Starbucks is a multinational coffee and coffee house chain company founded in 1971 and based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 15,011 stores in 42 countries. Starbucks sells drip brewed coffee, espresso-based hot drinks, snacks and items such as mugs, and of course their well renowned coffee beans. This analysis will provide an overview of Starbucks and its industry; examine the current market and future market conditions and suggestions for maximizing the organization’s future profits and growth.
Starbucks has expanded rapidly over the years, opening a new store every workday during the 1990’s. The first Starbucks location outside of North America opened in Tokyo in 1996. In 2003, Starbucks completed the purchase of Seattle’s Best Coffee. Currently there are over 172,000 employees of Starbucks, and the company’s 2007 revenue exceeded $9.4 billion. During this year Starbucks will purchase more than 300 million pounds of beans from Latin America, Asia, and Africa (Laidlaw, 2007).
Starbucks has become a success by believing and following their corporate Mission Statement, which reads as follows: “To provide a great working environment and treat each other with respect and dignity. Embrace diversity as an essential component in the way we do business. Apply the highest standards of excellence to the purchasing, roasting and fresh delivery of our coffee. Develop enthusiastically satisfied customers all of the time. Contribute positively to our communities and our environment. Recognize that profitability is essential to our future success”.
The unparalleled quality of the overall Starbucks experience is what makes a coffee drinker pay more than $2 for a cup of Starbucks coffee versus the $1 coffee provided by their competitors. In the Early 1960's Americans used to drink an average of over three cups of coffee a day. Today, the average is 1.87 cups a day. A