Talk:Starbucks Corporation (SBUX)
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The Company I Once Hated
I'm not sure why I'm coming around on Starbucks, but a few weeks ago I suddenly realized I no longer harbor intense disdain for them anymore. Maybe it's that they sell Fair Trade coffee. Or that they have pretty damn good chai teas. Or that their staff seems genuinely excited to make me an overpriced hot bev. Whatever it is, I've stopped seething every time I see a new green awning go up, and have come to appreciate both their product and business acumen. I suppose if a company has to become huge and wildly successful, they could be a lot bigger jerks about it. Or maybe that's exactly *why* Starbucks IS doing so well-- they adhere to some basic core values, which also happen to be solid business practices.
They let their employees, er, baristisas, know that they're valued and give them decent benefits. In turn, the employees are happy, which makes for lower turnover and better customer service.
They value their suppliers. Who knows how well Starbucks really treats their third-world growers, but they sure do an amazing PR job letting us know how much they do to support sustainable agriculture and community development. My sense is that this will pay off in the increasingly environmentally and socially-conscious consumer market. Who wants a serving of guilt with their coffee?
About the only thing I can really fault them for is their outrageous pricing. But, if the market will sustain it, who am I to scoff at taking what people will pay? Nobody's pointing a gun to latté lovers' heads and forcing them to dole out $3.75 for something that probably costs less than a dollar to produce [does anyone have that figure?] It's part of the whole "affordable luxury" mentality-- we may not be able to afford Ben and Jennifer's Bentley, but damn it, at least we can drink the same coffee as they do. So, overall, I think Starbucks will be a solid company to own going forward. The coffee craze may not always be this strong, but I don't see SB going anywhere anytime soon. Katyn15 19:01, 13 February 2007 (PST)
- Nicely put Katyn. SBUX is getting a lot of bad rap. Starbucks Chairman, Howard Schultz, decided to send a message to their 135,000 employees. In that letter, he appears disturbed by the criticism. “Over the last several weeks, there have been an exceptional number of comments about Starbucks in the media and online, many of which have not been positive. At times, partners have asked about my feelings when Starbucks is criticized. Given the tone of the coverage recently, I wanted to reach out to you and share my thoughts. I don’t feel the need to address these issues specifically. We’ve done that previously and that’s not my primary concern. My focus is on you – the partners who have made Starbucks such a trusted presence around the world. And my focus is on preserving the trust that we have built with our customers and each other over the years. I want you to know that you can be proud of the company we all work for and that you can continue to trust the foundation it’s built upon.”
- It isn’t clear what he includes in “number of comments.” It could be that Consumer Reports recently found the McDonald’s coffee betterthan Starbucks; and/or recent issues to do with Ethiopian farmers. Some investors are puzzled by his letter. He might be trying to reinforce the company’s value system to confront the potential threat of SBUX being perceived as the “Mc Donald’s of Coffee”, especially now that MCD and SBUX are venturing into each other’s product lines. It is true that the better coffee offerings by MCD and Dunkin Donuts are making even more people to shift appreciate better coffee and also to switch from home coffee to coffee-on-the-go. SBUX CEO Jim Donald, when asked about the effect that MCD premium coffee will have on his business said that he expects it to be a benefit. Consumers who like MCD’s premium coffee will likely migrate to SBUX's super-premium. That statement also made investors puzzled. By the way, MCD sells Newman's Own brand coffee (which is co-branded with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR)).--Wikister 15:22, 14 February 2007 (PST)
