Starbucks could be called one of the largest success stories in American history. The company started from humble beginnings and worked its way to the top. Starting from a small building in Pike Place market in Seattle Washington, there are now more than 20,000 locations worldwide. The company’s mission and goals have allowed it to succeed in a fast pace world, and Starbuck’s loyal customers have stuck by their favorite brand through it all. The Starbucks experience is unique from all others. The history and progress of the company have contributed to the Starbucks lifestyle we all know today.
In 1971 Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegel, and Jordan Bowker pulled together $8,000 to open up the first Starbucks. Alfred Peet, their supplier of premium coffee beans and equipment helped inspire their venture (gourmet-coffee-zone 1). In 1982, Baldwin insisted on bringing Howard Shultz into the company as leader of the marketing department. After a trip to Italy, Shultz felt very inspired by the fashionable coffee houses and café culture he saw. Baldwin was not originally sold by the idea. He didn’t want selling coffee by the cup to distract from his whole coffee bean sales, but he let Howard test it out in a corner of one of the stores. Eventually Howard Shultz left Starbucks to start his own business. Selling his coffee by the cup was a big success. In 1987 he purchased Starbucks for 3.7 million dollars (gourmet-coffee-zone 1). Although it may have seemed like a gamble at the time, it was the best business decision that Howard Schultz would ever make. Throughout the years, Starbucks has celebrated many successes, along with some failures. The company has since moved on from that and has become even stronger. In 1988 came a big step in the Starbucks Company. They started offering full health benefits to full time and part time employees (Global assets 1). This was a major deal because it was not very common to get complete health benefits at that time, especially if