Starbucks Ethnography Report

A coffee shop is a perfect place to study social construction in our society. For one, a plethora of different people go in and out of such shops. And they do so for a variety of reasons. Because of this, coffee shops truly encapsulate America. Our group aimed to capture the workings of society using the four classic anthropological methods. Sikander Chohan, who authored the biological anthropology section, focused on how physical factors of human beings affected the Tim Hortons he studied. Our linguist specialist, Chris Josebalan, focused on how nonverbal communication, vocal vocabulary, and gender speech contrasts were factors in the everyday workings of the Coffee Beanery Café he studied. Our two cultural specialists, Noah Smith and Ashley Hamblin, studied people's reasonings, gender construction, and the effect of groups. Owen Ekblad, our archaeology specialist, studied at two locations of the local coffee shop chain called Sweetwaters. The two locations he visited, in Ann Arbor and Canton, were representative of a wider variety of human influence and behavior. All in all, our group aimed to make observations that would give us an insight into social construction in coffee shops.

After purchasing a drink I settled down to the left of the shop just by the window from this location, I observed several rituals through watching interactions and general behavior. My vantage point of view proved useful in the first trip so it was used for observation in subsequent visits as well. I also obtained information by interviewing an informant. The informant is an employee at the coffee shop: a barista who works mainly in the morning shift. The barista has been an employee at this particular Starbucks for three months. According to the informant, having been on duty during the early morning rush has provided sufficient material, which they have used to observe customer behavior, maybe for business strategy.

First, Starbucks products are clearly designed for those with a disposable income. Realistically, who would spend almost three dollars for a small cup of coffee when you can get a jumbo coffee for .99 cents at a gas station? One reason could be quality. Starbucks claims to use high-quality whole bean coffee and sells them in a traditionally European style. But the products are not limited to coffee. Starbucks also offered a full array of organic drinks, socially conscious products, outrageously priced coffee mugs—some of which are plastic versions that prominently display their logo, and music downloads. There were two available downloads that I observed. One was a new release by a famous artist. The other was a new release by an “undiscovered” new group. Similar to the music, my observations revealed that the Starbucks patrons primarily fit into two categories. The first were businessmen and women, who entered

I set out to find a place to begin my observations, not knowing what to fully expect, what I may find. So I decided to look around at what is close to my home that isn’t a place I frequent or have even visited at all. Then it came to me, the Starbucks that is only about a mile away is a perfect place for me to observe subjects that I would consider different from myself, seeing as how I consider such obscene prices for coffee ridiculous. Starbucks is a very popular chain of coffee vendors that describe their product as more about quality than what Americans are used to in typical coffee joints.

I chose to do the Starbucks Ethnography over all of the other options because Starbucks currently plays a large role in the social behaviors of today’s society. It has grown significantly from when it was first founded and is currently dominating the coffee market worldwide. Starbucks has become a social and cultural phenomenon because, “...it is at once a globalized consumer institution and a local place in which the mundane daily activities of sipping coffee, writing in journals, and conversing with friends are practiced” (Dickinson 7). Since I am in the age group that Starbucks is particularly trendy with (young adults), I already have some expectations for what the results of the ethnography will be. I have also lived in Orange County for my entire life, so I had some context as to which race would be more prevalent to the Starbucks I had gone to. I wish to explore the symbolic anthropology, which, “...focuses on understanding cultures by discovering and analyzing the symbols that are most important to their members” (Nanda 35). Understanding the symbolism behind coffee and Starbucks is important since it has multiple meanings and has become deeply ingrained within our culture.

I gathered my information from Dunkin’ Donuts shop on the Third Avenue. Dunkin’ Donuts is one of the largest coffee shop chains in the world. I chose this because it is close to our house. When I first walked into the shop, I heard Chainsmokers’ Closer song. It was also a quiet place sometimes where you could just sit and relax. It is a small place with limited seats. There were only three small tables and a long table. The place is air-conditioned, so it is cold. There is also free Wi-Fi, so the customers will not get bored while they are waiting in line or drinking their coffee. There is also a Baskin-Robbins inside the store, so it is not only a coffee shop but also an ice cream shop. I wanted to interview one of the staff, but they were busy. I ended up interviewing an old woman because she was sitting with me since there were limited seats. She is 71 years old and originally from Mexico. She was 23 years old when she moved here. She is married to a Mexican too and they had three children.

On all college campuses, gender, religion, social economic and race diversity is also very important for effective academic interactions. Academic interactions refer to student’s involvement in the class room. This includes the way students review, analyze and study assignments given in class by the professors. It is the way students think and analyze information given to them collectively, as a group.

Patrons like myself stood in line scanning the café for empty tables and available seats. The arrangement of the tables in this area allowed for more seating flexibility and appeared to lower social boundaries between customers while encouraging interaction between members of cliques and individual patrons. Armed with my laptop and cappuccino, my observations occurred from an empty table in the center of the café.

During my visits to the coffee shop, I was very surprised that the amount of people that ordered donuts was not as large as I expected. I made that assumption that donuts would be a regularly ordered item because of the variety offered by the coffee house. However, the number of people who ordered donuts were more than those that ordered coffee. I noticed that the majority of people either ordered hot coffee or iced coffee (Figure 1). The other beverages such as, Macchiato, Cappuccino, Latte, Punch, Coolatta and Smoothie were not as popular. Additionally, I observed that many of the customers paid using cash, however the majority

I typically don’t hang out in Starbucks but, I decided to sit down for a while and observe the patrons. The interior is setup so that those on the run can quickly order and be on their way. Those that want to partake in the free Wi-Fi and overstuffed couches can do so as well. This is where I chose to act like a social stalker.

My observation assignment, I went to a Starbucks on downtown Phoenix. I picked up this location because that's were mostly people go to finish up business things , homework or just to hang out. I noticed there's different type of people that go there. The employment from Starbucks were nice , happy and there were helping others out. I went to two different Starbucks location and downtown one of them they have their tables laid out differently, and there were small tables that only two persons could sit on. Also there were the long ones in front of the window. There were some that were wide and long. And the other location had different tables such as only the small little round tables.

There is no doubt that humans love their coffee, and with thousands of corporate and franchised stores all around the world, Starbucks is a leader in the coffee house industry. Formed in Seattle, Washington over forty years ago, this humble coffee shop has expanded into most every major city in the nation. According to an article from Huffingtonpost.com, 80% of the population in the lower 48 United States lives within twenty miles of a Starbucks, and nearly 50% of that population lives within five miles of one. At any given moment, no one is farther than one hundred and seventy miles away from a Starbucks- that’s a lot of coffee!

Imaging if there was no more coffee in this world, how would you feel? Nowadays, coffee becomes an important part of people’s life. People who often work overtime, they drink coffee because caffeine can make you awake; people who have to wake up early in the morning, they drink coffee because instead of making breakfast, coffee is more convenient; people drink coffee during the free time, because it also tastes good.

In general the coffeehouse industry in the United States was experiencing an increase in coffee consumption per capita due to the “Starbucks effect”. At this time Starbucks was operating approximately 20,000 stores in the United States and was living a fast expansion strategy worldwide.

Starbucks used many tactics to reduce its distance from foreign markets. Firstly, Starbucks conducted extensive research in each country. They used focus groups, and quantitative analysis, to evaluate local cultural sensitivities and preferences. But it also used specific local adaptations. For