Starbucks History - A $10 Billion Idea of Schultz
Why success history of Starbuck is top news in coffee industry?
Phenomenal success of Starbucks coffee is taught in business schools, and whole semesters are dedicated to the marketing genius of the company.
The story of Starbucks coffee history begins in Seattle in 1971, when three friends with a passion for fresh coffee, Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl and Gordon Bowker, opened a small shop and began selling fresh-roasted, gourmet coffee beans and brewing and roasting accessories.
In 1982 Starbucks coffee history was changed forever when Baldwin hired the energetic Schultz as the new head of marketing and shortly thereafter sent him to an international housewares show in Milan, Italy in 1983. Schultz found himself infatuated with the vibrant coffee culture of Italy. While in nearby Verona, Schultz had his first caffe’ latte’ and, as he observed the cafe patrons chatting and laughing joyously while sipping their coffees in the elegant surroundings, inspiration struck.
In what he describes as an epiphany, the idea hit him, “why not create community gathering places like the great coffee house of Italy in the United States?” he wondered. This idea would place Starbucks coffee history into the annuls of business journals for decades to come.
However, his idea was not well received by Baldwin as he wasn’t too keen on getting into the restaurant business and distracting him from his original plan of selling whole beans. But he did let him test a small espresso bar in the corner of one of the stores. It was an immediate success and Schultz branched out on his own and opened Il Giornale, a coffee house named after Italy’s largest newspaper, ‘The Daily’.
In 1987 Starbuck’s was up for sale and Schultz raised the $3.8 million by convincing investors of his vision, one hundred and twenty-five outlets in the next five years. Schultz modified the Starbuck’s bare-breasted mermaid logo into a more socially acceptable figure, changed the name of Il Giornale to Starbuck’s and converted the six existing Starbuck’s roasting shops into elegant, comfortable coffee houses. Starbucks coffee history was just was beginning to take shape.
Shultz exceeded his goal of one hundred and twenty-five stores in five years, in 1992 there were 165 cafes in operation. Today there are over 8,000 stores in 30 countries and annual revenues in excess of $8.0 billion.
Moving beyond beverages and coffee mugs and makers, Starbucks has started an entertainment division that features the Hear Music brand. Selling books, music and film, the brand is developing into something much larger than a Venti Frappucino.
In 2005, Starbucks was rated the 11th best place to work in the United States by Fortune magazine. The same can be said of the UK stores, which were voted among the top ten best places to work by the Financial Times in 2007. Starbucks has opened 40 stores in Australia since July 2000.
The popularity of Starbucks coffee has led the company to go beyond merely selling beverages in their coffee shops. Starbuck is offering everything from a coffee maker, to a grinder to a cappuccino or starbucks espresso machine. You can buy a Starbucks coffee maker and can bring coffee shop coffee right into your kitchen. You can create your own starbucks coffee mugs and prepare coffee with espresso machine used at starbucks.
Starbucks brand coffee products like starbucks coffee mugs, coffee grinders, sirena espresso machine are great ways to help you enjoy the taste of coffee shop coffee while sitting in your bathrobe at your own kitchen table. To save time and money you need to have a Starbucks coffee maker.
Do you want to know what coffee maker makes the best coffee?
Just type the above question in google and the anwer will be Starbuck.
