Grind the coffee beans into gold sand

This is a magnificent symphony: every day, thousands of bags of coffee beans from 28 countries and regions bump on the road and drift on the ocean, entering baking factories, some of which roast 2 million pounds of coffee beans a week. They are then sent to more than 10, 000 cafes around the world, with 40 million customers a week.

This is the Starbucks symphony, conducted by Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz. A few days ago, he came to the National Institute of Accounting in Shanghai to attend the high-level forum of entrepreneurs. The American has a handsome face and deep blue eyes. His fluffy blond hair looks charming with a gray suit. After the speech, he accepted an exclusive interview with New Business Weekly.

Employees are more important than shareholders.

In the eyes of business schools and entrepreneurs around the world, the interests of shareholders are paramount, and "creating value for shareholders" has become the mantra of managers. However, this golden rule seems to have lost its effect in front of Starbucks. Schultz, the boss, said without thinking that "employees are more important than shareholders." In the benefit pyramid, the vast majority of enterprises leave the spire to shareholders, among them are customers, and at the bottom of the pyramid are employees. Schultz said bluntly: this is completely wrong. The brand value of Starbucks is that it subverts the traditional business model, making employees the most important asset, then customers, and finally shareholders.

Schultz repeatedly stressed that employees are in an unusual position. If you look at the development of Starbucks over the past decade, you will know that it is not for show. In the 1990s, health care costs soared in the United States, and while some companies were canceling employee insurance, Schultz insisted on providing health insurance for employees and making it available to part-time employees. As soon as the plan was introduced, it became hot news.

With the increase in insurance premiums, the company soon lost money. While directors are frowning, Schultz is the first in the United States to propose an equity and futures incentive system: as long as they have worked for six months, even part-time employees can become shareholders of Starbucks. Now the directors can't help it any longer. They find it hard to understand: can employees also become shareholders? This is ridiculous. Uneducated employees don't know anything about stocks and options!

In the midst of questioning, Schultz did not mean to give in, but calmly replied: this is the right decision, and it is worth making. Whether the catering and retail industries can make money depends on the working attitude of front-line waiters every day. To respect employees is to give Starbucks new vitality. After repeated explanations, the shareholders were finally persuaded. When Starbucks went public in the US in 1992, directors and employees were rewarded beyond imagination. Schultz not only retained valuable talent, but also greatly improved employee loyalty. At the same time, other catering companies are at a loss because of the high mobility of their employees.

"if you want to create long-term value, you have to think about it for your employees," Schultz told me. "if you increase benefits for your employees and build a trusted partnership with your employees, then long-term shareholder value will increase. When we went public in 1992, our market capitalization was $300m. Fourteen years later, the company's market capitalization was close to $30 billion. What I am most proud of is that we share our success with our employees and customers. We build trust and loyalty with our employees, and this relationship is passed on to our customers. The advertising of Starbucks is almost zero, and the advertising we do is to create this value with our employees and this trust with our customers. "

The love for employees has shaped Starbucks' glory, which is enough to prove Schultz's brilliance. However, the reason that really touched him to protect the rights and interests of employees was precisely his miserable childhood.

Three adventures to master Starbucks

"I never thought that one day I would run a business," Schultz sighed as he recalled his childhood. "I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, a poor part of New York, and my family lived in a government-subsidized low-rent house. It's only 15 minutes from the airport, planes often roar overhead, and the windows seem to be shattered. My father was a truck driver, and when I was 7 years old, when I was about to go to school, my father hurt his ankle on the way to delivery. In the 1960s, if you were uneducated, you had to go home when you were injured and didn't get any subsidies. I have seen with my own eyes how companies treat their employees, and I also deeply feel the pain that my father's unemployment has brought to the whole family. "

Through his childhood, Schultz relied on his football specialty and relied on scholarships to finish college. After graduation, he joined a Swedish office and household goods company. After several years of struggle, he became the deputy general manager. He stumbled upon that a company called Starbucks, with only a few small stores, had been buying large quantities of its coffee pots, which were larger than those of the most famous department stores in New York. Curiosity got him on a plane to Seattle, and he wouldn't have thought that his life would change.

