Howard Schultz
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
And is that when you did the lowercase, when titles all became lowercase?
And is that when you did the lowercase, when titles all became lowercase?
No, everyone was lowercase from the beginning.
No, everyone was lowercase from the beginning.
Oh. Out of respect. Everyone's lowercase. Listeners, when you look up a Starbucks employee on LinkedIn, it always looks like, is that a typo? And then you realize there's a pattern. All employees always put lowercase titles. So another interesting thing about the, I was reading the S1 last night, the management team inclusive of you owned 18%, but only 9% to 10% of that was you personally.
Oh. Out of respect. Everyone's lowercase. Listeners, when you look up a Starbucks employee on LinkedIn, it always looks like, is that a typo? And then you realize there's a pattern. All employees always put lowercase titles. So another interesting thing about the, I was reading the S1 last night, the management team inclusive of you owned 18%, but only 9% to 10% of that was you personally.
So the rest of the management team owned just as much as you did as the founder. That does feel unusually high. Do you think that that played a role in sort of getting people's buy-in and getting them to bleed Starbucks as much as you did? Not intentionally, no. Okay, not a strategy. No, that was not a strategy. Interesting. So then from there, you open in Washington, D.C. on the East Coast.
So the rest of the management team owned just as much as you did as the founder. That does feel unusually high. Do you think that that played a role in sort of getting people's buy-in and getting them to bleed Starbucks as much as you did? Not intentionally, no. Okay, not a strategy. No, that was not a strategy. Interesting. So then from there, you open in Washington, D.C. on the East Coast.
I think that the reason you picked D.C. was because your mail order business was strong there. So you sort of had proprietary data to know that that was going to be a good coffee city. I don't know how you found that out, but that's accurate. In 1995, you crossed 500 stores. You had just bought the Coffee Connection, as we talked about, in Boston.
I think that the reason you picked D.C. was because your mail order business was strong there. So you sort of had proprietary data to know that that was going to be a good coffee city. I don't know how you found that out, but that's accurate. In 1995, you crossed 500 stores. You had just bought the Coffee Connection, as we talked about, in Boston.
And they had one asset that was perhaps much more valuable than any of the real estate or any of the sales that you would generate from there. They owned the trademark on the word Frappuccino.
And they had one asset that was perhaps much more valuable than any of the real estate or any of the sales that you would generate from there. They owned the trademark on the word Frappuccino.
And I'm so smart that I looked at that Frappuccino with disdain.
And I'm so smart that I looked at that Frappuccino with disdain.
I didn't like the name. I didn't like the beverage. I didn't think it was appropriate for Starbucks. And because I just saw Starbucks as such a purity with regard to coffee. And I was wrong, dead wrong, obviously.
I didn't like the name. I didn't like the beverage. I didn't think it was appropriate for Starbucks. And because I just saw Starbucks as such a purity with regard to coffee. And I was wrong, dead wrong, obviously.
But yeah, it's very different than coffee. Completely different. A blended cold drink. That was the first cold drink we've ever introduced. It was not a coffee-forward beverage. When we introduced it in Southern California, it went crazy. So what changed your mind to greenlight it? I didn't have a choice.
But yeah, it's very different than coffee. Completely different. A blended cold drink. That was the first cold drink we've ever introduced. It was not a coffee-forward beverage. When we introduced it in Southern California, it went crazy. So what changed your mind to greenlight it? I didn't have a choice.