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Posted on August 19, 2008 by Balva Rudick | Posted under Reference and Education
Important Points On Starbucks History
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The Starbucks history started in 1971, in Seattle, the city where three friends lived: Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl and Gordon Bowker. The three heavy coffee drinkers started with a shop where they sold gourmet coffee beans and other accessories related to coffee. In nine years, the shop they build expanded to become the largest roaster in Washington. During that time, Zev Siegl sold his part, and only one year later, Howard Shultz noticed that Starbucks was becoming a very profitable business. This man was one of the plastics salesmen in the US, that, by chance, was also providing Starbucks with plastic thermoses. This attention was not without following. In 1982, Schultz was becoming the new marketing director, a position from which, he had the chance to represent the company to an international show held in Milan, Italy, one year later. There, Schultz got in contact for the first time, with caf latte, and he was very much impressed with the culture Italians had for coffee, transforming consumption of coffee into a true social ritual. From that picture that remained in his head to the image that Starbucks has today it was only one step. No longer just shops for coffee buyers, Starbucks transformed into social gathering places for people with passion for coffee, exactly like in the places Schultz saw in Italy. At first, the implementation of his idea was not so easy to do, as Baldwin was not so impressed and thought that selling whole beans was enough. But, at Schultzs insistent asking, he decided to install a small espresso bar in one of the stores, which enjoyed an incredible success. Determined to make it into the restaurant business, Schultz opened his own caf, named Il Giornale, inspired by the an Italian national newspaper. Schultz did not give up on the idea of making Starbucks a name in the US, and, in 1987, when the company was put up for sale, he, along with some daring investors, offered the $3.8 million price for it. From there, the ride became smoother. The logo with the bare breast mermaid was replaced, the name Il Giornale, of his initial caf changed to Starbucks and coffee houses appeared all over the place, replacing the old coffee shops. The next five years were incredible for Schultz and Starbucks and 125 new stores were opened. Those figures were left behind many years ago, as nowadays Starbucks has 8,000 stores in 30 countries that make $7.5 billion every year. About The Author: Balva Rudick is the Editor and Publisher of Article Click. For more FREE articles for your ezine and websites visit - www.articleclick.com |
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