Word: schultze
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...doing everything we can to differentiate Starbucks from everyone else that is attempting to be in the coffee business," Schultz said at the company's annual meeting in March, alluding to McDonald's, Dunkin' Donuts and several convenience-store chains that have been making a run at Starbucks' customers. Starbucks will once again grind beans in its stores for drip coffee. It will give free drip refills, offer latte upgrades and provide two hours of wi-fi to anyone with a registered Starbucks stored-value card. Soon the company will roll out its new armor: a sleek, low-rise espresso...
...Schultz is taking it upon himself to restore the cult of caffeine. On Jan. 7, the passionate entrepreneur--whom employees call Uncle Howie--again became CEO, a position he ceded in 2000 for a seat on the board. He has lured back some apostles from the start-up years, and they've designed a plan to yank Starbucks' focus from gaining efficiency and appeasing Wall Street back to selling exemplary coffee with the kind of service and ambiance that makes a $4 latte worth the price...
...says it with the zeal of an empire builder. And that's precisely the issue: having built one, Schultz is trying to alter the momentum of a company with $10 billion in yearly sales and 16,000 stores in 44 countries. But creating intimacy and authenticity on that scale may be beyond expectation. "They have come about as close as you possibly can to being big yet still retaining some uniqueness," says John Moore, who was a marketing manager at Starbucks until 2003 and now runs the blog Brand Autopsy. "I can't think of a company that's done...
After the woman with the 11 coffees drives away--running a recognized brand apparently doesn't mean you get recognized--we head inside and walk through the store with Harry Roberts. Roberts helped Schultz build Starbucks from 1987 to '96 and heeded the call to return as chief creative officer. The three of us stand and look at the area by the cash register--a clutter of CDs, breath mints, chocolate-covered graham crackers, chewing gum and trail mixes. "There's no story," Roberts says. Schultz adds, "We're selling a lot, but the point is to take a step...
...alienation of customers. "If I go in there first thing in the morning, it smells like McDonald's, not a coffee shop," says blogger Jim Romenesko, who runs StarbucksGossip.com referring to the egg-based breakfast sandwiches the company started selling a few years ago. When he posted Schultz's Valentine's Day e-mail, Romenesko was shocked by the worldwide media pickup: he thought the things Schultz was saying were obvious since he had heard them so many times before from the Starbucks workers and customers who post to his blog...