Starbucks is recruiting a CEO from the outside: Here are 4 key challenges the new boss will have to tackle

The coffee chain’s interim CEO, Howard Schultz, told the Wall Street Journal this week that the company is considering only external candidates to take the mantle from him, explaining that he is not a candidate to fill the position permanently.

“For the future of the company, we need a domain of experience and expertise in a number of disciplines that we don’t have now,” he said. “It requires a different type of leader.”

Schultz returned to Starbucks in April on an interim basis, marking his third stint at the helm of the global giant. He told the WSJ he plans to remain on the company’s board of directors after stepping down as CEO.

The company is reportedly considering several candidates already.

Here are some of the responsibilities Schultz’s successor will be tasked with handling.

Union pressure

A big challenge for Starbucks is restoring its workers’ confidence in the company.

Starbucks employees in several states, including New York, Alabama, and Tennessee, have organized under the Workers United union since last year in a bid to bargain for better pay, benefits, and working conditions.

The organization has gone ahead despite Schultz’s previous assertion that Starbucks is better off without unions—and it shows no sign of stopping, with around 275 of the company’s 9,000 U.S. stores having filed for union elections and 72 voting to unionize so far.

Starbucks has said it will raise the minimum wage for all of its U.S. employees to $15 an hour by August, and company executives have urged workers to maintain communication directly with management rather than unionizing.

“I’m not an antiunion person. I am pro-Starbucks, pro-partner, pro–Starbucks culture,” Schultz reportedly said at a town hall with employees earlier this year. “We didn’t get here by having a union.”

Changing habits

Schultz also revealed that Starbucks is grappling with swiftly changing consumer behavior, sped up by the pandemic.

Most of the company’s sales are now cold to-go drinks rather than hot coffees being consumed in-store, which were a pillar of Starbucks’ success when it was first started.

This shift meant Starbucks was “being forced to rethink its operations in ways no CEO could have foreseen,” Schultz added.

Public political statements

“In the environment we are in now, I don’t think a company or CEO can hide,” Schultz told the WSJ.

Citing Disney CEO Bob Chapek’s shift in stance on Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill, Schultz said corporate leaders need to be consistent on controversial political topics—but he warned that political statements shouldn’t be used as brand advertising.

A spokesperson for Disney was not available for comment when contacted by Fortune.

Cracking the NFT market

In May, Starbucks announced plans to launch a collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) later this year.

The line of NFTs will offer owners entry into a community and “access to exclusive experiences and perks,” the company said in a blog post.

“Our customer base is getting younger, they’re digital natives, and they expect Starbucks to be as relevant outside of our stores as we are inside,” Schultz said in a conference call with investors last month.