Starbucks Coffee: not marketing skills but operating "people"

Starbucks (Starbucks), born in Seattle in 1971, started by selling coffee beans. In 1996, Starbucks began its global expansion, opening coffee chains in 32 markets, including China, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Japan. CEO Howard, who single-handedly brought small coffee shops into the ranks of international brands? "Starbucks' rise doesn't depend on marketing skills," Schultz said. "Starbucks runs a human business."

The mermaid of Seattle

In April 1971, in Park Market (Pike Place) in Seattle, USA, three college classmates, English teacher Saiwu? Sigill, Jerry, the history teacher? Baldwin and writer Gordon? With an investment of $1350 each, plus $5000 borrowed from the bank, Buck raised nearly $10, 000 to create a small coffee shop called Starbucks, which sells coffee beans, tea and spices. All three friends are lovers of fine coffee and tea. At that time, San Francisco Bay had formed a customer group advocating fine coffee, and three entrepreneurs hoped to find a similar consumer group in Seattle.

On the question of naming the coffee shop, three friends decided to name Herman, a great American literary master in the 19th century. STARBUCK, the protagonist of Melville's classic Moby Dick, names the coffee shop. This is a first mate who is extremely calm and charming. His hobby is drinking coffee, and he always pursues the best coffee beans. The trio hope that the name STARBUCK will evoke romantic memories of the ocean and the original trade in coffee. At that time, the main customers of this small coffee shop were those urban white-collar workers who loved literature, paid attention to enjoyment, leisure, advocated knowledge and respected the human standard. As for the logo of the store, a designer friend Teri was invited. Heckler, help. Inspired by medieval woodcut Poseidon statues, young designers designed a double-tailed Poseidon image that looks like a mermaid Siren, with two brown mermaids surrounding STARBUCK.

A few months before Starbucks opened, the three founders went to Berkeley to learn from Alfred Peet, the baking master. Pitt is a Dutch immigrant who has very high attainments in coffee. In the 1950s, Pitt began to import coffee to the United States. In 1966, Pitt opened a small shop called Beit Coffee and Tea in Berkeley, California, and had a group of loyal customers. The three founders admired Pitt's skills and his unique deep-baked coffee and went to Pitt's store many times to learn about coffee skills. They helped and studied in Pitt's shop. Pitt instilled in the three young people the idea of uncompromising quality coffee and constantly emphasized to them the importance of enriching their knowledge of coffee. It is Bitt's teachings that determine Starbucks' basic idea of pursuing coffee quality in the future.

All the furniture in Starbucks stores in Parker Market is hand-made. More than 30 kinds of coffee beans are displayed on one wall, and all kinds of coffee utensils are displayed on the wooden shelf of the other wall. At that time, Starbucks only sold coffee makers and deep-roasted coffee beans, allowing people to buy home and grind and cook themselves. the store did not sell cups of brewed coffee. Of course, the store will sometimes brew some coffee on the spot for customers to try out to identify the quality of the coffee beans purchased. Customers can also listen to lectures on coffee in the store when they are trying it out.

Jerry Baldwin and Gordon? After learning Pitt's baking method, Buck created a unique baking method to adjust a special coffee taste, coupled with the coffee shop's practice of sharing coffee knowledge with customers to win the favor of customers. the small coffee shop is already well-known locally. The Seattle Times came with admiration and released a special article for this purpose. Starbucks became more and more famous, and the coffee shop quickly became a success, with sales exceeding initial expectations.

In 1972, three friends opened a second Starbucks store near the University of Washington campus. In 1980, the company opened four Starbucks stores in the Seattle area and made a profit every year. Although the economic situation at that time was good and bad, it affected the business of the coffee shop. But Starbucks continues to develop new taste products, and the market response to these rich, rich, fine powder coffee is very good, Starbucks business is booming.

Schultz is tied to Starbucks.

Howard。 Schultz is a vice president and American branch manager of a Swedish company that makes kitchen equipment (Hammarplast). In 1981, Schultz noticed that Starbucks in Seattle often ordered a large number of hand-ground coffee equipment. This aroused Schultz's curiosity, and he wanted to know why and what kind of companies ordered so many hand-ground coffee equipment. He decided to visit the client in person. So he immediately flew to Seattle to see the company.

