The coffee shop runs Starbucks from a small workshop to the coffee kingdom.

Not long ago, Starbucks opened a store in the Forbidden City caused widespread controversy, people denounced "Starbucks in the Forbidden City" as a trample on traditional Chinese culture, asking it to move out of the Imperial Palace. This cultural clash has embarrassed Starbucks, but there is no doubt that Starbucks is one of the most successful coffee shops in the world. It is the popularity of Starbucks that makes more and more people no longer start their mornings with bitter water in electric coffee pots, but stride through the streets of New York with coffee like the intellectual Meg Ryan in Electronic Love Letters. The most attractive thing about Starbucks is that it innovates in the ordinary, turning the ancient consumer goods that have existed for hundreds of years into an unstoppable new fashion.

Thus rewriting the life of modern people.

A small shop selling coffee beans

Before Starbucks opened a store to sell coffee drinks, Americans did not know the latte with a strong milky flavor, and people did not believe that the Japanese would drink coffee on the street. Over the past few decades, the United States has trained a large number of coffee fans, and it is cafes like Starbucks that have made Americans understand the pleasure of enjoying coffee and played an important role in the formation of this consumer group. When the first Starbucks opened in April 1971, the US economy had gone from its 1960s peak to recession, coffee sales had fallen, and coffee consumers were dwindling. But Starbucks continued to develop the coffee market and achieved great success in the following decades.

But you might not think that when Starbucks was born, it was just a small coffee store, and none of its three founders were serious businessmen: Baldwin was an English teacher, Pocker was a writer. Siegel is a history teacher. The reason for opening a coffee shop is that all three are lovers of high-quality coffee, because they often patronize a coffee shop in San Francisco and are familiar with the owner Peter, who has unique research on coffee selection, roasting and brewing coffee. The trio often soak in Peter's shop to learn lessons. In 1971, they each contributed US $1350 and borrowed another US $5000 from the bank to open the first coffee shop, aiming to spread the coffee culture and name it starbucks.

They claim to provide the best coffee beans in the United States, whether or not to make money is not the main thing. At that time, Starbucks only sold coffee beans, not brewed coffee drinks, and the decoration of the store was also very ordinary, everything was mainly manual and natural. However, the Starbucks occasionally makes a pot of coffee for guests to taste for free. Starbucks coffee was so popular that over the next 10 years, the trio opened four stores in the Seattle area.

Coffee experience is more important than coffee beans.

If it were just selling coffee beans, Starbucks would probably still be living in Seattle, submerged in thousands of small retail stores. But the arrival of a man changed its fate: Schultz, who joined Starbucks in 1982.

Schultz used to be the vice president of the American branch of a Swedish household appliance manufacturing company. In 1981, Schultz found that a Starbucks coffee shop in Seattle had ordered a lot of dripping bubble coffee pots from their company, and ordered more than the well-known department stores in Seattle. Schultz felt that there was a reason, so he traveled all the way from New York to Seattle to try to find out.

When he arrived at Starbucks in Seattle, after drinking his first cup of Starbucks coffee, Schultz was so shocked that he couldn't help himself. "the original Starbucks coffee shop was a very ordinary place, but very distinctive. The moment the door opened, an intoxicating aroma of coffee came to my nostrils and pulled me in. When I went inside, what I saw was like a temple of coffee worship. After the third sip, I was attracted. I feel like I've discovered a new continent. "

Schultz immediately decided to give up everything and invest in Starbucks to let Americans bid farewell to the era of drinking shoddy coffee and welcome the era of Starbucks roasted coffee as God blends. After returning to New York, Schultz immediately quit her high-paying job and moved to Starbucks to become director of operations and marketing in the face of doubts from friends and family.

At the beginning of his new job, Schultz spent almost all his time in four Starbucks stores in Seattle, standing at the counter, tasting coffee, talking to customers, experiencing the personality of coffee shops and learning about coffee retail.

In 1983, Schultz went to Milan, Italy on business. There, he found that the coffee shop waiter could call out almost every guest's name when serving customers. Customers stand at the counter and have a cordial conversation with the waiter, and there is no distinction between blue-collar workers and white-collar workers. It has become a meeting place for the local community. Schultz realized that Starbucks in Seattle should be the same.

After returning from Milan, Schultz thought he had got the truth of coffee culture and cheerfully told the founders about his new business ideas, but he was strongly opposed by Baldwin and Pocker. They insist that Starbucks is a coffee bean retailer, not a restaurant, and will not become a coffee bar.

