Schultz took the helm of Starbuck's early in its inception after coming from a lower income family in Brooklyn, NY, selling coffee machines to start out. You can get a general bio with an internet search. How he transformed his life and turning Starbucks into a conglomerate is the stuff of an "All American Dream" life. But, let's look at that deeper.
What started out as a guy deeply impressed by a small startup business created by 3 guys who loved coffee and wanted to keep their baby small, into a huge business idea that took advantage of a passion and an idea to transform this at the right time. His travel to Italy to transfer a long cafe/espresso tradition into an American powerhouse was genius! You cannot deny that. BUT.....
Making a huge success of the Starbucks experience was not enough. I will use a personal example to show how this American dream turned into a destructive conglomerate eating up every possible competition so there were no options for a "good" quality coffee experience anywhere else to be found. That is the antithesis of what our country was founded on, yet what is driving our democracy into ruin today.
This was elitist because Schultz never touched Dunkin Donuts, never considering them competition. That sounds a bit harsh. Yes...I am a lover of quality coffee. You could say I'm a bit obsessed about it. I'm not wealthy or I would have top of the line Italian expresso machines, and import my coffee beans from Italy. But, I can, on occasion, afford to treat myself to good coffee. In the early 90's I would be a poster child for Howard Schultz's twin, colleague, or best friend.
Unfortunately, Starbucks always rubbed me the wrong way. Why? They tried the personal touches I love, but I just didn't like their.....coffee. I had the good fortune of traveling to Seattle in the late 90's and spending time with a good friend seeking good coffee and trying to avoid the Starbucks experience. Fate hit me right between the eyes! We walking into Cafe Torrefazione and what I wanted my coffee experience to be was born. Umberto Bizzarri was the brain child that created Cafe Torrefazione. The family roots in roasting go back to the 1940's, when Ornello Bizzarri built his roasters in Perugia, Italy." Umberto has since created his own wholesale roaster back in Seattle, Umbria, where he began. He also trains baristas, with cafes in Seattle, Portland, and Chicago, now.
To my great wonder they had a cafe Torrefazione in Boston where I lived AND three doors down from where I was working at the time. Their baristas learned everyones desires, they ground your coffee beans at levels of what you needed, french press, drip, espresso. Their beans were distinct from different regions of Italy, Perugia, Napoli, . Buy 10 bags of beans get one free, buy 10 coffee's get one free, sometimes you could even get a free Italian hand designed mug for free. I adored this place that had more to offer than the two different Starbucks just two blocks away in either direction. They were always packed, but so was Starbucks.
Yes, Starbucks wasn't happy with ANY competition. So...they bought not only the little guy, Cafe Torrefazione, but all of Seattle's Best, remember them? NO COMPETITION allowed. Complete annihilation!
When Starbucks killed the little, and not so little guys, they backed off and started downsizing locations. Schultz who no longer is CEO left at a convenient time. My guy Umberto reappeared as well as other coffee cafes making a bit more choices, and competition, but it's not easy as Starbuck's has gotten into your skin. This isn't to say Starbucks and their former CEO didn't do some great things, such as offer healthcare options to part-time and LGBT partners. That was smart business that enticed many to work there just for those reasons.
We have a business model in the White House right now that uses this same model of business annihilation. It's the same model that Mitt Romney used as part of Staples when he worked for Bain Capital (formerly Bain & Co.) where he worked for companies which included Monsanto....remember Office Max, or any other competition that don't exit. How about hardware stores. Do we want the CEO of Home Depot running our country? You want to talk about how small business has been devastated in this country. Look no further than these CEO's of big business.
Let's be smart this time and keep businessmen who don't have a clue about government or service away from politics and power. People are commodities in their minds. Maybe that's why Romney thought nothing of strapping his dog on the roof of his car.
Haven't they feed their greed enough? I guess the conglomerate that is Starbucks just wasn't big enough for Howard Schultz. Government offices are first and foremost about service. CEO's delegate "service" to others so they can focus on "power". They cannot be bothered. Do we want that experiment to happen right on top of the disaster we are living through? Please, run out of the room screaming NOOOOOO!!!!
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