Starbucks' Global Coffee Culture

Starbucks Coffee, which represents the symbol of American culture, is a household name and everyone knows it. The coffee bean and spice store, which was first opened by three young people, is being sold by expert Howard. After raising money to buy it, Schultz quickly developed into a fashionable and slightly petty-bourgeois coffee shop chain, successfully listed on NASDAQ and expanded around the world. Today, they have 17600 stores in 61 countries, and Starbucks is trying to expand to countries around the world to export American culture. Specific to each country, the situation is very different.

China: the smoke of History and Culture

Chinese culture is characterized by its tenacity. People like to stick to their own culture, but they are more conservative and even a little resistant to new things. Chinese people keep their own customs when they go abroad and don't fit in with the local culture. On the contrary, the Chinese try their best to influence the locals. For example, Chinese food has become a favorite cuisine in the United States. Even white people love to learn Chinese kung fu. Chinese people celebrate their own holidays wherever they go, no matter whether the conditions permit or not. They all create conditions to maintain Chinese culture. I have come across a small town with only 10 Chinese people who will spend their festivals at the only Chinese restaurant in town during the Spring Festival. Although the United States does not have a holiday on that day, they would rather ask for leave and celebrate the most important holiday for the Chinese people. This is the tenacity of Chinese culture.

However, China's younger generation is very open and receptive to new things, and Starbucks also attracts urban white-collar workers who yearn for petty bourgeoisie life and successful business people who pursue Western culture. Therefore, Starbucks has developed rapidly since it landed in China in 1999, opening branches in many big cities. It soon broke through 100 stores, and now it has about 600 stores.

However, the family that opened in the Forbidden City met with fierce debate. The arrival of Starbucks Coffee in the Forbidden City is an extreme manifestation of globalization, and the mass-market American coffee culture has moved into one of the most sacred historical sites in China, the New York Times reported. At that time, Starbucks in the Forbidden City had aroused discussion among the Chinese people. Many people believe that the Forbidden City is a treasure of Chinese culture and that foreign brands should not be allowed to enter; the protection of cultural heritage should be above all values and no for-profit activities should be involved. In 2009, Starbucks, which has been on duty in the Imperial Palace for seven years, withdrew from the Imperial Palace in controversy.

Many Chinese believe that Starbucks is "the carrier and symbol of America's not advanced food culture". The opening of Starbucks in the Imperial Palace is regarded as a "cultural aggression" that erodes traditional Chinese culture. Although Jim Donnaud, then the global president of Starbucks, responded: "Starbucks opened a branch in the Forbidden City with respect for and high sensitivity to the cultural and historical traditions of the Forbidden City." However, in the public consciousness, the cultural style of Starbucks is still incompatible with the cultural atmosphere of the Forbidden City. Tourists looking for a sense of culture and history will feel very sudden when they see the sign of Starbucks.

Coincidentally, not long ago, there was news that Starbucks was stationed in Lingyin Temple, and there was an uproar among the media, and Starbucks once again triggered fears of "cultural invasion." Starbucks represents the typical coffee culture of the United States, while Lingyin Temple carries the Buddhist culture of China for thousands of years. The two are not compatible and are unacceptable to the public. It was later discovered that this was an own incident, not that Starbucks really wanted to enter the Lingyin Temple, but to open a shop near the Lingyin Scenic spot. There are already many businesses around, so why not have one more? Why are Starbucks from the United States reprimanded?

Some people think that there are many cultural relics in China, which are elegant, exquisite and broad, which may be incompatible with foreign stores such as Starbucks, but they do not have to be regarded as "invading traditional Chinese culture". If Chinese traditional culture is so vulnerable to a single blow, it will have nothing valuable. Almost all other European countries, such as France, are tea-drinking countries. If Starbucks is "American food culture invades Chinese traditional culture", then there is no doubt that tea is the symbol of Chinese food culture, and our food culture has invaded the whole world. "the world is flat." the flow of people, products, trade, and culture will be faster and faster, and they will certainly impact and influence each other. We should be psychologically prepared. Perhaps we should take the same view of many foreign things. Whether "tea and compassion" or "coffee and compassion", we must first be tolerant and understanding.

Some people think that we should create our own cultural brands and protect traditional culture at the same time. An impetuous nation with no details can not protect its own culture well.

Therefore, there is no need to make such a fuss about this matter, it is most important to be yourself.

For Starbucks itself, however, it may be time to learn from the lessons learned in China. Being too ambitious can backfire. In the development of business at the same time, respect for Chinese traditional culture, the organic combination of two different cultures, to achieve a win-win situation is the most ideal.

India: the conflict of traditional Culture

In India, where the coffee market is growing rapidly, Starbucks has had several twists and turns.

India and China's culture is similar, their own culture is also very conservative, do not want to be assimilated by other countries, and do not accept foreign culture. However, many of the new generation of Indians have been educated in Western countries such as Europe and the United States, and they are more receptive to Western culture. Perhaps the older generation still likes to drink Indian tea, while the new generation of Indians like to drink coffee, and there are not a few people who identify with American culture.