On a sunny spring day, accompanied by Linda Grossman, then the retail manager in charge of Starbucks sales, Schultz came to Seattle on the west coast of the United States. He came to the Starbucks store at the Parker Farmers' Market. When he pushed the door, a strong smell of coffee flowed out, behind the counter stood cans of coffee beans from Sumatra, Ethiopia, Costa Rica and other parts of the world, and coffee machines were displayed on the other wall. An antique coffee hall appeared in front of Schultz.

Through conversations with Baldwin and Buck, Schultz learned that Starbucks has a history of more than a decade, but so far there are only four stores. Schultz wondered why these people were so fascinated by the cause, but none of them wanted to make the enterprise bigger and stronger. These people with strong artistic temperament founded Starbucks for only one reason: love coffee. Schultz was deeply impressed by their desire to educate consumers about the advantages of deep-roasted coffee.

On the way back to New York, Schultz kept thinking about Starbucks. Schultz later recalled the experience: "it was like magic, and I was moved by a kind of enthusiasm and sincerity I had never seen in the business world." By the time the plane landed at JFK, Schultz had decided to participate in Starbucks' work.

Schultz immediately called Baldwin and asked, "do you think it is possible for me to cooperate with Starbucks?" Schultz suggested that Baldwin open Starbucks stores outside Seattle to give more Americans access to Starbucks coffee, not just the thousands of coffee lovers in Seattle. Schultz also proposed that he be in charge of the expansion plan. Schultz says he can make Starbucks, which has only four stores, grow rapidly, surpass the Northwest and even become an all-American company, with hundreds of stores. The name of Starbucks will become synonymous with high-quality coffee-this brand will become a guarantee of world-class level. When he came up with the idea of expansion, Schultz thought Starbucks' job should be in the bag. However, the three founders of Starbucks did not agree to his request, fearing that Schultz's idea might lead Starbucks in a new direction. In addition, Schultz knew almost nothing about coffee and could not adapt to Starbucks' coffee culture at all. What's more, it's risky to hire an outsider, especially someone who already has a high status in New York. There are also concerns about whether Schultz can accept Starbucks' values.

Baldwin called Schultz and said they decided to reject him because they thought the expansion was too risky. Schultz was very depressed, but he didn't give up. The next day, he called Baldwin and gave an ebullient but well-founded speech explaining why it was a wrong decision to refuse to expand. At the same time, he proposed that he could convert his salary into shares in Starbucks instead of being paid for his work for Starbucks. Schultz's efforts were not in vain, and Baldwin agreed to rethink. Soon after, Baldwin told Schultz that they agreed to hire him as Starbucks' marketing and overseas retail manager to oversee Starbucks' marketing efforts.

In September 1982, Schultz officially began his work at Starbucks. Schultz spent most of his first three months at Starbucks in four stores in Seattle. In order to fit in with his colleagues, he tried to change the highly stressful and energetic style of working in New York from a suit and bow tie to a leisure style that was more suitable for the Northwest. He changed his habit of wearing formal clothes every day when he was vice president. He wears casual clothes every day, tastes different kinds of coffee, talks to customers, knows every employee, and is familiar with all kinds of knowledge about coffee retail.

The spirit of coffee hidden in Italy

In 1983, Schultz went to Milan, Italy on a business trip to attend a trade exhibition on household equipment. On the walk from the hotel to the exhibition and convention center, Schultz found small cafes on the street one after another, and every business was good. Schultz stopped in front of an Italian coffee bar and walked in. The cashier standing at the door saw him come in, smiled and nodded to him. The waiter behind the counter greeted him warmly, "espresso?" The master smiled and handed over a cup of coffee that had just been made. The smile and greeting of the clerk made him feel cordial and natural, and he found that the style of Italian stores was different from that of Starbucks.

Italian cafes sell coffee, not just beans. Italian coffee makers chat with customers amicably while grinding coffee beans, pressing espresso, steaming milk and handing them to customers. There are coffee tables and chairs in the shop, and those Italian customers who come to the cafe always find a place to sit down and chat with acquaintances while drinking coffee. These Italians come once in the morning and once at noon, and go to the cafe before going home after work in the evening. The whole coffee shop looks like a small community meeting place, each with its own unique style. Schultz deeply feels that coffee has become a part of the life of the local Italian. The relaxing atmosphere, the social space and the change of mood in the coffee shop is the essence of the cafe that really attracts customers to come again and again. It's not just a bag of fine coffee beans, or a cup of coffee.

