The million dollar idea was rejected 217 times but still he didn’t give up trying. He started his company by selling all his assets, talking out loans and convincing 25 out of 242 investors. Today, Starbucks is the world’s largest coffee chain, with over 35000 stores in 80plus countries. Howard Schultz was born into a poor family in Brooklyn, New York. His father was a truck driver who struggled to make ends meet. He spent his childhood living in a small bedroom apartment from public housing projects.
When he was only 7 years old, his father broke his leg in an accident. Because of that his father was fired from his job with no medical insurance and no savings. His family was struggling for money. Schultz worked hard from a young age to get a better life. He played football in high school and earned an athletic scholarship to go to college. But he didn’t want to play sports and decided to major in communications. So to pay for college, he had to take student loans and worked many odd jobs to make ends meet. He worked as a bartender and even sold his blood a few times to manage his basic needs. After graduation, he worked at a ski lodge as a salesman, but he had a desire to work at Starbucks. At that time, Starbucks had 3 owners and only sold coffee beans. So at the age of 29, after 1 year of convincing the owners to hire him, he finally got a job at Starbucks.
One day while on a business trip to Italy, he walked into an Italian coffee shop, and he was fascinated by his experience while drinking coffee. He was amazed by the fact that the owners of the coffee shops actually knew their customers, and they even called them by their names while serving them coffee, he was excited and returned to the US, and tried to convince the Starbucks owners to accept this incredible new idea. But the owners rejected him. So, Howard quit Starbucks and went on to create his own coffee company called II Giornale. But he had no money to fund his company. He raised money by selling his car and taking out loans. He approached many investors, He spoke to 242 people and 217 of them said no.
But eventually enough people believed in his vision and decided to invest in his business. He worked extremely hard to open his first coffee shop where he could create the experience he had in Italy. II Giornale became successful in 4 years. He opened 100 plus stores. On the other side, Starbucks went bankrupt. In 1987, he purchased Starbucks from its original owners. At the time Starbucks had only 4 stores. Under Schultz’s leadership, Starbucks expanded rapidly and became the world’s largest coffeehouse chain. Today, Starbucks has more than 35 thousand stores around the world and a market value of over 100 billion US dollar.
Some interesting facts about Starbucks:
-The name Starbucks was inspired by a character from Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. The founders chose the name because they wanted a name that evoked the romance of the high seas, symbolizing adventure and exploration.
-The logo’s siren is inspired by a 16th-century Norse woodcut of a mermaid. Originally, the siren had a fully visible, slightly risqué design, but over time, it was refined to focus more on the face.
-Starbucks sources its coffee beans from over 30 countries.
-Starbucks was one of the first companies to offer a mobile app that allowed customers to order and pay ahead. The Starbucks app has over 23 million active users in the U.S. alone.
-Starbucks is famous for its “secret menu,” which isn’t officially recognized but includes custom drinks that customers have created or modified over time. These can range from different milk options to entirely new creations, like the “Pink Drink” or “Purple Drink.”
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