In Silicon Valley, a famous high-tech town in the United States, there are many engineers from India. On the one hand, they still maintain their own cultural characteristics, wear their own traditional clothes and celebrate their own festivals. In Silicon Valley, Indian restaurants and Indian supermarkets are everywhere. Some people say that in Silicon Valley, Chinese and Indians split the world equally. An Indian colleague of mine was born in Kuwait, grew up in Singapore and later came to the United States. She has hardly lived in India for a day, but her parents insist on teaching her Hindi and Indian culture. Her English is very good, but she still celebrates every traditional festival in India in the United States, even if it is not very familiar with some festivals. This strong sense of identity with their own culture makes it very difficult for restaurants that represent Western culture to enter India. Just as McDonald's [Weibo] has vegetarian hamburgers in India, but no beef, because Hinduism regards cattle as gods and cannot kill.

As early as 2005, Starbucks set up a joint venture with Indian enterprise Future Group to expand Starbucks chain stores to the domestic market in India. Unexpectedly, it was shelved because of repeated problems with the agreement. Starbucks publicly criticized Indian regulation as bureaucratic and completely lacking in transparency, saying it would not consider entering the Indian market for some time.

With the rise of the middle class and young consumers, India's coffee retail reaches $150 million a year and is growing at an average annual rate of 30 per cent. In 2007, Starbucks wanted to enter the Indian market again. They tested the waters through the curve of a large cinema network in India, with little effect. At the end of 2010, Starbucks announced that it would restart its plans to expand the Indian market. At this time, although India's tea culture is still "mainstream", the middle class, Western businesspeople and young people have quietly changed. They accept and love coffee culture, and they can't even wait for Starbucks to come in. They have their own cafes at home. It was the right time to march into India.

On October 19, 2012, Starbucks opened its first store in India. Over the next 10 days, outside an ancient colonial building in central Mumbai, people lined up to enter Starbucks in a sweat, at most as many as 50, while security guards strictly enforced the "one in, one out" policy. One of the young Indians said: "everyone is very excited. We have our own coffee brand in India, but the promotion of this [Starbucks] is too strong." Will Starbucks succeed this time? It's too early to draw conclusions. However, over time, Starbucks coffee may be as widely accepted as it is in China, as long as they do not drive into the Taj Mahal scenic area.

France: stubborn Culture War

Coffee was introduced into Europe in the 17th century, and for most Europeans, cafes are not only a place to drink coffee, but also a refuge from the boredom of life. Every cafe has its own regular supporters, who usually come here with a newspaper for a sip at a fixed time to kill a few hours. In Europe, most people are so stubborn that many cities prohibit Starbucks from opening branches in the city. And compared with many independent coffee shops with both history and personality, Starbucks is less attractive to Europeans in terms of taste and price. The invasion of coffee culture in the United States has undoubtedly challenged the local coffee tradition.

European stubbornness is reflected in many ways. For example, when tomatoes were first introduced into Europe from America, Europeans did not eat them and thought they were poisonous. It is said that a person did not believe that it was poisonous and tried to eat one after writing a will, but it turned out to be fine, so tomatoes became popular in Europe as a food. The same thing happened to Tudou when it came to Europe. Arrogant Europeans think potatoes are ugly and are inferior food like Indians, so they don't eat them. For a long time, potatoes were used as ornamental plants in the royal garden. Had it not been for the famine in Ireland and they had solved the problem with potatoes, no one in Europe might have eaten potatoes by now. In addition, after the hamburger entered France, French restaurants made hamburgers with good beef and made hamburger packages like exquisite French cuisine. as a result, they sold high-end hamburgers worth more than 40 US dollars each, which humiliated the cheap American hamburger chain.

With this historical background, you can imagine how difficult it is for Starbucks to enter Europe. In Europe, Starbucks is often seen by Europeans as a creepy symbol of "Americanization". Starbucks is hardly seen in Paris, and only a few businesses are mediocre. On the other hand, several specialty coffee shops in the city center are full all day long and have become a must for foreign tourists.

When Starbucks finally broke through layers of resistance and appeared on the streets of the Opera House in the Bastille, although the French media scoffed at it, young people in France were excited. because they can finally patronize cafes like their favorite American TV series Friends. On the Champs Elysees stands a Starbucks billboard: "Starbucks-espresso". In fact, it is a rare exoticism for young people, far more exciting than the average French cafe. Bill from Starbucks. "I think whenever we enter a new market, we study the local coffee culture with high respect and strong interest," O'Shea said. We admit that the cafes here have a long history, and we are confident that we will like, promote and integrate into this enthusiasm. " There are also French young people said: "I like Starbucks caramel coffee, really good, I like it opened in Paris, I think the French will like Starbucks." I like French cafes, but Starbucks is so popular in the United States, it is part of American culture, and now it has come to France, which is good. "

But Starbucks is only partly right. For a considerable number of French people, this coffee, which is made according to the same formula in 7000 Starbucks cafes around the world, even if they call it a handmade drink, it will never replace the cafe around the corner or the small cup of coffee peculiar to Paris. For other French, this large American coffee chain can appear on the streets of France, but it is absolutely impossible to crush the traditional family-run small cafes, because they need those small cafes with their own cultural characteristics to survive.

Starbucks strives to actively absorb the characteristics of drinks from other countries and reduce cultural exclusion as much as possible. So that people of all races, ages, industries and cultural backgrounds can find drinks that suit their own tastes. Multi-attempt, diversified economy, in this gentle way to communicate with cultures around the world, may help Starbucks out of the trough earlier and usher in another peak of development. But will more and more food and tea drinks, as well as the continuous expansion of consumer groups, dilute Starbucks' brand culture, wear away its survival personality, and eventually end up with nothing like it?