Starbucks High School Observation

For this paper I will describe the elements of a thesis, if the location of a thesis matters and what types of evidence can be used in a thesis. My enjoyment of Starbucks will be the topic, I will develop and support a thesis, and write a corresponding essay.

For my ethnography project, I decided to observe the Starbucks on Rockside Road in Independence, Ohio. My plan was to observe the subculture of Starbucks’ customers. A subculture is defined as a “structured social inequality or, more specifically, systematic inequalities between groups of people that arise as intended or unintended consequences of social processes and relationships.” My question was twofold. Does Starbucks appeal to certain social statuses? And if so, does Starbucks serve as another example of social inequality?

Starbucks Corporation has been expanded greatly into international market since 1996. For instance, Starbucks entered the Tokyo, Japan’s market during 1996; United Kingdom in 1998 and in Mexico City during September 2002. Starbucks has doubled in the amount of stores it possesses since 2004, but it has consistently stayed at only a 30% international market. There are over 50 countries that consist of Starbucks which are Australia, Belgium, China, England, Germany, Malaysia, Singapore and others. It cannot be denied that Starbucks has a great base in United States but it greatly outweighs the base that it has throughout the rest of the world. So, Starbucks should expand its international market into more countries by putting more effort like

I observed seven customers from ten o’clock until eleven o’clock. The second hour of observation occurred at Mugsies Coffee Shop in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. I observed four customers between eleven o’clock until twelve o’clock. A few conclusions from my field notes were that of the seven customers I observed at Starbuck’s there were only three customers labeled as upper class and four customers labeled middle class. It was interesting to see that most people who visited Starbucks are middle class. Location, population, and cost may determine the type of people who visit a coffee shop. My analysis concluded that approximately 75% of Starbuck’s customers are middle class. At the second coffee shop, my field notes and results reflect that I observed four individuals, two customers were labeled as high class and two customers were middle class, therefore the ratio was a 50% high class and 50% middle class customers visit Mugsies Coffee Shop. My hypothesis that more middle class individuals would come into Mugsies rather than high class individuals was correct. Of the four customers there were two high class and two middle class individuals who visited Mugsies. Overall, during observations at both coffee shops I observed no customers with children and there were no lower class customers visiting either coffee shop. Therefore, one would conclude that both coffee shops have a customer base comprised of middle and upper class

For this assignment, I decided to observe people’s interaction in Starbucks at level one of the Indiana Memorial Union (IMU), Indiana University. Starbucks is one of America’s coffee companies and coffee shop chains. Starbucks sells handcrafted coffee, tea, snacks and many more beverages. I decided to go to do my observation at Starbucks instead of other coffee shops because in my opinion, Starbucks is one of the famous coffee shops among Americans—so more people will come there to buy coffee, to hang out with their friends or even just to warm themselves up from the cold weather. Because of that, I went to observe students and other people who are in Starbucks at IMU. At this Starbucks, there is a stage at the back of the coffee shop for people to make performance and in between of the stage and the counter, there are lots of tables and chairs for customers to sit down.

I decided to use Starbucks as the site for my naturalistic observation assignment. Starbucks is an American coffee house chain that is well known for its relaxing atmosphere and delicious coffee drinks. Today is Labor day and because it is a holiday, I expect to see several people commuting back home from their vacations. As I entered the Starbucks in Palm Springs, just as I expected, it was full of people getting their coffees for the long drive ahead of them. The people are mostly young men and women in tank tops and shorts due to the hot weather. Since it is 11:30 in the morning, everyone appears to be in a rush to get on the road. As I sat longer, a couple sitting in the corner caught my attention. They seem to be in no rush and look like

Starbucks with its inspired high selling coffee bean has been very popular in the American Culture over the years. I decided to observe Starbucks due to its popularity all over campus, although it has not been a fan of mine. I found it very pleasant and relaxing during my time there. I noticed more intimate interactions between workers when there were little or no customers and fewer interactions between workers when the place was crowded.

bang. The first song that Azure, the women’s jazz and pop a cappella group, performed was the popular tune Tainted Love. Even though they've performed this song at multiple other concerts, this rendition was no disappointment. Azure also sang The Sound of Silence, another hit that they've sang at previous concerts. After these two selections, they performed two Christmas carols. It was obvious that these were far less prepared than the other two pieces. There were numerous minor issues in both songs, but thankfully neither song had a ‘crash a burn’ moment.

What I learned in Chapter Five is that willpower is recognized as one of the utmost important keystone habits for individuals to be successful. Willpower can be strengthened by mapping it out into a habit. Consequently, willpower is similar to a muscle, the more you work it the stronger it gets and it spills into other areas of your life. Once you get into that willpower frequency, your brain come to be trained at helping you focus on goals, as a result reach success.

Half of the participants were white around 20-22 of age. The other half of the participants were Asians, mostly Indians, ranging from 19-25. On average all the participants would walk out of the coffee shop as soon as their coffee was handed to them. The vast majoring of the students inside the coffee shop were female, which I was amazed since the boys to female ration is really disproportion at the University. One thing that caught my attention was that there wasn’t many outlets. The only outlet I found was located on the corner all the way to the end of the coffee shop where I was sitting. So if you’re using a laptop or your phone and the batteries is at a low percent I’m sure you are going to walk out. Perhaps this was done by design, people tend to spend a lot of time on their mobile devices at coffee shop. This could had been a way a way for Starbucks to limit the time the student spend sitting down at their on campus coffee

I decided to do my off-campus observation at Starbucks in Schiller Park. I sat at Starbucks for about thirty-five minutes and I observed the actions of the people around me. The relationships that I saw were friends, collogues, families, couples. Overall, I saw a fairly young crowd at this Starbucks location, people from ages 16-50. As I entered the coffee shop there were plants that were set up by the entrances. There was a huge food and drink counter at the right side of the shop. Behind the counter, there is a long table full of different electronic devices along the wall. The colors and shapes of the food, donuts, bread, and muffin. Beside the food and drink area, there is an area filled with tables, chairs, high

Coffee drinkers all have one thing in common; they want their coffee made to their specification. Most soft drinks, milkshakes, and draft beer are ready made. Coffee has many flavors and that can be an operational nightmare. Starbucks has 10 different types of coffee beans, 12 blends of flavors and loads of special toppings.

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.

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.

The context change in form that Starbucks found itself competing with smaller chains that resembled its former pre-expansion model with competitors focusing in creating symbolic-expressive value and fast food restaurants that had started to offer specialty coffee with more aggressive advertisement at a lower cost. The competitive context changed for Starbucks because it’s focus in mass distribution channels and its retail footprint strategy stated its product within a standard performance product value; this affected the value perception of the product.