Star Bucks
In 1971 three friends in Seattle with a passion for fresh coffee, inspired Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl and Gordon Bowker, to open a small shop from which they began selling fresh roasted, gourmet coffee beans and brewing and roasting accessories. In 1980 Zev Siegl sold his interest in the roasting company to pursue other ventures. Starbucks had become the largest roaster in Washington with six retail outlets. In 1981 the small coffee company caught the attention of Howard Schultz, a plastics salesman that noted the large quantity of plastic drip-brewing thermoses that they were buying from Hammarplast, the Swedish manufacturer that Shchultz represented here in the U.S
In 1982 Baldwin hired energetic salesman Shchultz as the new head of marketing and shortly thereafter sent him to an international house wares show in Milan, Italy in 1983. Schultz was impressed with the vibrant coffee culture of Italy. While in nearby Verona, Schultz had his first caffe latte and, as he observed the cafe atmosphere filled with patrons chatting and laughing joyously while sipping their coffees in the elegant surroundings. Shchultz thought about how he could recreate this into an opportunity at home.
When Shchultz returned home with his ideas they were not well received by Baldwin who did not want to be in the restaurant business and wanted to stay focused on his original plan of selling whole beans. But he did let Schultz test a small espresso bar in the corner of one of their stores. It was an immediate success and Schultz decided to branched out on his own and opened Il Giornale, a coffee house named after Italy’s largest newspaper, The Daily.
In 1987 Starbuck’s was up for sale and Schultz raised the $3.8 million by convincing investors of his vision, one ...