The past few years have been bumpy for the coffee shop chain. The company has had four CEOs since 2022 and has bounced between different strategies. The result is often chaotic store operations, three consecutive quarters of declining same-store sales and a brand adrift. Niccol, who turned around Chipotle Mexican Grill before joining Starbucks, was hired outside the burrito chain in August to halt Starbucks’ decline. Wall Street was so relieved by the news that the coffee company’s shares rose 24% the day his new role was announced.

While Niccol had already teased some elements of his strategy and leadership style in recent days, he outlined his “Return to Starbucks” plan in detail during the earnings call. And most importantly, he impressed as a decisive CEO who knows how to communicate a way forward.

“It is clear that we need to fundamentally change our strategy to win back customers and return to growth,” Niccol told Wall Street analysts.

The CEO announced a number of additional initiatives aimed at returning Starbucks to the basics of its business, reversing steps that had slowed operations and frustrated customers. These include bringing back self-serve milk and sugar stations to the thousands of US cafes starting in 2025, so customers can choose how much to put in their drink, rather than asking a barista. Starbucks will no longer charge customers extra for non-dairy milk alternatives. And Niccol mentioned cutting back on the complex menu and introducing “common sense guardrails” for mobile orders.

Niccol showed that kind of quick action and decisiveness at Chipotle in 2018, when he was brought in to help it recover from a devastating food safety crisis exacerbated by top management. Wall Street analysts expressed relief at seeing these qualities again on display during the Starbucks call.

The new CEOs approached offered “a clear and detailed vision for the future, and ambitious, like the Starbucks brand at its best,” Morgan Stanley wrote in a note, according to Investing.com. Niccol’s performance also earned him some compliments from Stifel, whose analysts wrote that Niccol “delivered his message with a level of clarity and precision that is typically the mark of a talented leader.”

The focus on returning to a “welcoming coffeehouse” and clarity on that vision are exactly what Starbucks employees and customers need after a long period of turmoil. For years, Starbucks promoted its stores as a “third place,” besides the home or office, where customers could go to relax. But a few years ago, the company decided to focus on turning stores into mobile ordering hubs. This not only created chaotic pickup traffic at peak times, but also made Starbucks products feel more like a commodity than an experience, and reduced the size of some stores.

Even Howard Schultz, the man who built Starbucks from a single coffee shop in Seattle’s Pike Market into a global behemoth, said earlier this year that “the shine had worn off the brand.” It didn’t help that Schultz, who initially retired in 2000 but later returned twice to serve as CEO, undermined his hand-picked successor, Laxman Narasimhan, with a critical post on LinkedIn. Schultz also pushed out store employees at a time of strained relations between the company and employees during his third stint as CEO.

So far, the only area in which Niccol has requested investigation has to do with the company’s return policy. Starbucks employees will have to work in person three days a week starting next year or risk being fired. But the new CEO has permission to remain in Southern California rather than move to Seattle, where Starbucks is headquartered. When asked for comment, Starbucks said this Fortune that Niccol will be traveling extensively throughout the US and internationally visiting stores and suppliers abroad, and will also be in Seattle much of the time. As true as that may be, it creates the appearance of a double standard that could undermine some of his efforts.

Still, after all the Sturm und Drang surrounding Starbucks in recent years, the best favor a CEO can do for the company and his troops is to be clear and articulate the way forward.

“We need to make it easier for our customers to get a cup of coffee,” Niccol said on the earnings call. That’s exactly the kind of simplicity and plain language that all stakeholders need.

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