Starbucks Experience

I got up early and did some reading. I got a craving for an iced decaf Café Mocha with four iced cubes (no whipped Cream) and a piece of banana loaf, so I packed up my books and my notepad and drove over to a nearby Starbucks. I had to stand in a line for a couple of minutes, no problem, the Bob Dylan song they were playing got me through that. I decided to sit there for awhile and just people watch. It was a fascinating slice of American culture 2007, I think this probably replaces sitting around at the old country store or the neighborhood diner. I got there at 7:30, obviously peak going to work time. Line out the door, no problem for people to queue up to pay $3.50 to $4.50 for a cup of coffee (By the way Garrison Keillor does not call it Starbucks, he calls it ten bucks for that reason). There were several groups sitting around meeting – A Christian men’s business group reading the bible – probably praying for the next dollar. A group of elementary school teacher’s getting ready for their first week of school and a couple of old geezers talking about how Hilary would lead the county to ruin.

I could not help but think of an interview I saw with Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks, on CSPAN earlier in the year. His statement was: “It is not about the coffee, it is about the experience.” He has certainly created an experience as evidenced by what I see every time I go to Starbucks. They have great service, employees who seem to care about the customer. The guy making my mocha today apologized because he put six ice cubes in the mocha, not four. Come on, but he was genuine. Next time you have a spare twenty minutes go to a Starbucks and see what I mean. This past eighteen months I have had the same experience in Edinburgh, London and Brisbane.

A note: In the interest of full disclosure I am a Starbucks stockholder. I bought the stock this past year because of my experiences at Starbucks. I felt that anyone that that did business like this had to succeed.