The Workforce AI Index · Consumer Cyclical
Starbucks (SBUX)
Company-operated stores with stated counts. Read October 1, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending 2025-09-28, filed 2025-11-14. Ranked 31 of the 39 Consumer Cyclical companies read so far, by the share within reach now: the sector.
The filing states employees in company-operated stores at home and abroad and the remainder by kind of work, so the store pattern is a stated count and only the small remainder is split by description.
The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
What follows from the reading
Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 11% now, 14% at the end of 2027, 14% at the end of 2028, 14% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 14% desk work, 22% people work and 64% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 85% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 10% becomes checking a model's work and 4% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
381,000 employees as of 2025-09-28 (stated). Approximately 223,000 in the U.S. (214,000 in company-operated stores) and approximately 158,000 outside the U.S. (153,000 in company-operated stores).
The filing: “As of September 28, 2025, Starbucks employed approximately 381,000 people worldwide.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Restaurants and Other Eating Places | 96% | By (a): the filing states 214,000 employees in U.S. company-operated stores and 153,000 in company-operated stores outside the U.S., 367,000 of 381,000, which is the restaurants and eating places pattern; licensed stores' workers are not employees. |
| Other Food Manufacturing | 2% | By (a) and (c): the filing states the remainder, about 9,000 in the U.S. and 5,000 abroad, works in corporate support, store development, roasting, manufacturing, warehousing and distribution, and regional support; the roasting and manufacturing part is read into the food manufacturing pattern by description within that stated count. |
| Management of Companies and Enterprises | 2% | By (a) and (c): corporate support, store development and regional support are named within the stated remainder of about 14,000 employees outside the stores, so the management-of-companies pattern takes that part under rule 6, by description within the count. |
What the filing says about the workforce: 381,000 employees worldwide, 223,000 in the U.S.; 367,000 in company-operated stores; the rest in corporate support, store development, roasting, manufacturing, warehousing and distribution, and regional support.
Companies read with the same leading pattern
Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Restaurants and Other Eating Places, largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Yum China Holdings, Inc. (YUMC, 290,000 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
- Darden (DRI, 209,931 employees)10% now, 13% by 2028
- McDonald's Corporation (MCD, 150,000 employees)10% now, 13% by 2028
- Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG, 130,301 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
- Texas Roadhouse, Inc. (TXRH, 101,000 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
- Brinker International, Inc. (EAT, 85,003 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
- Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (CBRL, 74,500 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
- Bloomin' Brands, Inc. (BLMN, 64,000 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
What the filing says about AI
5 sentences in the filing name AI. AI appears only in the risk factors (an uncertain regulatory landscape for AI technologies, cybersecurity threats evolving with AI adoption, privacy obligations); the human capital section does not mention it.
- “Likewise, if we do not continuously strengthen our capabilities in marketing, data analytics (including artificial intelligence and machine learning) and innovation to understand and maintain or grow consumer interest, brand loyalty, and market share while strategically expanding into other profitable categories of the commercial beverage industry, our business could be negatively affected.”
- “Due to evolving technologies, such as artificial intelligence technologies, the legal and regulatory landscape is uncertain and evolving, and may impose compliance obligations that could increase our costs or limit how we may use these technologies.”
- “We expect such threats to continue and evolve, especially with the rapid evolution and increased adoption of artificial intelligence.”
- “In such cases, Starbucks may bear primary responsibility for compliance with applicable privacy regulations. 20 Table of Contents The increasing adoption of artificial intelligence technologies has led data protection authorities around the world to consider and adopt new and evolving interpretations of privacy and data protection laws, with specific obligations regarding processing of personal...”
- “Emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, may not deliver expected efficiencies and could introduce new risks, such as those related to cybersecurity, data privacy, inaccuracies, hallucinations, bias or discrimination and intellectual property infringement, which may become more pronounced as the Company's reliance on such technologies increases.”
Headcount by filing year
As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.
| Period | Employees | Filed | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-09-28 | 381,000 | 2025-11-14 | 10-K |
| 2024-09-29 | 361,000 | 2024-11-20 | 10-K |
| 2023-10-01 | 381,000 | 2023-11-17 | 10-K |
| 2022-10-02 | 402,000 | 2022-11-18 | 10-K |
| 2021-10-03 | 383,000 | 2021-11-19 | 10-K |
| 2020-09-27 | 349,000 | 2020-11-12 | 10-K |
| 2019-09-29 | 346,000 | 2019-11-15 | 10-K |
| 2018-09-30 | 291,000 | 2018-11-16 | 10-K |
| 2017-10-01 | 277,000 | 2017-11-17 | 10-K |
| 2016-10-02 | 254,000 | 2016-11-18 | 10-K |
| 2015-09-27 | 238,000 | 2015-11-12 | 10-K |
| 2014-09-28 | 191,000 | 2014-11-14 | 10-K |
| 2013-09-29 | 182,000 | 2013-11-18 | 10-K |
| 2012-09-30 | 160,000 | 2012-11-16 | 10-K |
| 2011-10-02 | 149,000 | 2011-11-18 | 10-K |
| 2010-10-03 | 137,000 | 2010-11-22 | 10-K |
| 2009-09-27 | 142,000 | 2009-11-20 | 10-K |
| 2008-09-28 | 176,000 | 2008-11-24 | 10-K |
| 2007-09-30 | 172,000 | 2007-11-29 | 10-K |
| 2006-10-01 | 145,800 | 2006-12-14 | 10-K |
| 2005-10-02 | 115,000 | 2005-12-16 | 10-K |
| 2004-10-03 | 96,700 | 2004-12-10 | 10-K |
| 2003-09-28 | 74,000 | 2003-12-23 | 10-K |
| 2002-09-29 | 62,000 | 2002-12-20 | 10-K |
| 2001-09-30 | 54,000 | 2001-12-20 | 10-K |
| 2000-10-01 | 47,000 | 2000-12-22 | 10-K |
| 1999-10-03 | 37,000 | 1999-12-23 | 10-K |
| 1998-09-27 | 26,000 | 1998-12-28 | 10-K405 |
| 1997-09-28 | 25,000 | 1997-12-23 | 10-K |
| 1996-09-29 | 16,600 | 1996-12-26 | 10-K |
Limits of this reading
- The split of the 14,000 outside the stores between manufacturing and corporate support is by description within a stated count.
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0000829224-25-000114, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Questions about this company
- How much of Starbucks's working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 11% now and 14% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce Starbucks's own annual report describes and BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. It is an estimate with a stated method. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings, and it says nothing about what the company will do.
- How many people does Starbucks employ?
- 381,000 as of September 28, 2025, as its annual report for the period ending September 28, 2025 states. About 59% in the U.S.
- What kinds of work make up Starbucks's workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 3 industry staffing patterns, the largest Restaurants and Other Eating Places; by those patterns the work is about 14% desk work, 22% people work and 64% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does Starbucks's annual report say about AI?
- 5 sentences in the filing name AI. They are counted and quoted on this page, never judged: a count says how much a filing talks about AI, not what the company does with it.
- How is this estimated?
- Claude Fable 5.1 read the annual report under the Index's written rubric (version 1) on October 1, 2026: the stated headcount, the share in the U.S. when stated, and the workforce as a blend of industry staffing patterns. The estimates are the site's industry estimates weighted by those shares, from O*NET tasks with estimated lengths and METR's measurements of how long a task AI models can finish. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.