Starbucks Business Analysis

Summary of organization’s historical development

Starbucks Coffee Company was founded in 1971 in Seattle’s Pike Place Market (Starbucks Company Profile). The original name of the company was Starbucks Coffee, Tea and Spices, later changed to Starbucks Coffee Company. Starbucks was named after the first mate in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick is the world’s leading retailer, roaster and brand of specialty coffee with coffeehouses in North America, Europe, Middle East, Latin America and the Pacific Rim. Worldwide, approximately 35 million customers visit a Starbucks coffeehouse each week (Starbucks Comapy Profile). The first founders of Starbucks were founded by English teacher Jerry Baldwin, history teacher Zev Siegel, and writer Gordon Bowker. The three were inspired by Alfred Peet, whom they knew personally, to open their first store in Pike Place Market. The store originally focused more on the sale of beans and equipment than on selling prepared coffee. After that first year, they bought their beans direct from farmers before roasting them. The company remained small and regional for years and there was not much of a specialty coffee market nationwide. The original Starbucks location was at 2000 Western Avenue from 1971-1976. That store then moved to 1912 Pike Place where it is still open. During their first year of operation, they purchased green coffee beans then began buying directly from growers (Jerry Baldwin Bio).

Howard Schultz’s first experience was similar as most customer that walk into a Starbucks store. When he first walked into a Starbucks Coffee Company Store in 1981 he fell in love. Schultz did not fall in love with carefully chosen coffee beans that make the coffee, similar to new Starbucks customers.