The Real Story Behind Howard Schultz and Starbucks

From a financially unstable upbringing, a world-famous coffee legend is born. World-famous coffee? Latte? Frappuccino? Coffee cup sizes from short to Tentra? It's Starbucks. Today's legend is a major key factor of what Starbucks is today. An international coffee giant. How did this person who came from a poor family overcome his situation and grew a small Seattle coffee house into the largest coffee chain in the world? The Seattle-based coffee shop had 6,387 licensed stores and 8,941 company-operated locations in the U.S. as of 2020 and stayed till the end as we reveal where the biggest Starbucks location is in the U.S. A businessman, an author and the owner of the Seattle Supersonics basketball team for five years, he is Howard Schultz, the CEO of the Starbucks Coffee Company. Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1953, he grew up in a public housing project in the midst of various financial difficulties. His father was a truck driver and on one of his trips, he had an unfortunate fall breaking his hip and ankle, resulting in the loss of his job and no compensation. Howard attended school at Canarsie High School and football was his escape from the rough life. Howard became the first in his family to receive a degree in communications from Northern Michigan University through student loans and on and off blood donations. A series of jobs later, he joined a Swedish kitchenware manufacturer. In 1979, he became the general manager of the U.S. subsidiary, Hammerplast. Howard, in a very unforeseen way, was to soon meet their customer in Seattle, Washington that would change his life, Starbucks. The minute he walked in, he was intrigued from the earthy fragrance of coffee to the deep brown color of roasted coffee beans. On that day, he envisioned the future of Starbucks. I drank my first cup of coffee and I instantly felt at home. Never in a million years did I think we'd one day have stores in 65 countries serving about 80 million customers a week, Howard said in an interview. Howard had been setting out the tiles for his future alongside Starbucks. He met the founder and proposed many ideas for advancements. The owners valued his personality but refused to offer Howard employment. They did not envision Starbucks as a global dominator. They preferred the regional, local touch. At that time, the expansion they were thinking is in as far as Oregon. Howard, stubborn as he is, kept pushing and pushing, saying to one of the founders, Jerry, you're making a terrible mistake. Soon they realized Howard would be the perfect fit for Starbucks On one of his trips to Milan, which is the home of espresso, he realized there is so much more to coffee. He pitched his idea of selling traditional espresso beverages in America. The owners were not too pleased. They had a fair point. Americans at this time were hooked with Maxwell instant coffee and were not aware of these types of coffee. They would never have heard of what a cafe latte was. Disappointed, in 1985 he left Starbucks to launch his first coffee shop, Il Giornale. He had personally visited 242 potential investors. Only a handful supported him. Many rejections later, he managed to raise the money and he opened his very first shop. The first year was rough, cutting down on expenses. He survived. There came a time when Starbucks was financially unstable. Founders knew that Howard did not have enough money. However, they all believed that there are no better hands Starbucks will be in except for Howard's. Howard was given an offer to purchase all six stores of Starbucks for $3.8 million. Il Giornale received the name of Starbucks in the process. In 1992, the company went public and raised $270 million, which guided the opening of newer coffee shops in untouched locations. Howard soon began operations in Canada. By 1999, he crossed oceans and opened in Japan, then in Europe and in China. In the following year, Howard stepped down as CEO but remained as chairman. Eight years later, amidst more than 15,000 locations across the globe, there arose a financial crisis. Howard returned to the post he left behind. During these eight years, Starbucks seemed to have had a fall. Upon his return, unfortunately, he had to lay off workers, close down many coffee shops and began retraining employees. He then ensured to offer better trading conditions and supported ethically made ingredients in aid of small-scale farmers. With this measure, he was able to purchase twice the amount of coffee in the next two years. Over the past nine years, there has been a steady rise in the number of Starbucks locations. Howard also began a loyalty program and introduced an instant coffee brand as well. He even made changes to their menu. Starbucks was beginning to make a comeback, generating nearly $100 billion of market capitalization. After guiding the company through the financial crisis, he left his post as CEO in 2016 and embraced the position of executive chairman. It was through his guidance that Starbucks now operates in more than 32,000 coffee shops in over 70 countries. What are his methods for success? He is a firm believer that somewhere out there, there is always a chance. To optimize the chance, it should be coupled with passion. It was his passion to make Starbucks international despite disagreeing opinions from the original owners of Starbucks. Being an entrepreneur is always directly associated with risk-taking. Entering the Chinese market was a huge risk. They are tea drinkers. One of Howard's key traits is to make very challenging situations favorable. China traditionally has been a tea drinking company, but we turned them into coffee drinkers. He values his employees and worked on building trusts from the very beginning. In 2014, he established an employee benefit plan where if the employee was working 20 or more hours a week, they were automatically qualified for Arizona State University's online courses for free. He also established providing healthcare to all of his employees. Howard is an open-minded businessman, mastermind. The finest example is when Starbucks worked together with Pepsi in an attempt to sell cold coffee drinks. This enabled the sale of Starbucks in places where no physical location existed and a bottled frappuccino was born. Starbucks and Nestle reached a $7.15 billion agreement that will allow Nestle to market and sell Starbucks coffee outside of Starbucks locations based on Forbes. Starbucks is selling a business to Nestle for approximately $2 billion. The goal is to increase Starbucks' distribution by utilizing Nestle's more robust system. Nestle introduced its first line of coffee goods under the Starbucks trademark in February 2019. The first 24 products in the new portfolio include whole bean, roast, and ground coffee as well as the first Starbucks capsules created employing technologies from the Nespresso and Nescafe Dolce Gusto coffee system. Before we reveal the biggest Starbucks location in US, we thank you. Please subscribe, comment down below your favorite Starbucks drink to be included in our weekly shout out giveaway. Chicago has the largest Starbucks ever according to Forbes in 2019. It's located inside Crate and Barrel's former flagship location on Michigan Avenue. The 35,000 square feet reserve roastery has five floors and houses three coffee bars, a cocktail bar, and an artisan bakery and cafe. Howard's authenticity to his product, never compromising or bargaining quality coupled with his strong-willed attitude are the reasons Starbucks serves almost 4 billion cups of coffee every year and today he has acquired a total net worth of 3.9 billion dollars. Be sure to check this inspiring video.