He met three Starbucks founders in Seattle, a small shop that sells coffee, tea, spices and coffee pots. There's a passion I've never had before, and I know I can't live without it. Schultz's first choice began, either to give up his dream or the position of deputy general manager, with an annual salary of $75000. You know, it takes a lot of courage for a young man from a poor family to give up the fruits of many years of hard work. But Schultz decided to take the risk, persuading the three founders to join Starbucks in 1982.

At that time, Starbucks only sold roasted coffee beans, not coffee. Italy, on the other hand, has tens of thousands of coffee shops, making it the third place for people to go besides companies and homes. Schultz believed that Americans had the same need, so he urged the founders to open a coffee shop. Unexpectedly, they spoke with one voice and completely denied his idea.

Schultz is in conflict and loves Starbucks, but he also believes in the future of the coffee bar. After all the persuasion failed, with the Jewish sensitivity to business, he wanted to take a second adventure. He made the toughest decision: to leave Starbucks and raise $400000 to start his own coffee bar. When he was in distress, it was Starbucks that invested 150000 dollars in him. After raising money from many parties, the coffee shop opened and welcomed more than 300 customers on the same day, and soon the daily passenger flow rose to more than 1000. Schultz decided to raise another $1.25 million to open seven more stores. He tirelessly contacted more than 240 investors, and although most of them rejected him, they did not dampen his enthusiasm at all.

While Schultz was busy building his own coffee kingdom, word came from Starbucks that the three founders had decided to sell all six of their Starbucks. His heart was beating violently, and the dream that had been buried in his heart for many years was about to come true! Buy Starbucks even at the risk of losing everything. The price to realize this dream is 4 million dollars. Once again, he turned to those who invested or refused to invest in him in the past. He fought hard for a year with his enthusiasm and ideas, and finally moved investors. In 1987, at the age of 34, he successfully raised $3.8 million and became the real owner of Starbucks. Looking back on his passionate years, Schultz said confidently: if you ask those investors why they took the risk, almost everyone will tell you that they invested in me, not what I thought.

Ordinary drinks turn into magic water

If you look closely at the round store logo of Starbucks, you will see a witch painted above, with a laurel on her head, a curly shawl, her arms outstretched, and a rough sea behind her. Starbucks carries Schultz's dream and all his wealth. After joining Starbucks, he seemed to have magic to get Starbucks into the fast lane. Here, coffee has become an unprecedented magic drink, and his coffee shop has become the most popular place.

In the past, a cup of coffee sold for only a few cents, and when people ate breakfast, coffee was just a lubricant to swallow hamburgers. Schultz's marketing approach to this common drink is to be "different". Starbucks has introduced a $4 cup of "sky-high" coffee, and it has brought a new experience in variety, environment and even coffee culture, so it is more and more recognized by customers.

Schultz smoothed his hair and talked about his business: "when you walk into a store, you always want to see something exciting and interesting, so you visit often." As a result, Starbucks embarked on a boutique route, with a wide variety of coffee and different emotions, not only lattes and cappuccinos, but also exotic varieties such as caramel macchiato and green tea cappuccino iced coffee floating with vanilla. In order to keep coming up with new varieties, Schultz set up a laboratory to study various beverage formulations. In his eyes, drinks are created, and their appearance should first be in line with fashion trends, to see what color is the most fashionable now. It is said that Starbucks Labs has made more than 50,000 mixed coffee drinks, enough for the world to follow Starbucks for decades. Even Starbucks bosses are intoxicated with these new varieties: "every kind of coffee is worth tasting, and some coffee contains a unique earthy flavor, just like Bordeaux red wine."

