The History and Origin of Starbucks

We are all more than familiar with the fact that there are multiple Starbucks in every city, but do you know how this brand got so popular? Starbucks is one of the most famous coffee companies all over the globe, and they have now achieved international recognition.

And here is how the humble origin of Starbucks began...

Nowadays, Seattle is seen as the coffee mecca of the United States, and many other popular gourmet coffee brands have come from this city. Starbucks began in 1971 where the first Starbucks was opened at the oldest farmer’s market in the United States, the Pike Place Market in Seattle. The name Starbucks came from a character in Moby Dick, and we are all more than familiar with their mermaid logo, which they say hails from a Norse woodcut.

At first, Starbucks served as a local coffee roaster until Howard Schultz joined the crew in 1982 and began to develop their marketing strategy. Schultz then took a trip to Italy where he was inspired by the Italian coffee culture, and he pitched his new ideas to the founders of Starbucks. Starbucks then opened their first coffee bar in 1985, which was called Il Giornale, due to their Italian influence. Needless to say, it was a definite success from the get-go.

By the time that 1987 rolled around, Schultz joined with new investors to purchase Starbucks and open franchises in Chicago and Vancouver. 17 more stores opened within that year alone. Starbucks had 165 cafés by 1992, and the company became public so that stocks were available through NASDAQ. Starbucks opened their first European café in March 2001 in Zürich, Switzerland. Starbucks is now located in 30 countries worldwide, and they number at over 9000 cafés.

Starbucks hopes to create a positive outcome in the coffee world by donating to charities, yet many people have criticized them because of 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 programs for literacy in Canada and the United States, and they continue to provide support by giving to coffee communities, nurturing young leaders, offering access to clean water, and promoting better education in China. They have also taken the opportunity to set up the C.O.A.S.T. fund that offers assistance to rebuild the Gulf Coast after all of the damage caused by hurricanes Rita and Katrina.

In response to the criticism against Starbucks in the waste that they create, Starbucks has made moves to reduce the amount of waste that their cafés generate by recycling. This is something that is important to Starbucks and their customers, and they have taken to heart the feedback that they have received about recycling their paper cups. They have made the goal by 2015 to have recycling available in all store locations to collect waste and also serve espresso drinks in reusable cups for 25% of their beverages sold. This is quite a lofty goal, and we can only wish Starbucks the best in their future endeavors...