Word: schultze
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...made over the past few years--automated espresso machines, preground coffee, drive-throughs, fewer soft chairs and less carpeting--was made for a reason: to smooth operations or boost sales, two inescapable goals for a publicly traded company. Those may have been the right choices at the time, Schultz wrote, but together they ultimately diluted the coffee-centric experience. "We want to have the courage to do the things that support the core purpose and the reason for being and not veer off and get caught up in chasing revenue, because long-term value for the shareholder can only...
...schultz was working in his native New York City for a housewares company when he first traveled to Seattle and stepped inside Starbucks--a narrow store with a worn wooden counter and bins of coffee beans--which sat across the street from Seattle's waterfront Pike Place Market. The aroma and romance captured his imagination, as the well-told story goes, and after a year of begging for a job, he was hired to do marketing. Two years later, a trip to Milan led to more inspiration. He returned to Seattle convinced that Starbucks should start opening espresso bars...
...expanded at a breakneck pace, growing store count 40% to 60% a year. It wasn't just about coffee. Starbucks took care of its employees as well as its beans. In an almost unheard-of move for a food retailer, the company offered health insurance, a costly policy that Schultz insisted on; as a child, he had watched his family's finances crumble when his father suffered a broken ankle at his job as a delivery-truck driver...
Eventually, though, Starbucks had to grow up and get professional managers. In 2000 Orin Smith ascended from president to CEO; Schultz stayed on as chairman of the board. During Smith's five-year tenure, Starbucks maintained its mind-blowing growth, but at the same time, it introduced sophisticated testing and R&D and took steps to boost efficiency and sales, like installing automated Verismo espresso machines. By no longer having to scoop and tamp coffee for each shot, baristas could make a drink 40% faster, moving customers through lines more quickly. Drive-throughs became standard, and the company released...
Tensions over what Starbucks was becoming--cluttered, corporate, soulless--were rising within the company even before the Valentine's Day memo. "These were real conversations we were having," says Michelle Gass, whom Schultz promoted in January to head of global strategy. "A lot of last year was figuring out what really matters to our customers...