Almost everyone is familiar with the popular coffee company Starbucks, but have you ever wondered when this brand started? Starbucks is one of the most famous coffee companies in the world, and this is how they began their journey to international fame.
And that’s how the humble beginnings of Starbucks began…
Today, Seattle is seen as the coffee mecca of the United States, and many other popular gourmet coffee brands hail from this city. Starbucks began in 1971, when the first Starbucks opened at the oldest farmers’ market in the United States, Pike Place Market in Seattle. The name Starbucks comes from a Moby Dick character, and we’re all more than familiar with its mermaid logo, which they say comes from a Norse woodblock print.
Initially, Starbucks was a local coffee roaster until Howard Schultz joined the company in 1982 to develop his marketing strategy. Schultz then took a trip to Italy where he was inspired by Italian coffee culture and presented his new ideas to the founders of Starbucks. Starbucks then opened its first coffee shop in 1985, which was named Il Giornale, due to its Italian influence. Needless to say, it was a definite hit from the get-go.
When 1987 rolled around, Schultz joined with new investors to buy Starbucks and open franchises in Chicago and Vancouver. In that year alone, 17 more stores were opened. There were 165 Starbucks coffee shops in 1992, which was when the company went public with shares available through NASDAQ. Starbucks introduced its first European location in Zürich, Switzerland, in March 2001. Starbucks is now located in 30 countries around the world and has more than 9,000 cafes.
Starbucks hopes to create a positive outcome in the coffee world by donating to charities, but they have been criticized by many people for the amount of waste they create each year with the millions of paper coffee cups they serve. The Starbucks Foundation was introduced in 1997 to fund literacy programs in Canada and the United States, and they continue to support coffee growing communities, training young leaders, providing access to clean water, and promoting better education in China. They have also taken the opportunity to launch the COAST fund to offer help in the reconstruction of the Gulf Coast after the devastation of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
In response to criticism of Starbucks for the waste they generate, Starbucks has taken steps to reduce the amount of waste its stores generate through recycling. This is a very important issue for Starbucks and Starbucks customers, and they have taken into consideration everything they received about recycling their paper coffee cups. By 2015, they have set a goal to have recycling available in all stores to collect waste and also serve espresso drinks in reusable cups for 25% of their drinks sold. This is quite a lofty goal, and we can only wish Starbucks the best in their future endeavours…
