By Taylor Soper
Starbucks is bringing on a former longtime tech leader at McDonald’s as its new chief technology officer.
Deb Hall Lefevre will become Starbucks CTO on May 2, Reuters first reported, as the Seattle coffee giant looks to boost its tech offerings. A Starbucks spokesperson confirmed the hire.
Hall Lefevre previously spent more than 16 years at McDonald’s, where she was a corporate vice president and CIO, leading the fast food giant’s technology and digital commerce strategy. She was most recently EVP and CTO at Circle K Stores.
Starbucks’ executive vice president of Global Channel Development, Hans Melotte had been serving as Starbucks’ interim CTO since December.
Starbucks has invested heavily in technology over the past several years, including for its mobile ordering app and back-end systems such as inventory management.
Mobile orders represent 25 per cent of US company-operated transactions. The company’s loyalty program counts 26.4 million members in the US as of Feb. 1, up from 21.8 million in the year-ago period.
Starbucks was previously led by longtime tech exec Kevin Johnson, who stepped down as CEO after five years last month. Howard Schultz has returned as CEO in an interim role. Earlier this month at a town hall-style meeting, Schultz reportedly said the company is getting into the NFT business.
Starbucks has more than 30,000 stores and employs more than 400,000 people. Its stock is down more than 20 per cent over the past year.
Editor’s note: This story was updated with information from Starbucks.https://www.geekwire.com
