Is drinking coffee your favourite way to pass time? Well mine is, and if it is Starbucks, then everything is perfect. My fantasy to have Starbucks came into being after watching “Devil wears Prada”, and ever since I cannot stop being addicted to it. Several of you simply like me love Starbucks, we drink the coffee or eat the goodies fairly often that it has currently become a part of our daily life, but do we know all about it ? Founded by Gordon Bowker, Jerry Baldwin and Zen Seigl in 1971 , is today the most popular coffee stop for many from different walks of life. With its Headquarter in Seattle, and its stores all over the world, Starbucks is the largest coffee house in the world.
The former owner of Seattle Supersonics Howard Schultz, now the chairman of Starbucks and also the CEO is one of the best known Entrepreneur and business man today. When he first entered the store he felt home and knowing the story of the coffee he knew this is where he had wanted to be all his life, his was the place he was waiting for, he loved coffee and felt it was the best he had ever had. A year later Howard moved to Seattle in 1982 to join Starbucks as the director of retail operations and marketing, from New York. A year later he left Starbucks to start his own Il Giornale coffeehouse and in a matter of two years later, Howard Schultz bought Starbucks from his two bosses, he was the CEO of Starbucks until he publicly resigned from his post in the year 2000. Howard Schultz did return eight years later to take over the company and today Starbucks has over 17,600 stores all over the globe in the best locations of the city.
STARBUCKS THEN AND NOW.
Starbucks when Howard Schultz had joined had been about 10 years old with the mermaid logo, and had only four stores in Seattle and no the place else in the United States. During his work Howard Shultz once travelled to Milan, Italy where he was exposed to a number of coffee bars, that is when he thought he saw a future for Starbucks and on his return to Seattle when he told the founders his idea of not only selling coffee beans but also coffee drinks they did not set in to the idea, although they let him open up a coffee bar in a new store that they were to open and it ran a success getting a large crowd of customers. Although the founders were not happy and had no plans to go big, hence Howard had to quit and that is when he founded Il Giornale which also became popular in no time.
Two years later Howard Shultz raised good capital to buy Starbucks, this was a new beginning to Starbucks. He combined Starbucks and Il Giornale and re-established it as Starbucks Corporation. After Howard Shultz took over it was like a whole new turn, Shultz opened about 165 stores in five years, exceeding the expectations of their investors. 1992, it was like Starbucks popularity went to a whole new level, the company took the decision to go global and open stores all over the globe, also several business extensions such as selling Frappuccino ice blended, tea in its Tazo Tea company, and also selling coffee on Starbucks coffee online web stores, today the company has over 6000 online locations all around the globe. 2009, in an interview, Schultz said of Starbucks’ mission, “We’re not in the business of filling bellies, we’re in the business of filling souls.”
HOWARD SCHLUTZ SUCCESS
Starbucks is the most loved most wanted and most visited coffee shop all around the globe. The company sells the most coffee all over the world, this was all possible because Starbucks went global and Howard Schultz took Starbucks global. Its market capital value is $ 35.6 billion. Attracting over 44 million customers weekly and opening about a two new stores every day Starbucks has over 17,600 stores in over 50 countries. Howard Schultz made all this happen.
As Starbucks grew popular, Howard Schultz popularity too grew with time, 2006 he was ranked 359 in the “ Forbes Four Hundred ” by the Forbes magazine’s, which displayed the list of The United States 400 richest men and women. Again in 2013 on the very same list, he was ranked the No. 311 and on Forbes’s list of billionaires round the globe he was at the No. 931.
On the Oprah Winfrey Show, Howard Schultz spoke on gay rights and also how it was completely normal for a man to cry, let him be from any walk of life, even a CEO. 2013, supporting gay marriage, Howard Schultz made headlines winning the love and applause of many. Although Starbucks lost its sales because of its support to gay marriage, Schultz comment how every decision was not only about the economy.
We learn a lot from Howard Schultz, he did not have the best life while growing up but he did know that he was meant for something big. The tiny beans of coffee were his destination and were he had to be, he knew it the first time he visited Starbucks. He brought in new ideas and stuck to them, he too faced his shares of ups and downs, and he grew with every challenge and challenged himself to be better with every challenge. He took his risks to quit his job and start up his own coffee bar, he came back and brought Starbucks from its very founders. He kept up to his words hence the investors trusted his decisions. Today he stands up for gay rights to support humanity and spread diversity, every kind of men and women are employed at Starbucks and he wants to be supportive to every employee of his.
Howard Schultz is one is the best and smartest men today, his success not only tells how much he gave into his company and bought it on top but also what an amazing human being he is.
