The scene is something you would see at any independent coffee bar anywhere: an assortment of people at a laid back shop in Seattle's Capitol Hill, some sipping espressos, some beers; the delicacy counter is stocked with cheeses and pastry brought in from a bakery nearby, and a local singer songwriter has the floor as she gently coos and strums. But this isn't just any comfortable and lived in coffee shop; it is a Coffee and Tea outlet - a Starbucks venture. People can still tell from the distinctive taste we come to expect in Starbucks coffee mugs.
Starbucks admits that the company has grown too large, too profitable, for its own good. The company has been slipping in the marketplace, and they have brought in the companies original head honcho, Howard Schultz to try to turn things around. The new direction is that Starbucks was just too happy with itself; there is no adventure, no fear of failure anymore, and consequently, no urgency or risk-taking. They are trying to new the Coffee and Tea venture, to offer something new to their customers - Starbucks coffee mugs, laid-back excitement.
The management is asking Coffee and Tea outlets to try whatever they have in mind: to break the rules. Whatever it is, it seems to be working: Starbucks is more profitable now than it was last year. Some people say that Starbucks is just trying to recapture its youth, and this kind of thing never works. There is nothing wrong with being a multinational; you don't have to try to pretend you have your one coffee shop, and it is either sink or swim. If customers wanted that, they could just go out to a regular independent coffee house; they still exist, and they do make individual and creative beverages, unlike the experience they have, forced to grab Starbucks coffee mugs at crowded outlets and want to work each morning.
Starbucks' CEO now has halted all expansion programs to try to concentrate on what they have already. The second thing on the list has been the menu. Starbucks, long ago, stopped making specialty coffees. They have a centralized purchase department that would buy coffee beans by the boatload. Coffee varieties that were not grown in that kind of quantity, were just not chosen. When Mr. Schultz found out that Starbucks coffee mugs were always the generic kind, and that local coffee shops did provide specialty coffees that no one could get, he put an end to the cookie-cutter approach. Starbucks will now also offer specialty coffees that are not available in large quantities.
Starbucks has also been giving thought to the way it organizes its regions across the country. Executives now, are going to be in charge of their local area, so that someone in Florida is not managing coffee shops farther north in Maryland just because they're both at the same time zone. These two places are practically different countries, and when the management needs to be competent, they need to know local tastes and preferences. Starbucks is going big on localness now, in a really cutesy way. Their outlets now try to be environmentally responsible, by emptying the grounds from Starbucks coffee mugs into a bucket out front, so that customers can use it to fertilize their yards. If it is exam time for a college nearby, they leave a light on for you so that you can study. Things seem to be succeeding for now; and they will continue to, just as long as they can keep their mojo.
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