Schultz was particularly shocked by the fact that Milan, a city the size of Philadelphia, had 1500 coffee shops, while Italy had 200000 coffee shops, one on almost every street corner, and all coffee bars were popular. Schultz found that a master who makes a cup of wonderful coffee in Italy is respected by customers as an artist, while in the eyes of Americans, he is just a worker with little skill. Looking at all this, Schultz had a revolutionary idea in his mind: that's what Starbucks missed-- completely.

In the United States at that time, most Americans used to go to coffee shops to buy coffee beans, then go home to make their own brew, and drink coffee at home. Starbucks has always adopted the same business idea as other American coffee shops: there are no cafes, coffee beans are sold as products and bags are sold to customers to go home and enjoy. However, the sales of coffee beans are limited, and Starbucks' sales have been difficult to break through the bottleneck.

Starbucks ignores the core meaning of the coffee business, a long way from the spirit and soul of coffee-the true spirit of coffee that has existed for centuries. With years of experience in marketing, Schultz is acutely aware that a "relationship" can be established between "coffee shops" and "people" in addition to "selling products". And this kind of "relationship" is the reason that can really attract customers to come again and again, and the sales of coffee shops can break through the bottleneck. The idea was like a bolt of lightning through the heart. Schultz did not foresee Starbucks' future success in the Milan piazza, but he felt an indescribable romantic feeling and the call of community complex. He is determined to change Starbucks in essence. The aborted dream of a coffee shop

After returning from Italy, Schultz began to think about how to Americanize the espresso bar. Schultz proposed to the company that Starbucks move from selling coffee beans and coffee equipment to offering fresh coffee drinks, adding cafes in the store and adding background music to create an atmosphere for drinking coffee. make drinking coffee in the store a part of American life. Schultz stressed that customers coming to Starbucks should be an experience and a special treatment. "Americanization of Italian Cafe" will differentiate Starbucks from other local coffee shops.

To Schultz's regret, Baldwin and Buck strongly opposed his proposal. They think Starbucks is a coffee shop, not a restaurant or bar. They worry that offering coffee drinks will dilute the integrity of Starbucks' core mission by shifting Starbucks from a beverage business focused on high-quality coffee to fast food. They point out that Starbucks is positioned as a small private profit company and that there is no reason to change that position.

Howard Schultz didn't give up the idea of an Italian coffee bar, and a year later, he finally persuaded Baldwin to let him try to build an Italian bar cafe to see how it worked. In April 1984, Starbucks opened its sixth store in Seattle, the first Starbucks store to sell coffee drinks and the first Starbucks store in downtown Seattle. At the time, Schultz had planned to have 1500 square feet of space to create a full Italian-style coffee bar, but Baldwin only agreed to try the new idea of selling coffee drinks in a corner of the store.

On the eve of the opening of the store, the company did not do any marketing campaign for the new store, nor did it do any publicity that the new store would provide coffee drinks. This was clearly intentional by Baldwin, who wanted to see how the market reacted to Schultz's new idea without marketing. On its first day of opening, the new store received about 400 customers, far exceeding the previous average daily capacity of 250 customers at the best Starbucks store. Two months later, the number of customers in this store has grown to 800 a day. The two service staff in the store can no longer meet the service demand during the rush hour every morning. Every morning, there are long queues outside the store, and people wait in line to buy Starbucks coffee. Most of these customers come to buy coffee drinks, and few customers patronize the coffee bean counter. Schultz was so pleased with the business situation of the new store that he went to Baldwin's office every day to show the sales data and customer visits of the new store. The sales of the new store show that Starbucks' Italian coffee shop is becoming a focus for customers, and customers like the service model of serving coffee drinks very much. Schultz expects sales of the new store to allay Baldwin's doubts about Italian coffee houses. Schultz is already convinced that Starbucks has entered another area and is impossible to turn back. He was excited that he would be supported by Baldwin because of his success, but his illusion was shattered again.

