Starbucks
Managing political and policy risk in a polarised consumer environment
How we helped
Industry
Client
Starbucks
Our role
Cavendish works with Starbucks to provide integrated political intelligence, issues management and stakeholder engagement support across Westminster and the devolved nations.
A central part of our work focuses on helping Starbucks navigate the sustainability and disposable cups agenda through a combination of political engagement, evidence-led advocacy and credible action.
This includes engaging NGOs, supporting consultation responses and select committee engagement, conducting polling on public attitudes towards sustainability interventions and helping shape the political strategy around trials linked to recycling, reusable cups and waste reduction.
We also identify opportunities to demonstrate tangible investment and innovation, including leveraging Starbucks’ recycled cup facility in Cornwall to strengthen engagement with ministers, policymakers and officials during the G7 period.
The challenge
As political scrutiny of multinational consumer brands continues to intensify, Starbucks operates at the centre of a broad range of policy, regulatory and societal debates — from plastics, taxation and employment rights to refugee policy, sustainability and culture war issues.
For Starbucks, the challenge is not simply responding to individual issues as they emerge, but continually anticipating political and reputational risk, shaping external perceptions of the business and strengthening trust with policymakers across the UK.
A particularly sensitive area is sustainability and disposable cups, where ongoing political, media and activist pressure risks positioning the brand as part of the environmental problem rather than a contributor to solutions.
The impact
Our work helps strengthen Starbucks’ credibility with policymakers during a period of sustained scrutiny around sustainability, consumer brands and corporate behaviour.
Through sustained political engagement and evidence-led advocacy, Starbucks is increasingly viewed as a constructive contributor within debates around sustainable packaging and recycling policy, rather than as a target for criticism.
The programme also helps position Starbucks as a trusted stakeholder for policymakers and officials across Westminster and the devolved nations on issues linked to packaging, sustainability and consumer behaviour.