In business, the environment is another major innovation. It is not only the coffee that attracts customers, but also the unique atmosphere of the coffee shop. Many guests come to Starbucks to stay away from the noise and troubles and enjoy a free, comfortable and casual environment. Customers spend $4 not for a cup of coffee, but for an environment where they can meditate, an oasis to share their feelings with friends. The coffee atmosphere of Starbucks just meets the communication needs of modern people. Therefore, in addition to simple and warm decoration, employees are also an integral part of the coffee environment. Schultz's generosity to his employees paid off: they were full of passion and a sense of intimacy. Every enthusiastic service is to establish a special experience in the hearts of customers. In addition, he also allows employees to participate in training to master professional coffee knowledge, which will easily convey a coffee culture and let customers know coffee again when serving. Starbucks' success proves that "only when success is shared can we achieve maximum success."

Although there are so many different marketing methods, the most fundamental thing is to operate in good faith. When Schultz came to Shanghai, he took a red chocolate box with him. He talked about a little thing: a week ago, I took my daughter to the cinema. Before the movie starts, my daughter wants to buy a box of chocolates, which is the one in my hand. There is a transparent window on the box, and from the outside, it is full of chocolate. It costs 3 dollars, which is the same as our latte, but it is still very expensive. When we opened the box, we found only a small bag of chocolates in it. "this fully illustrates how entrepreneurs around the world are abusing the trust that customers place in them. Today's consumers are more suspicious of businessmen than ever before. " "We try to build trust with people who drink Starbucks coffee every day," he said. He has insisted on choosing the best ingredients for decades, even as raw material prices rise.

Enter China and dance with tea

"We open five new stores every day, and more than 300 employees join the Starbucks family," Schultz said. Unique marketing methods have enabled Starbucks to open up a market that does not exist, its sales double every three years, and Starbucks is rapidly entering the global market. However, with the pace of expansion, a series of challenges follow.

"the most difficult thing is to stay small as you get bigger," Schultz said. " As the scale of the enterprise expands, it becomes more and more difficult to maintain the speed and quality of service. So how does Starbucks maintain its previous close ties? No matter how many other priorities there are, it is important to maintain a close relationship between employees and between companies and customers. When you focus on sales, profits, competition, and your investors, you can't bury your previous relationship. That's why we spend so much money on communications and travel: to make sure we're in touch. "

Not only that, refuse to join, adhere to the direct camp, is also his principle. Even in overseas markets, the company will not give up the bottom line of joint ventures. "take a look at other franchise stores that start by joining. It is very difficult for them to build a strong brand image. There are a lot of problems for franchisees and franchisees. I think joining is an obstacle between us and our guests. We would rather spend more money, open our own shop and train our own people. "

Expansion will also lead to collisions between different cultures. Schultz talked about China. "in 1999, we opened our first store in Beijing, and I have said publicly several times that China is Starbucks' most important and strategic market, and it will eventually become our second largest market." The author asks, how does Starbucks deal with Chinese traditional tea culture? He replied with ease: "wherever we go, including New York, Chicago or Paris, every time we enter a city, we respect the local culture." Chinese people like to drink tea, and teahouses are also places for people to communicate. However, we still want to provide a new way of life, we create our own experience, rather than provoking competition between tea culture and coffee culture. "

Starbucks is aggressively attacking the Chinese market, but no teahouse in China can stop it yet. As for other coffee chains on the market, Schultz is not worried. "Starbucks starts from the source of coffee, and there is a department that teaches farmers to grow coffee." We don't want to focus on what other people are doing, otherwise we will design strategies for competitors rather than consumers. We need to build a business that excites our customers, and then we will succeed through hard work. "

At the end of the visit, Schultz paused and said affectionately, "I come from a poor family. I am not familiar with China, but I have never seen a country like China so eager to seize opportunities and pay so much attention to education." so focused on creating value, I even wish: I am a Chinese. "