Starbucks has become the premiere specialty coffee retailer, operating more than 2,000 coffee shops in a variety of locations in Asia, Canada, the UK, and the United States, including office buildings, shopping centers, airport terminals, and supermarkets. Starbucks sells coffee drinks and beans, fresh pastries, and other food items and beverages as well as mugs, coffeemakers, coffee grinders, and storage containers. The company also sells its beans to restaurants, airlines, and hotels, and it offers mail order and online catalogs. Starbucks has expanded into coffee ice cream (with Dreyer's) and makes Frappuccino, a bottled coffee drink (with PepsiCo).
Starbucks was a small company with only four stores when Howard Schultz went to work for the company in Seattle in 1982. The company developed from the vision Schultz developed during this time. He and the former CEO disagreed on the direction the company should take. Schultz traveled around and saw what coffee shops and companies were doing. When Schultz returned to Seattle after seeing how small coffee boutiques were serving customers espresso, he wanted to make Starbucks into that kind of company, but the former CEO believed that idea clashed with the business Starbucks already had. Schultz tested the idea and showed that he could be successful, but he still encountered resistance. Schultz then opened his own stores, but when Starbucks went on sale, Schultz bought it. He decided to keep the Starbucks name because it was established, and he then opened new stores until today he has over 1300 in Chicago, Seattle, California, and parts of Asia.
The people who work for Starbucks are very committed, and this comes from the way they have been treated by Schultz and from the strong leadership he represents. The number of stores grows each year. When Schultz brought the company to California, he found that word of mouth there is the most important element. Starbucks had to...