Starbucks Throttles Back on Decaf

Starbucks plans to brew less decaf coffee each afternoon, as part of an effort to save $400 million between now and Labor Day. It’s one of several cost-cutting moves the coffee king announced today in the wake of posting a $140 million drop in earnings for the most-recent quarter.

Among the other moves:

Starbucks will close another 300 stores worldwide (200 of them in the United States) and eliminate 6,000-plus jobs. This will include immediate cuts of about 350 people at the Seattle headquarters, which is less than what had been rumored. Starbucks last year closed 616 of its worst-performing stores; it took a $75.5 million charge against earnings for those store closures during the most-recent quarter.

While the company paid $15 million to meet its commitments for 401(k) matches this year, those matches will be “discretionary” in 2009, CEO Howard Schultz told employees in a memo today.

Schultz himself is taking a more-than $1.1 million cut in base salary. He’ll be paid $10,000 next year — or $4 a month, after deductions for his health insurance. Starbucks’ $45 million corporate jet is now also on the market, after being used for only 15 trips.

And Starbucks will only brew decaf on demand after noon each day, rather than continue to brew up a fresh pot every half-hour as it does now. The decaf cutbacks are being mocked in some quarters, but the company defended the move, saying demand for decaf drops sharply each afternoon. The company says its decision will cut waste and ensure that customers get only fresh coffee.