Essay On Starbucks

To reach its current status as the largest coffee-house company in the world, Starbucks went through many changes, starting in 1982, when Howard Schultz joined the Starbucks team, setting the whole process in motion. Yet the coffee-house that we have come to know today is actually the result of an experiment carried out after Schultz took a trip to Milan, Italy, where he witnessed the potential of the local cafés culture and thought to introduce it in Seattle.

The extraordinary success Starbucks experienced during the early 1990s resulted from Howard Schultz’s passion and vision to create a coffee culture in the United States similar to the coffee culture he experienced while traveling to Italy. Schultz’s vision of the Starbucks brand evolved around providing a quality product while delivering exceptional customer service in an inviting atmosphere. Starbucks’ success can be attributable to the following factors:

In 1971, Starbucks started as a small coffee shop which targeted a specialized market of coffee purists. Howard Schultz, who later owned the company and initiated the high growth period, joined Starbucks’ marketing team in 1982. Main concept of Schultz marketing strategy was too make Starbucks “America’s third place” considering home and work the two other places where Americans spend most of their time. In 1992, Schultz acquired Starbucks and made an initial public offering. Despite Wall Street’s doubts about the IPO, $25 million was raised by Starbucks.

“We are not in the coffee business, serving people. We are in the people business, serving coffee”, Howard Schultz’s philosophy has shaped and continues shape Starbucks, the world’s number one specialty coffee retailer with over 21,000 outlets in more than 65 countries nowadays (Starbucks, 2011). Starbucks was founded in 1971 and Howard Schultz joined Starbucks in 1982. In 1987, Howard acquired Starbucks and changed the name to Starbucks Corporation.

Starbucks is a corporation well known for roasting, marketing and retailing of crafted quality beverage that is based on coffee. Starbucks started its operations in Seattle’s Pike place market with Howard Schultz helping in its marketing and retailing efforts. The company is extremely successful and focused on the development of positive company-customer relationships. Starbucks uses company-customer relationships and a customer-centered approach as its key business strategy. The customer-centered approach allows the company to maintain its current position in the market.

In 1971, Seattle Washington, three men joined together and founded the Starbucks Coffee Company. The three men responsible are Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegel, and Gordon Bower. Starbucks was launched with the idea that coffee was brewed at home. Therefore, Starbucks only sold gourmet coffee beans and brewing/roasting necessities. Ten years later, Howard Shultz became interested in the company and in 1982 he was hired. Howard Shultz is responsible for bringing the idea of coffeehouse café to Starbucks. What began as one small coffee shop in Seattle has grown to over “8,000 stores in over 30 countries and annual revenues in excess of $7.5 billion” (Wilson, 2005).

The Starbucks story began in 1971 in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, selling high-quality dark-roasted coffee in small batches. The bean roaster and retail store was originally started by three partners, Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegel, and Gordon Bowker. The three later sold the company to Howard Schultz in 1987. Howard Schultz had a strategy and a vision for the company that established its as one of the major corporate success stories of the late 20th century. The vision of founder Howard Schultz was inspired by Italian coffee bars/beverage retailer. Having experienced the espresso and coffeehouse

Generally, Starbucks is viewed in an in a positive light, however they have made a few decisions that were unethical behind the eyes of public. One of the faulty decisions that Starbucks made was when they implemented a policy of “keeping a tap running non-stop.” (Balakrishnan) Because of this policy, they wasted over 6 million gallons of water every day. This amount of water could have helped millions of people in third world countries as having access to clean drinking water is a major concern. Additionally, many countries were facing drought, and Starbucks was just wasting the water down the drain. When questioned about this practice, Starbucks response was that they leave the water on for hygienic reason, however this was illogical because the tap water that was left on was primarily used for washing utensils, so they would have to use dish soap anyways. On the other hand, if it was used for only a quick wash of the utensils, they could have implemented a motion sensor tap so it turns on only when the employees needed it. This decision was extremely neglectful, however after public outcry, they implemented steps to decrease water usage. Since this practice was exposed in 2008, they have reduced their consumption by 17.6 percent in 2011. The reduction is due to implementation of “hand-metered water system” and “low-use water faucet[s].” (Starbucks)

Howard Schultz is an American business leader who was once a former owner of a basketball company called Seattle SuperSonics and a member of a financial service at Square, Inc. He was ranked 354th richest person in the United States. He started his coffee adventure in 1981 where he travelled from New York to Seattle to look at coffee beans and what made him love the aroma and taste of it and the owners of Starbucks carefully roasting and choosing their coffee beans made him interested in working with the team, Starbucks (MyPrimeTime, 2001, para. 1). However, he resigned his position as a CEO at Starbucks in 2000 then returned back to the company in 2008 as a CEO (Biography, 2015, para. 1).

                Starbucks is a major American company that was founded in 1971 by three college friends in Seattle, Washington.  Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker at one time were all of different paths until they learned coffee roasting techniques from coffee entrepreneur, Alfred Peet (Starbucks Timeline, 2016).  Alfred taught the three friends his particular style of roasting which ignited a spark in the trio and they were inspired to sell high quality coffee beans and roasting equipment. They soon started brainstorming names, and finally settled on Starbucks

Around 8 pm on March 11, 2016, my sister and I decided to grab a coffee from Starbucks. I believe that Starbucks is a perfect example of a location where diverse people consisting of different generations hang out, meet, transact, communicate and study. Starbucks is open for masses to stay in as long as they want while drinking a good cup of coffee. I was fortunate enough that during the time of my observation a lot was going on. With the learning I have grasped from our lessons, I was able to see various concepts that are under the topic Communication: An Introduction.

The first Starbucks location opened in 1971 with the original location in Seattle Washington, the heart of Pike Place Market. Starting as a single shop specializing in high quality coffee and brewing products, the company grew to be the largest roaster in Washington with multiple locations until the early 1980’s. CEO Howard Schultz, recognized a great opportunity and began working with the founder Jerry Baldwin. After a trip to Italy to find new products, Schultz realized an opportunity to bring the café community environment he found in Italy to the United States and the Starbuck’s brand we all know today began to take form.

Please answer all the following questions as they relate to the case. Please utilize as much outside resources as you deem necessary to reinforce your answers—especially the last question. Remember that this case is over 10 years old and Starbucks has changed since then.

Starbucks entered the coffee market in 1971 opening their first retail store in Seattle’s Pike Place Market as a roaster of ground coffee, tea, whole beans, and spices. In 1982, Howard Schultz was appointed operation and marketing retail director. After visiting Italy in 1983, Schultz fascination with Italian coffee bars inspired him to bring a similar type of coffeehouses to the Seattle area. Schultz idea was to offer a place where customers can relax, enjoy coffee, and engage in conversations. After several years, Schultz decided to leave Starbucks and open his own coffee company called II Giornale that offered a variety of espresso drinks and brewed coffee made from Starbucks Arabica coffee beans. In 1987, Schultz merged II

In 1981, Howard Schultz, the chairman, president and chief executive officer of Starbucks, walked into a Starbucks store for the first time. Highly impressed of the great coffee and the company’s concept, he joined Starbucks a year later. In 1983 he traveled to Italy, where he became fascinated with the coffee culture in