Baldwin doesn't seem too happy about the success of the new store. He remains convinced that the sale of coffee drinks distorts the core value of Starbucks' offering high-quality roasted coffee beans, which can make Starbucks lose its way. He said, "I'm sorry, Howard. We can't do this. You have to understand that. People will think of Starbucks as a fast food restaurant selling coffee drinks. " He told Schultz that he did not deny the success of the new store, but he did not want other Starbucks stores to sell coffee drinks. Starbucks will still focus on coffee baking and does not want to become a restaurant industry. In addition, if the new business model, it means that the company has to borrow money to transform the existing store, and he does not want to run in debt. Schultz tried to convince Baldwin that he could change his mind, but Baldwin was so determined that he reluctantly agreed to set up a coffee machine backstage at the other two Starbucks stores to make and sell Schultz's coffee drinks.

Over the next few months, the 33-year-old Schultz began to think about whether to leave Starbucks and set up his own coffee kingdom. His plan is to open coffee bars in downtown areas with the busiest traffic, and as he saw in Italy, those Italian coffee bars are full of friendly and energetic atmosphere. At the time, Schultz had a lawyer friend, Scott Greenberg, who was engaged in venture capital and listing. Greenberg told Schultz that many investors were already interested in the business idea of his Italian coffee bar. Baldwin and Buck knew that Schultz was depressed and supported Schultz's dream of leaving Starbucks to pursue his own coffee kingdom. To make Schultz worry-free, they agreed to keep Schultz's job and office at Starbucks until his new company was basically on track. So, in 1985, Schultz left Starbucks to pursue his coffee dream.

Interestingly, when Schultz had just completed a series of preparations for his new company, Baldwin announced that he would personally invest $150000 in Schultz's company, becoming the first investor in Schultz's Italian coffee bar. At the same time, Baldwin accepted Schultz's invitation to become director of Schultz's new company. On the other hand, Buck agreed to serve as a part-time consultant for the new company for six months, providing Schultz with advice on the opening of the new store, such as the naming of the new store, publicity introduction, purchase of coffee beans, etc., to ensure that the new store provides better service than its competitors.

Buck proposed that the new company be named the Daily Coffee Company (Il Giornale), which Schultz accepted. In December 1985, Buck and Schultz made a special trip to Italy. They visited about 500 coffee bars in Milan and Verona to observe local consumption habits, interior decoration and menu design. Very detailed notes, photography and videos were taken of each store.

In April 1986, the first daily coffee bar opened at the entrance to Seattle's tallest building, measuring only 700 square feet. The storefront is decorated in Italian style, the menu is full of Italian words and Italian opera music is played in the store. The attendants in the store are wearing white shirts and bow ties. There are no chairs in the shop, all the services are standing, and national and international dailies hang on the walls. On its first day of business, the new store received 300 customers.

Soon, however, Schultz found that some parts of the new coffee bar seemed at odds with the Seattle style. Some customers object to the continuous play of Italian opera in the store, some customers want to find a place to sit down and taste the coffee, while more customers can't understand the Italian words on the menu. These problems were quickly corrected by Schultz, but did not change the position of Italian elegance in the store. Six months after the opening of the new store, it receives more than 1000 customers a day, and most regulars can pronounce the name of the coffee bar.

Territory expansion

Daily Coffee Company merges Starbucks

In 1987, Baldwin and Buck decided to sell Starbucks' entire Seattle operations, including all Starbucks stores and bakeries in Seattle, as well as Starbucks trademarks. Schultz immediately realized that he had to buy Starbucks. He persuaded the board to let him buy Starbucks, and Schultz and the finance manager calculated the amount of money needed for the merger of the daily coffee bar (Il Giornale) and Starbucks, including the amount of additional investment that investors in the daily coffee company can invest and the credit lines that local banks can provide.

In August 1987, Schultz completed the acquisition of Starbucks. After the merger of the daily coffee bar and Starbucks, Schultz named the new company "Starbucks Enterprises" (Starbucks Corporation). Howard? Schultz finally became chairman and CEO of Starbucks at the age of 35.

