Page 75 - The Starbucks Experience

PRINCIPLE 2

pay the financial price for that commitment. From the stand-
point of product excellence, Tom, who has worked as a
roaster in the Kent plant, shares, “What defines coffee as
fresh is that it actively gives off 3 to 20 times its volume in
aromatic gas. It was expensive for us to keep those aromatic
gases available until the coffee was brewed. In order to do
so, 10 percent of our product was returned to our plant.”
While many companies would have balked at that return
rate and decided to throw in the towel, Starbucks knew that
there had to be a better way to secure freshness. “The com-
pany and its collective quality and manufacturing teams
worked to develop packaging that enabled us to keep the cof-
fee fresh, not for seven days, but for up to six weeks,” con-
tinues Tom, “and that let us expand throughout the
Northwest. Starbucks leadership would never have tried that
60 expansion if the coffee could not get to its location and be
ground and brewed fresh.”
Thanks to this passion for quality and commitment to
innovation, Starbucks management was able to reduce the
amount of coffee the company scrapped and ultimately made
sure Starbucks coffee could be delivered fresh anywhere in
the world. At times, Starbucks leaders had to push suppliers
of their packaging material to go beyond current technology.
This led to innovations in the small things like improved
packaging materials and a 7-cent valve that lets gases out of
the bag but does not allow air to enter, which would make
the coffee stale.
Rich Soderberg, senior vice president of Manufacturing,
notes, “This journey from seven days of freshness took us
many years and numerous innovations. We had to sever rela-
tionships with suppliers who were unable to innovate in a
way that delivered the freshness we demanded. Each step of