Starbucks Moving Some Jobs Out Of Seattle, Opening Office In Tennessee

Starbucks unveiled plans to open a corporate office in Nashville later this year, setting up a new base for a portion of its North American supply chain employees.

The coffee retailer is opening the new office in Tennessee as it looks to expand throughout more of the country, The Wall Street Journal first reported. The company will offer to relocate the positions of dozens of employees currently based in Seattle.

If employees reject the relocation offer, the company said they will be eligible for severance and to apply for new roles as they become available, according to an internal memo obtained by WSJ. Starbucks will hire more employees in Nashville in the future, and Seattle remains the company's global and North American headquarters.

The company is focusing on expanding its presence in the central and southern parts of the country as well as portions of the Northeast. Starbucks plans to add 5,000 more coffee shops over time, executives said at an investor event in January, though they didn't specify the timeline for executing those plans.

The Tennessee expansion comes months after the coffee chain announced plans in September to shutter hundreds of stores as part of a broader $1B restructuring effort. 

The company reviewed its portfolio and targeted shops with either no path to financial performance or an inadequate physical environment. Starbucks simultaneously announced plans to renovate more than 1,000 locations. 

Starbucks' Q1 Fiscal Year 2026 results showed the company had 18,360 North American stores, slightly fewer than the 18,537 open by the same date in 2024, according to investor documents.