Wow, that was quick. No sooner had I rested from posting about Starbucks' attempt to trade places with McDonalds when I see the Wall Street Journal online headline: Starbucks Chairman Schultz to take CEO Job, Make Changes. After reading Janet Adamy's story, I searched for the original press release, which had this wonderful sub heading: Renewed Focus on Customer Experience and Innovation. Well hip hip hooray and bookmark the day. I'd love to take credit for this ... that Mr. Schultz read my earlier posts about Starbucks (Dec. 27, New Apple Patent Enables Line Cutting at Starbucks), how I'm a fan and critic, how they need to ditch the breakfast sammies, stuffed animals and fast food envy, and return to the thing that made them great - the customer experience. And then this evenings announcement. Ta-da!! (one can pretend one has clout)
The seed of today's decision to replace CEO Jim Donald with Chairman Howard Schultz was planted back in February of last year, when Schultz's much ballyhooed memo - sent to Donald - became public, courtesy of Starbucksgossip.com. From my February 28, 2007 post about it:
Schultz discusses the rapid expansion of the coffee chain, ticking off regretful side effects like deployment of automatic espresso machines, bagged coffee replacing "scooped beans", lack of aroma, removal of "romance and theatre", cookie cutter store design, and a lack of coffee-centric merchandise. He sums up his thoughts: "we desperately need to look into the mirror and realize it's time to get back to the core and make the changes necessary to evoke the heritage, the tradition, and the passion that we all have for the true Starbucks experience."
From today's press release, here's Schultz:
Put simply, we are recommitting ourselves to what has made Starbucks and the Starbucks Experience so unique: ethically sourcing and roasting the highest quality coffee in the world; the relentless focus on the customer; the trust we have built with our people, and the entrepreneurial risk-taking, innovation and creativity that are the hallmarks of our success.”
Schultz took over Starbucks in 1987, and he's credited with educating the American population on the beauty of the bean, specifically Specialty beans, the top three percent of the high quality Arabic beans which Starbucks uses. Coffee lovers like myself appreciate more than just the fine cup of coffee we find at great coffee houses. We love the laid back atmosphere, the day dreamy getaway you can have with just a cup of joe, a Wall Street Journal, magazine, or good book ... and a nice comfy chair by the window. With some Frank Sinatra music serenading the escape in the background. In other words, we love the Experience Mr. Schultz is talking about. I hope he pulls off the turnaround. We can all use a nice getaway.
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