A small description of Starbucks
Starbucks is a multinational coffee shop company in America founded by Gordon Bowker, Zev Siegl, and Jerry Baldwin
on 30 March 1971, Pike Place Market, Elliott Bay, Seattle, Washington, US. Its headquarters are in Utah Avenue South,
Seattle, Washington. This restaurant is mainly famous for its smoothies, coffees, beverages, etc. Its outlets are 33,295 (2021) and serve more than 83 countries.
The success behind Starbucks
On 31 March 1971, three friends opened a coffee shop in Seattle, and they used to sell high-quality coffee beans. They became friends when they studied together at the University of San Francisco, and their name was Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker. At that time, there was a famous coffee roasting businessman named Alfred Peet, so the three friends were very much inspired by him.
Therefore, they decided to open their coffee shop. So, when its time to give a name to the shop, they got confused, and they studied many names such as Cargo House, Pequod, and later on, from a novel named Moby Dick, they selected a name that was STARBUCKS. Very fast, they used to buy coffee beans from Peet’s shop, and as their business extended, they began to purchase the coffee beans from the coffee bean farmers. In 1981, they hired a marketing director named Howard Schultz.
Now, we will know how Howard became the root of the success behind Starbucks:-
Howard belonged to a substandard family, and he was the only one who completed his graduation. Because of the money shortage, everyone studied less than him. Because he was so hard working person from his childhood and so, he joined Starbucks very comfortably. After he joined, the coffee shop’s profits also increased magically. One day he went to Milan, Italy due to shop work. When he reached there, he saw a place where for coffee there was a cafe and people used to come not only to drink coffee but also to spend time and meet people. Then suddenly, he got the idea that Starbucks only sells coffee beans and sometimes, to check the quality of coffee beans they used to make coffee for their clients. So, to do this all, if Starbucks make cafes, then they could earn more money.
When Howard went back to Seattle, he shared his idea with his owners; He also suggested to his owners if they could sell espresso coffee, it would be a good profit, and then after a lot of discussions, they accepted his idea. Then Starbucks opened as a cafe shop that used to sell coffee beans and espresso coffee. Again, when he noticed that the shop was earning profits, he got an idea. He thought that, if they extend their shop’s branch, it would be a big profit for them and their brand value would increase. But when he told his idea to his owners, they directly rejected it. So, Howard decided to leave and start his own business.
But, he faced the problem that he had no money to open a cafe, so a doctor helped him. After that, Howard established a cafe shop named GIORNALE, and it was similar to his cafe as Italy’s cafe that he saw in Milan, then he earned a lot of profit from his shop, and exactly everything was perfect as he wanted. Starbucks purchased Alfred Pete’s company in 1986, which mainly focused on selling coffee beans. Hence, in the future, the owners of Starbucks sold their company to Howard at $3.8 million, but Howard hadn’t that much money to buy Starbucks. But with the help of investors, he made the deal final. So, later on, Howard moved on with Starbucks, and the Starbucks owner moved on with Pete’s shop.
Now let’s see if Starbucks has any competitors or not:-
Starbucks Competitors
Costa Coffee:- Costa is a British coffeehouse founded by Bruno Costa and Sergio Costa in 1971, located in London, England, until 2018, its outlets were 3,883. Costa’s net worth was £153 million in 2016, and its salary was £1.168 billion in 2016.
McDonald’s McCafe’:- McCafe’ is a restaurant founded by Dick and Mac McDonald in 1993, located in Melbourne, Australia, its outlets were 35,000. McCafe’s net worth was $4.73 billion in 2020, and its salary was $4 billion.
Dunkin’ Donuts:- Dunkin’ Donuts is a coffee and bun company in America founded by Willian Rosenberg in 1950, located in Quincy, Massachusetts, until 2019, its outlets were 12,871. Dunkin’s net worth was $6.410 billion in 2020, and its salary was $1.370 billion in 2019.
Cafe Coffee Day:- Costa is an Indian coffeehouse founded by V.G Siddhartha in 1993, located in Bengaluru, Karnataka, until 2021, its outlets were 550. Its net worth was ₹−583.92 crore in 2021, and its salary was ₹1,024.79 cr. in 2021.
Independent Fast food chains & Bakeries:- Coffees are not only sold in cafes but also in bakeries and local tea shops, and if you go on a trip you will see many popular coffee shops, so, therefore, you’ll see the maximum amount of coffee shops is the most Starbucks Competitor and a competitor for the coffee chain.
Conclusion
So, Starbucks has the core strategy to gain a competitive advantage. Starbucks offers good services to their customers and makes them happy by providing standard-quality coffee.
- What makes Starbucks unique?
Ans:- Starbucks is unique because of its uniqueness. It is unique because they provide high-standard quality products at affordable prices.
- In between Starbucks and Dunkin, which one is better?
Ans:- Starbucks is better in the atmosphere, coffee quality, eco-friendly than Dunkin, and Dunkin is better for price and food.
