Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan From Pune Suggests Cafes Should Be Shut Between 1 pm And 4 pm

Pune, 9th September 2022: Starbucks Corporation, famous for its coffee worldwide, has announced Laxman Narasimhan as the next CEO Chief Executive Officer.

As Narasimhan is from Pune, the people of Pune are delighted with his appointment, and there has been a wave of memes on social media. Narasimhan also proudly says that he is from Pune.

In an interview with CNBC, he made an important announcement for Punekars after his appointment.

During the interview, he said, “I am being given a lot of advice on what I should do. I am from Pune, where all shops are closed from 1 pm to 4 pm. In this honour, I am suggesting keeping cafes closed from 1 pm to 4 pm. But it won’t happen,” he explained.

Narasimhan, currently based in London, will move to Seattle in the US. Meanwhile, Narasimhan has added a Pune man to the growing list of business leaders of Indian origin globally.

Born and educated in Pune, Narasimhan holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the College of Engineering affiliated with Savitribai Phule Pune University. He also has an MA in German and International Studies from the Lauder Institute of the University of Pennsylvania and a Masters in Financial Management from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Narasimhan has nearly 30 years of experience in leading and advising global direct-to-consumer brands, Starbucks said in its appointment statement.

With the new appointment, Narasimhan joins Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Adobe’s Shantanu Narayan, Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai, and Twitter’s Parag Agarwal in a growing list of Indian-origin leaders at leading US-based global companies. Indra Nooyi served as the CEO of PepsiCo for 12 years before stepping down in 2018. Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra congratulated Narasimhan on his appointment at Starbucks in a tweet on Thursday, noting that he became part of a “continuous flow”.

He also commented that this trend, which started as a trickle, has now turned into a tsunami wave, and the appointment of an Indian-origin CEO in one of the most prestigious companies in the world has become unstoppable.

Narasimhan, Age 55, was the CEO of UK-based Reckitt Benckiser, a multinational consumer health, hygiene and nutrition company. Earlier in the day, Narasimhan announced he was stepping down as head of the maker of Lysol disinfectant and Durex condoms, sending the London-listed company’s share price plummeting 4%. He will remain at the Helm of Reckitt till 30th September.