On Monday morning in the first week after the merger, Schultz came to the Starbucks bakery to meet with all the staff. He summoned the staff in the conference room and said, "my dream is to work with a group of people who share a common vision. I'm here today because I love this company, I love what it represents. I know you care about that. I won't let you down. I promise I won't leave anyone behind. Our goal is to build a national company-a company that all of us will be proud of its value and code of conduct in the future. Five years later, I want you to recall today and proudly say,'I was there from the beginning, and I was involved in the process of building this company into a great company.'in order to achieve this, the company will respect and motivate its employees. Sharing the fruits of the company's success with those who have contributed to the company's long-term value will be fundamental to the company's success. This is not just a beautiful, confusing commercial propaganda. "

Over the next few months, Schultz began a series of new personnel changes. He appointed David? Ollison is in charge of purchasing and baking coffee, Lawrence? Maltz was appointed executive vice president in charge of operations, finance and human resources. He has 20 years of business experience and served as CEO of a profitable public beverage company for eight years. To show the merger of the two companies and the integration of the two corporate cultures, the new company's logo has been redesigned, which combines the characteristics of the old Starbucks and Daily Coffee logos. The new Starbucks store has been renovated to Italian style and is equipped with a coffee maker for espresso, while the old Starbucks' traditional brown has been replaced with the green of daily coffee. All Starbucks stores have established a cross channel between the coffee bean retail area and the coffee drink sales area, making it easy for customers to pass through.

Accelerate expansion

On October 27, 1987, the first Starbucks store opened in Chicago. Within six months, three other stores opened one after another, but the market reaction was significantly lower than management expected. Chicagoans don't seem to like the deep-roasted coffee that Schultz strongly advocates. In addition, the choice of location has proved to be problematic. For example, the first store opened in the city center is on a busy street, not in a commercial building, and people do not want to walk out of the building in the cold wind just for a cup of coffee. The number of customers in the store is very small, coupled with the rent and employee wages in Chicago are much higher than in Seattle, the operating costs of several stores are very high and at a loss. Within two years, Starbucks lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in Chicago.

The loss continued until 1990. This year, Starbucks hired professional manager Howard Beha to co-ordinate the business of retail stores. Biha hired more experienced store managers and raised the price of its products to cope with high rents and labor in Chicago. At the same time, Starbucks' deep-roasted coffee has finally been accepted after a period of promotion. Chicagoans have begun to get used to heavier coffee, and a large number of customers who are picky about coffee have become addicted to "cappuccino" and "latte." The number of customer visits gradually began to increase. Many customers even began to complain that there were so few stores that they had to walk too far to buy Starbucks coffee. Starbucks Cafe has become a scenic spot in Chicago's cityscape and culture. In 1991, stores in Chicago began to turn a profit.

Portland, Oregon, is the second step in Schultz's plan to expand the market, and customers in Portland quickly accepted Starbucks products. Then, management decided to make California the next major development market. This is because California residents have always been known for being friendly and loving new, high-quality food. Los Angeles was chosen as the first stop in California mainly because of its influence on the leadership of the national consumer culture. Consumers in Los Angeles opened the door to Starbucks, which the Los Angeles Times called the best coffee in the United States before the first store opened in Los Angeles. When Starbucks' expansion goals in Chicago and Los Angeles were easier to achieve than Schultz had expected, he was so confident that he decided to go beyond his original expansion plan and speed up the deployment. At that time, Starbucks had 11 stores, and Schultz decided to complete the plan to open 15 new stores in 1988, 20 in 1989, 30 in 1990, 32 in 1991 and 53 in 1992. Starbucks built 161 new stores in the five years from 1988 to 1992, far exceeding the target of 125 new stores set up in 1987.

Schultz was happy to think of himself as a visionary at the moment. He admitted that customers responded more enthusiastically to the coffee market than he had imagined. In the past, no one would have believed that espresso would come off the altar and become such a popular and widely accepted drink; no one foresaw that coffee bars and coffee trucks would appear in the streets and lobbies of office buildings in the United States, and the number would increase month by month; no one imagined that even fast food restaurants, gas stations and convenience stores would put up "espresso" signs to attract customers. In just three or four years, such espresso has become a part of American social life. The brand-new creativity of a retail model has created history in an all-round way through a set of systematic construction-Starbucks has become a new social and cultural phenomenon.

Happy Starbucks people

Employee medical plan

The success or failure of retail and catering depends largely on its level of service, while these companies have the lowest income and the highest mobility of waiters. From the very beginning, Schultz wanted to make Starbucks a company that everyone was willing to work for. He has the most basic understanding: employees as their own family, they will be loyal to the company, give everything they have. Put yourself in the employee's shoes, and the employee will think of you. At that time, many service-oriented enterprises held exactly the opposite view on this point, and they reduced operating costs by reducing the benefits for beginners.