A business model that can be profitable in Italy may not work in the United States.

After two years of constant argument, Schultz, who has always wanted to sell coffee, finally parted ways with Starbucks, which only sells coffee beans. At this time, Starbucks elders not only did not slow him down, but also did their best to help him. Baldwin agreed to Schultz's "suspension of pay" before the new store opened and invested $150000 in him. Pocker promised to work for him as a part-time consultant for six months.

Schultz raised $1.25 million and opened his first coffee shop, the Daily Cafe, along with $250000 in venture capital raised by friends. Two years later, he already has three branches, but the scale is still far from what he expected. Just then, his former employer, Starbucks, smiled at him.

Real Starbucks coffee

In March 1987, Schultz suddenly received news that Baldwin and Pocker were selling Starbucks, including stores, baking equipment and brands. The reason is that Pocker wants to start his own other company, and Baldwin is tired of running endlessly between Seattle and San Francisco. Schultz immediately persuaded the board and asked the treasurer to make a detailed merger plan. But the acquisition costs $3.8 million, and it all needs more money to convert it into a coffee bar. It became the biggest gamble in Schultz's life.

Five months later, the acquisition was completed. Schultz renamed all his coffee shops to Starbucks Cafe and became chairman himself. Schultz eventually wants to take Starbucks out of Seattle, but his pursuit is not to walk fast, but to walk steadily. Because there are no good managers, the quality can not be guaranteed, the brand will have a crisis, which is a big taboo of expansion.

The first thing he needs to guarantee is the quality service of Starbucks.

And this service is reflected in every detail of Starbucks Cafe. Starbucks' personality is reflected everywhere in Starbucks' violin solo, tricolor coffee pot display, strong coffee, waiter's enthusiasm and shopkeeper's hospitality. In addition to the careful selection of coffee beans and the perfection of the baking process, the display of each commodity and the choice of each color should be specially designed, consistent with slogans, music and fragrance, and all used to create the romance of coffee culture.

Many coffee bars have also set up special art coffee areas to showcase the coffee culture and art of various ages. Let people really feel the roasting of coffee on the spot and evaluate it. Starbucks has also opened a special seating area for customers to chat and enjoy music. Starbucks' goal is to turn the coffee shop into a "third living space" outside the home and office.

It is based on these meticulous services that Starbucks has made great progress.

During the five years from 1987 to 1992, Starbucks opened 161 chain stores. This speed is even faster than that of McDonald's in the early days. In June 1992, Starbucks was officially listed on NASDAQ. By 1996, Starbucks had opened more than 1000 stores in the United States, and in the same year, it began to expand overseas.

Employees of the enterprise are the God.

Why Starbucks is so successful today that in 1994 US President Bill Clinton invited Schultz to the White House for advice. Because Starbucks has done a great job in dealing with employee relations.

At Starbucks, there are no "employees", only "partners". Schultz gives more than respect to his partner.

Heavy and affordable. The expenses originally used for advertising expenses are changed to the welfare and training of employees. Schultz also persuaded the board to extend the full benefits system to part-time employees who work more than 20 hours a week.

In 1988, after discovering that employee Jim had AIDS, Schultz not only hugged him warmly and kept his job, but also reimbursed Jim for 29 months of treatment after he left Starbucks because he couldn't work. Schultz not only established a sound employee welfare system, but also learned from the practice of the high-tech industry to issue stock options to employees. This is unique in the catering industry, where the value of these options doubles every two years on average.

Starbucks has been selected by Fortune as the best company to work for many times, with an annual staff turnover rate of only 60% to 65%, compared with 150% to 400% in the United States. It has been at the forefront of the corporate ethics rankings for many years. The strategy of treating employees as partners fosters loyal employees for Starbucks, and they serve highly loyal customers.

After years of operation, Starbucks is no longer what it used to be. At present, Starbucks has more than 10,000 stores in 37 countries and regions and more than 200 stores in mainland China. After several years of development, many Chinese people have fallen in love with this experience and become a buzzword in urban fashion. Schultz has said that Starbucks' ultimate goal is to open at least 30,000 stores around the world, at least half of which will be located outside North America.

On March 12, 2007, they announced that they would set up their own record company, and the future music works can also be purchased in Starbucks chain stores, which will be another bold attempt of Starbucks.

Author: Wang Xiaodong Source: readers 2007.12