Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) shocked investors last month with the announcement that it had hired Brian Niccol away from the top spot at Chipotle Mexican Grill to take over as CEO. Starbucks has been dealing with slowing growth and declining comparable sales, and its previous new CEO, who had been on the job for less than a year, was still asking for time. The board didn't want to give him more time as the stock price sagged and pressure mounted, and it aimed for the best.

Niccol starts at Starbucks this week. Let's see what could happen and how quickly he can turn Starbucks around.

Niccol has earned a well-deserved reputation as one of the best restaurant CEOs, maybe even the best, in the business. That mostly comes from an excellent track record turning around Chipotle, but he had a great track record before that as a leader of Yum! Brands' Taco Bell, which got him the job at Chipotle. At the time, Chipotle founder Steve Ells praised his expertise in "digital technologies, restaurant operations, and branding" as the reason he had confidence in Niccol's ability to turn around Chipotle. He had done the same thing prior to that for Taco Bell, transforming it into a "lifestyle brand" and prioritizing digital ordering and social media.

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Source Fool.com