Howard Schultz firmly believes that Starbucks' success depends mainly on customers having a very good shopping experience in the store. This means that shop assistants must be very familiar with all the company's products, pay attention to detail, be able to convey the company's coffee culture to customers enthusiastically, and have sufficient skills and personality to provide consistent and pleasant service. In Schultz's view, how to attract and motivate employees who work hard and perform well is a challenge for Starbucks. In addition, Schultz has been thinking about how to further strengthen the trust relationship between management and employees.

In 1988, Schultz made a proposal to the board of directors to expand employee health insurance coverage and provide health insurance to all part-time employees who work more than 20 hours a week. Schultz believes that this is not a generous gesture made by the company to gain employee loyalty, but a core strategy for the company to win employee loyalty and commitment. However, the board rejected the proposal, arguing that the company was still losing money at the time and that providing health insurance for part-time employees would further worsen the company's already poor financial position.

Schultz insists, "I admit that on the face of it, the cost has increased, but if we can reduce mobility, we can save money on training and recruitment." Starbucks has to provide at least 24 hours of training for every new retail employee, and every person we hire means a lot of money. The annual cost of health insurance for a full-time employee is only $1500, while the cost of training a new employee is $3000 a year. Many retailers encourage staff mobility intentionally or unintentionally, which is believed to maintain low wages and low welfare operating costs. However, a high degree of mobility can in turn affect customer loyalty. Some of our customers come so frequently that as soon as they enter the door, the baristas know what they want to drink. If the coffee maker leaves, the solid bond between the company and the customer will be broken. Many part-time employees open the door at 5:30 or 6 o'clock in the morning, sometimes working until after 9 pm. Providing medical insurance for these employees will show that the company recognizes and respects their values and contributions. "

At Schultz's insistence, the board finally approved his proposal. In the second half of 1988, all part-time employees who worked more than 20 hours a week received the same commercial insurance provided by the company as their full-time employees. Starbucks pays 75% of the medical expenses for each employee. At the time, Starbucks was the only self-financing company in the world to do so-and, later, the only public company to do so. "this is the best decision we have ever made." Schultz said. With the development of this benefit, the scope of medical expenses provided by the company is also increasing, covering various areas of health care, such as preventive medicine, health consultation, teeth, eyes, psychiatry and so on. In fact, because most of Starbucks' employees are younger and healthier, the company's actual spending on this health insurance is not high.

Starbucks' investment soon yielded a huge return. They attract good employees and make them stay longer. More importantly, great changes have taken place in people's mental outlook. When companies show generosity to their employees, they will be more responsible in everything they do. In 1994, Howard Schultz was invited to the White House to give a face-to-face presentation to President Clinton about Starbucks' health benefits plan.

The Coffee Bean Stock Plan

Since 1991, the company has been making a profit. Schultz also proposed a new employee plan, the Coffee Bean Stock Plan. This is a stock option scheme for all employees, and its idea is to provide a stock subscription plan for all employees, so that every employee holds shares and becomes a partner of the company, so that each employee is associated with the overall performance of the company, whether CEO or any partner, adopt the same work attitude. Schultz wants to make all Starbucks employees partners, share the company's success with them, and build common interests between employees and the company. At the time, Starbucks was still a private company, and the plan required each employee to be given priority to subscribe to the company's shares according to the level of the employee's basic salary.

In May 1991, the company's senior management submitted the plan to the board of directors, which initially rejected the proposal. In response to the opposition, Schultz convinced them that giving shares to employees is bound to give the company strong backing, which is conducive to sales and profit growth. The proportion of investors' shares may have shrunk relatively, but the value of their shares will certainly grow faster. He told them that if they could integrate every employee into a whole, then they would treat the company in the same way as CEO. Although the board was concerned that the plan would affect the control and interests of veteran investors over the company, Schultz stuck to the plan. The board of directors finally approved the plan.

