Starbucks announced on Friday that it has hired Anand Varadarajan as chief technology officer. Varadarajan who spent nearly 19 years at Amazon, most recently led technology and supply chain for the tech giant’s worldwide grocery stores business.
“[Varadarajan] knows how to create systems that are reliable and secure, drive operational excellence and scale solutions that keep customers at the center. Just as important, he cares deeply about supporting and developing the people behind the scenes that build and enable the technology we use,” CEO Brian Niccol wrote in a memo announcing the hiring.
Varadarajan, who previously also held software engineering roles at Oracle, will begin Jan. 19 as CTO and executive vice president. Deb Hall Lefevre, Starbucks’ former CTO, departed in September amid a $1 billion restructuring plan and a second round of layoffs. Varadarajan is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), and also holds a master’s degree in civil engineering from Purdue University and a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Washington.
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At Amazon, Varadarajan had recently been elevated to oversee the worldwide grocery technology and supply chain organizations, which include both its homegrown Fresh brand and Whole Foods. He reported directly to Jason Buechel, Amazon’s grocery chief and the CEO of Whole Foods.
During his time at Amazon, the company experimented with grocery tech innovations like a pilot to incorporate mini robotic warehouses in Whole Foods supermarkets that enable consumers to shop both its in-store selection and products from Amazon’s wider inventory that aren’t typically stocked by the organic grocer.
Starbucks, meanwhile, is in the early stages of a turnaround overseen by Niccol, who took over as CEO in September 2024. Starbucks’ quarterly same-store sales returned to growth for the first time in nearly two years in the recent quarter, according to CNBC. Holiday sales have also been strong so far this season, as the company deals with an ongoing strike of baristas.
Part of that strategy is its hospitality platform, Green Apron Service, which at $500 million is the company’s largest investment into labor. The program is backed by changes to ensure proper staffing and better technology to keep service times fast. It was born out of growth in digital orders — which now make up more than 30% of sales — and feedback from baristas.
Starbucks recently said that it will pay $35 million to more than 15,000 New York City workers to settle claims it denied them stable schedules and arbitrarily cut their hours, according to city officials. This comes amid a continuing strike by Starbucks’ union that began last month in many locations in the U.S. This was the third strike to hit the chain since the union launched four years ago.