Page 29 - The Starbucks Experience

Introduction

Staying Vigilant
Despite the company’s success, Starbucks leaders understand
their current and future vulnerabilities. For example, the
larger Starbucks grows, the harder it will be to foster the
unique Starbucks Experience. To put it simply, in the words
of Howard Schultz, Starbucks has to work to “stay small
while growing big.” To that end, the future of Starbucks lies
in its partners owning millions of positive daily interactions
throughout the company.
Anne Ewing, director of Development, Midwest, declares:
“Coffee is this amazing agricultural product that is our vehi-
cle to start the conversation with the customer. It happens to
be our bridge. Coffee has a life of its own and a rich history,
and we get to deliver it. But at the end of the day, our suc-
cess is linked to the nuances in the store that add up to some-
14 thing special. We must be vigilant about so many things: our
design, how our partners feel when they put on their green
aprons, and creating a special place for our people to work
and our customers to visit.”
For Starbucks management, the creation of “special” cus-
tomer interactions is an extraordinary challenge. Starbucks
workforce has grown exponentially, from 100 in 1987 to
more than 100,000 in 2006. Given Starbucks rapid and
aggressive growth, its leadership faces the challenge of
attracting quality people and training them in the Starbucks
way, all the while sustaining a culture in which employees
excel at connecting with patrons. It is almost like a giant jug-
gling act in the midst of a bustling midway, and every so
often, one of the company’s balls drops to the ground. But
that’s the cost of admission for a huge growth engine like
Starbucks. Senior management, while never falling into the
trap of complacency, is secure in the knowledge that the com-