In August 1991, Starbucks launched the program to its employees, and Schultz told you that "this is a dream that I have been thinking about for a long time." Each employee was given a small bag with a blue ribbon and a pamphlet explaining the coffee bean stock plan in detail. Then celebrate being "growing partners" with apple, champagne and cookies. From that day on, Starbucks stopped using the word "employee" and referred to all people in the company as "partners". Anyone who had worked for the company for more than six months was a legitimate equity holder. Even part-time workers have the same rights as long as they work no less than 20 hours a week.

The first stock grant was on October 1, 1991, and about half of the employees participated in at least one of the programs. Employees receive options as a percentage of their annual salary, which is usually 10%, but due to the increase in the company's profitability in recent years, the actual proportion has been higher than 10%. Each partner can get stock options of 12% of his annual basic income, or 14% if the situation is good. The stock price on the first day of each fiscal year is the grant price of the option. Starbucks's stock option has a waiting period of five years, and any "partner" can buy shares under the stock purchase plan after 90 days of work (at least 20 hours a week for 90 days). Partners can get a 15 per cent discount on their salaries when buying shares. As long as the stock rises, stock options become more and more valuable. Partners who earn $20000 a year in 1991 can exchange their stock options for more than $50000 in cash five years later.

Before the coffee bean stock has time to prove any of its wealth value, its impact on people's professional attitudes and working methods is immediate. Schultz noticed that employees began to find ways to save money for the company. for example, when someone took the red-eye flight on Saturday night to save money on air tickets, they would say, "I have bean stock." People are thinking about innovation, reducing costs, expanding sales and creating value. As partners in a company, they treat customers warmly from the bottom of their hearts. As a result of this program, Starbucks' job-hopping rate was only 60% in the mid-1990s, far lower than the 140% to 300% job-hopping rate of hourly workers in the fast-food industry.

One day in the first half of 1992, a partner named Martin Schunesi walked into the human resources department and brought a letter signed by most of the workers in the warehouse and factory. The letter meant that they no longer asked the union to represent their interests and asked to cancel the union that voted. In 1985, employees spontaneously organized electoral unions to protect their rights and interests, and asked them to endorse their interests. But now, Martin Schunessi says, "you put us in charge of this business together, and no matter what complaint you have, you will resolve it." You trusted us, and now we trust you. " In 1992, the union at the Starbucks bakery was cancelled, and nothing is more important than winning hearts and minds.

Partners and Starbucks

What is the secret that Starbucks has grown from a small coffee shop in Seattle to a global coffee empire? People often attribute Starbucks' success to three points: the first is the high quality of coffee, the second is the good brand marketing, and the third is the replication ability of the global chain operation. However, whether it is Starbucks coffee culture, word-of-mouth marketing, or the replication model of global chain operation, it all revolves around the "relationship" between people from beginning to end.

Starbucks' coffee culture originated from the pursuit of high-quality coffee by three entrepreneurs, but it was precisely because Schultz excavated the "human feelings" contained in coffee and established a "third home" emotional relationship with customers. in order to create Starbucks unique coffee culture; Starbucks is most proud of word-of-mouth marketing also depends on the relationship between people. "One cup at a time,one customer at a time". The company creates a good cultural soil and atmosphere, which can really make employee partners feel respected and happy, and then they take actions to pass on their happiness to customers, so that customers feel the extension of warm smile and high-quality and considerate service; in the replication process of Starbucks global chain operation, it still depends on the "person-to-person" relationship between partners, so as to cultivate a stable and reliable cooperative relationship.

As the core value of Starbucks, "relationship theory" is as important as baking high-quality coffee beans in the history of Starbucks development. As the results of a survey conducted by the Kellogg School of Management in the United States at the end of 2001 show that successful companies define and apply relationships in a consistent and clear multifaceted way.

There is no doubt that the core of Starbucks' relationship theory is the relationship with employees. As Schultz himself said, "the rise of Starbucks does not depend on marketing skills, Starbucks runs a human business." Schultz's vision is to make Starbucks a national company to be proud of by its employees and the most respected brand in the global coffee industry. In order to achieve this, he believes that the company must respect and motivate its employees and share the fruits of its success with those who have contributed to the company's long-term value. This is not just a beautiful, confusing commercial campaign, but the company's core strategy.

