STARBUCKS CEO BRIAN NICCOL

BUILT A REPUTATION FOR QUICKLY REVIVING FAST-FOOD EMPIRES. HE'S TRYING TO DO THE SAME FOR THE OFFEE GIANT BY REONNECTING THE BRAND WITH ITS ORIGINAL SOUL. BUT THIS TIME, CHANGE IS A SLOWER BREW.

- MARK WILSON

YOU'D IT WOULD THINK SMELL LIKE OFFEE. INSTEAD, A WHIFF OF THERE'S LIVESTOCK IN THE AIR.

FOR THE PAST HOUR AND A HALF, SOME 14,000 STARBUCKS store managers have been streaming into the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, filling the arena.

Even though it's only noon on this June day, the music is pumping and people are dancing under purple lights. Some start a wave, which ripples through the crowd. In just a few hours, they'll sample the company's new 1971 Roast from their seats, in what has to be one of the world's largest coffee tastings ever staged. But even the scent of those dark-roast beans can't erase the barnyard aroma from the years of rodeos that have been held in the arena.

This three-day Las Vegas extravaganza, known as the Starbucks Leadership Experience, marks the company's first such event since 2019, and the excitement is high, particularly since Brian Niccol is about to give his first major address since becoming CEO last September.

Lil Jon's "Get Low" rumbles through the arena as Niccol makes his way past the crowd, shaking hands and posing for selfies like he's running for office. Soon, he takes the stage to loud applause and quickly begins laying out his vision for returning the company to its 2010s heyday, when Starbucks's stores were known as comforting coffeehouses and its stock was on a steady climb. Niccol has been giving a version of this talk—pitching what he calls his "Back to Starbucks" plan—to investors and analysts for the past several months. Now, he's facing his employees.

"Look, we're here for a simple reason," he says, surveying the audience. "Okay, a really simple reason. Our future success depends on all of you in this room."