and Clarkson a few weeks later. “Piara Waters . . . absolutely surprised us. It was literally the strongest store opening in Asia Pacific for Starbucks by just about any measure — by customer, by sales,” Mr Lord said. “All of our wildest estimations on how successful it would be from opening were blown away.” Starbucks aims to have 11 stores in WA by the end of 2025, making sure it is accessible to as many Perth customers as possible, particularly in the suburbs. It expects to employ about 300 staff by the end of next year. “In the suburbs we play into both a tradie traffic first thing in the morning . . . but then we’ve also got this customer base which is around kids and families coming in,” Mr Lord said. Starbucks entered Australia in 2000 and expanded at a speed that outpaced consumers’ appetite for the brand at the time. In 2008, it was forced to close down two-thirds of its stores on the east coast amid significant losses. “It’s a past that Starbucks as a brand has learnt a lot from,” Mr Lord said. “You have to make sure that your individual sites are profitable and that they are emitting the right returns that give you confidence to be able to then expand. “That’s why we’ve taken our time to be able to come across to Perth.” Starbucks Australia — owned by billionaire Russell Withers, who recently sold his 7-Eleven empire in the country — has run the brand licence in Australia since 2014. The US coffee chain’s local arm in the 2023 financial year swung to a modest profit for the first time in its history of operating in Australia. But the business couldn’t quite maintain momentum, posting a $5.8 million loss in fiscal 2024. Mr Lord said while the result was disappointing, it was not unexpected because “we invested a lot last year . . . to be able to do what we’ve been talking about in Perth”. “We also went through a pretty seismic change within consumer confidence . . . so that knocked us around a little bit,” he said, but “were recovering nicely out of that”. With coffee and cocoa prices hitting record highs recently, Mr Lord assured it would work to pass on as little increases as possible to consumers. Melbourne-based Mr Lord stepped into the top job at the end of November after sitting on the Starbucks board since 2015. He has served as the chief executive of Sydney-based ice cream chain Gelatissimo since April 2022, and held senior management roles at Baker’s Delight as well as 7-Eleven Australia.