Page 145 - The Starbucks Experience

PRINCIPLE 4

What if every business took the time to engage in conver-
sation with those who are likely to create barriers? Rather
than ignoring detractors or resisting them, these business
leaders could be far more effective if they searched for com-
mon ground that could lead to successful partnerships.
While the media often dramatize the struggle between
small coffee shops and Starbucks, fueling fears with banner
headlines that imply a Samson-versus-Goliath-type battle,
Starbucks actually creates an opportunity for smaller busi-
nesses to make their operations stronger. In an article in the
Fredericksburg (Virginia) Free Lance-Star, Mike Ferguson,
marketing communications director for the Specialty Coffee
Association of America, notes that early on, “people open-
ing coffeehouses were passionate about coffee, but weren’t
necessarily businesspeople. They had issues with competing.
130 Today, they’ve . . . become businesspeople.”
Mike provides an example from an area near his office in
Long Beach, California, where there are “two Starbucks,
another regional chain coffee shop, and two independent cof-
feehouses. They’re all thriving, and one independent’s busi-
ness actually shot up 40 percent after the Starbucks stores
opened because [the business owner] focused . . . on inven-
tory control and teaching his staff salesmanship.”
The Free Lance-Star article continues with Mike stating
that Starbucks enjoys “34 to 37 percent of the market. . . .
Independents stay steady at 51 percent. No matter how many
stores Starbucks opens, the independents keep pace. It’s like
consumers almost need that option of having the independ-
ents [there].”
Ultimately, when other coffee shop owners resist Star-
bucks, they are often avoiding the changes they need to make
in order to remain competitive. Starbucks leadership recog-