Christian Glenn Roth put forward the theory of "internal marketing" aimed at employees within the organization in the 1980s. He believes that employees are actually internal consumers of the organization, and the higher the level of employee satisfaction, the more likely it is to build a customer-and market-oriented company. The role of internal marketing is not only to straighten out the relationship between various departments in the enterprise, more importantly, it can mobilize organizational strength and emotion to achieve the strategic goals of the organization. Great organizations are always able to concentrate and radiate great energy in the face of set goals. This view is also an important reason why Starbucks has risen rapidly in just over a decade. The essence of the "human cause" advocated by Schultz is that the internal exchange between the enterprise and the employees must be effectively operated to make the employees identify with the values of the enterprise, so that the enterprise can successfully achieve the goal of the external market.

"if you treat your employees as detachable parts in a car, they will look at you in the same way," Schultz says. But they are not parts and components, each of them is an independent individual, they not only need the affirmation of self-worth, but also need to use economic means to support their families. "sometimes we lose that vision. But I know in my heart that we cannot achieve our goals and values if we only treat our employees as parts of the production line and as an expense in the cost. Their passion and contribution are our first competitive advantage. If we lose this, we will lose the whole game. "

Therefore, both the Starbucks employee health benefits plan and the coffee bean stock plan are based on the most basic and oldest understanding: treat employees as their families, put themselves in their shoes, and employees will think of you. They will be loyal to the company. Of course, this is not enough. Companies must also connect each employee with the company's overall performance, establish common interests between employees and the company, and motivate employees who work hard with excellent performance. For example, many Starbucks employees realized their dreams by relying on the coffee bean stock program. Martin Schunesi sold the bean stock to buy the latest Harley motorcycle, who bought a holiday home, and who bought an antique car. others cashed in the stock and paid for college tuition. When he heard these stories, Schultz became clearer about all their efforts and the true meaning of Starbucks-which went far beyond buying ingredients and baking coffee to meet the needs of customers.

Making employees satisfied is the same as customer satisfaction, it has become the responsibility and task that every enterprise manager faces. For those companies that pursue the long term, they should cultivate the awareness that their employees are the first marketing target. More and more Chinese enterprises have realized that the process of organizational development is actually a process of human-to-human relationship management. However, it is worth pointing out that although most enterprises agree with this view, they often forget this view whenever they are under pressure or when the interests of employees and enterprises conflict with each other. At this point, companies might as well review Schultz's point of view.

As the company continues to add new stores in the international and domestic markets, the number of employees continues to increase at a high speed, and the difficulty of internal management is also increasing. For example, in 2006, Starbucks employees in New York complained about poor hygiene in their working environment, while Starbucks employees in China complained about not meeting the minimum wage. It seems to convey that Starbucks is becoming more and more difficult to maintain a harmonious "person-to-person" relationship within the company. The scale of the enterprise continues to accelerate, and it is becoming more and more difficult to control coffee shops around the world. can the managers of tens of thousands of coffee shops around the world fully implement Starbucks' management philosophy? In the face of more and more partners, suppliers and regional governments, does Starbucks still have enough energy to protect employees' interests and balance the conflict between employees' interests and corporate interests?

Starbucks chronology

In 1971, Starbucks opened its first store in Park Market in Seattle and started the coffee and bean business.

Starbucks opened four stores in 1981, which lasted for ten years.

Howard Schultz joined Starbucks in 1982 as director of marketing and retail operations

When Schultz traveled to Italy in 1983, he realized that the market for coffee and beverage shops in the United States had not yet been developed.

Schultz left Starbucks in 1985 because of operational differences.

The first store of Schultz's Daily Coffee Company opened in 1986

In 1987, Daily Coffee bought Starbucks and opened the first store to sell drip coffee and espresso drinks.

In 1988, Starbucks established a system in which part-time employees can also get insurance.

Howard, a professional manager in 1990 When Biha joined Starbucks, the company's loss began to reverse.

In 1991, Starbucks implemented "Coffee Bean Stock" and issued stock options to all employees.

Starbucks was successfully listed on NASDAQ in New York in 1992, and has since entered a new stage of development.

In 1992, Starbucks employees took the initiative to withdraw the trade union organization.

In 1996, Schultz flew to Tokyo, Japan, to personally supervise the first overseas store.

In 1999, Chinese mainland entered Starbucks and opened its first Chinese mainland store in Beijing International Trade.

In 2005, Starbucks invested 40 million yuan to set up Starbucks China Education Program.