Howard Schultz: The Milan coffee shop that inspired $133B company

What about Italy makes it feel like home to you? I land at the airport, and as soon as I touch down, I just feel the energy, the romance. When I think back, when I came here in 1983, I didn't know anything. I was just searching for possibilities. And everything about my life transformed here. And so I just feel incredibly comfortable and grateful. Starbucks was founded in 1971. You joined in 1982. They send you here for a trade show. You decide you want to walk from your hotel. Take the story from there. There's 1,500 Italian coffee bars in Milan alone. And I'm watching the ritual of coffee, the sense of community. I go in. I taste the coffee. And at that time, Starbucks had only been selling coffee for the home. And I'm thinking, wow. The opportunity is not for the home. The opportunity is in the store. And literally, I race home with the idea. And in a sense, the rest is history. Did we ever think that we'd have 36,000 stores in 80 countries around? No. The entrepreneurial DNA inside me, I need to do something for myself. And this is what I believe I should do. And I can see the future. I'm going to try it. What about the coffee shops here impressed you so much back then? The baristas are highly trained. They're professionals. There's a real sense of pride and integrity. And the ritual itself of people coming back to the same coffee bar every day, the barista knows the customer. And I kind of thought, wow, could we recreate that in America? And then all of a sudden, we could see when we started to open up the coffee bars, the whole thing began to transform itself. Really? Yeah. How many customers do you serve in an average day? Over 100 million people a week come to a Starbucks. It's a lot of people. All right. Where it all started. This is the espresso bar I walked into first. I mean, it feels very much the same. And the owners and the people who run the store have been so kind to me over the years. And I think they are respectful of what Starbucks has done. And they know that in many ways it started right here. Is there anything from that first visit that stands out to you? I didn't really know what to order. And I was watching what people were doing. And I saw a guy order a Doppio espresso macchiato. And so I said, Doppio espresso macchiato. And on that front, I think this might be the morning. Good morning. Can I have a Doppio espresso macchiato? I think I should try what you're having. In the morning, I make that beverage at home. Doppio espresso macchiato, which is two shots of espresso and just a dollop of milk. And what is it about that that's your drink of choice? I think it's very reminiscent to where it all started. I love the beverage. It's very emotional. I mean, to think that 40 years ago I walked into this place, didn't know really what I was doing. It's like a crucible of possibilities. And my life turned upside down. And I remember racing home, literally racing home. I was writing notes on the airplane. And I started sketching out a store. And I just knew instinctively that the opportunity to recreate this in America was right there. Here you are. Thank you. Beautiful. Thank you very much. So isn't that nice? Yeah. So Doppio espresso macchiato. Very nice. Very good. I was exposed to something that completely lit a fuse inside me. In a way, nothing else to date had. Nothing else. There was that kind of drastic difference? It was like a lightning bolt. A lightning bolt of just opportunity. So you get back to Seattle. I get back to Seattle. I present it to the original founders of Starbucks. And listen, these are good people who just didn't want to risk what they had and felt like the Starbucks business was a good business and we're fine. And left, opened up three of my own. And then here we are. How big of a risk did you view it when you came back and bought the retail business? Because it wasn't an insignificant amount of money. It wasn't any risk because I had no money. I had to go out and find investors. It was very hard to find investors to believe in what I was trying to do. It was incredibly difficult. Almost all of them said no. Yeah, 242 people said no. I have a fastidious list of people I talked to because it was the original list. I checkmark, cross out, checkmark, get back to. I have all those people, many of whom over the years I've met. And they say, you know, you never came to me for money. And no, actually, I did. That's a bad day for them. Well, they've turned out OK. As you wrap up this chapter of your life, what are your aspirations for what's next for you? I don't think I need to know what's next. But I don't have any ambition for the stage. I have no ambition for spotlight. You know, it's been a 40-year marathon. And when you build something like Starbucks, certainly a lot of success has come with it. But not many people know what it means to be in the arena for 40 years. And so it takes so much to do this. And I think after 40 years, 40-plus years at the age of 70, I want to enjoy my life.