What I knew before visiting Starbucks:
- Starbucks was one of the most successful food-based franchises in the world.
- Starbucks originated out of Seattle, WA.
- Starbucks has begun to experiment with fusing coffee with substances such as alcohol.
Intro and Expectations
While I knew that the place we were visiting was not a headquarters for Starbucks, I knew it was more than just your average shop. I expected to see an experimental location that clearly has its mind set on the future. The place would be almost unrecognizable as a Starbucks and would show where the company was planning to go, not where it was. Coming from a family who is truly Starbucks-obsessed, I was intrigued as to what this location had to offer.
Visit
We visited the Starbucks Roastery on Seattle's famous Pike Street one afternoon. While this was not a Starbucks executive office or headquarters, this Starbucks facility was what the company called "the future of Starbucks". There was an open bar, a gift shop and entire roasting machines clearly visible on the outskirts of the facility, a clear attempt to capture the microbrewery feel that is becoming increasingly popular. Starbucks is a coffee powerhouse, with over 26,000 stores worldwide and roughly $22 billion in sales last year. With Starbucks' massive scope in my mind, I was curious to see what Starbucks' idea for their future was.
During my tour of Starbucks, one thing that became abundantly clear is that Starbucks does not view themselves as merely a coffee marketplace, but rather an "experience provider". This perspective of the company was only enhanced throughout my visit, for the roastery was significantly unlike the traditional Starbucks' I had previously been in. The roastery offered high end coffee options that cost much more than the traditional coffee options they offer. Additionally, the machines present in the background were not merely for show, there was significant work that was happening. Every bag of Starbucks ground coffee comes from this location, and is massed produced by employee-run machines everyday. Something else that this roastery clearly prided itself on was giving what former CEO Howard Schultz often referred to as an "Italian feel" to the location. Light music played in the background, and fancy menus were used to display all of the foreign coffee, it was part-bistro, part-microbrewery.
We were escorted around the facility by "brand storytellers", another example of how Starbucks is clearly trying to shed the tired label of being merely a coffee company, but rather an experience. These energetic spokespeople went through the location stop-by-stop and explained to us the various facts and history that comes along with Starbucks. Starbucks is clearly a company that values its history, but certainly is striving to tour new terrains. As millennials are continuing to turn industries upside down, Starbucks has keyed into their tendencies by making "Instagram friendly" locations such as this roastery, and making fancy coffee creatiosn part of their name. Customizable coffees additionally fit into the "have it your way" leanings of upcoming generations who shy away from traditional menu items. As the ideas spawned in this roastery evolve nationwide, I look for Starbucks to continue in authenticating their traditional stores to create this unique Italian feel.
Post-Visit Actions
I bought a mug for my family back home and made it a point to visit a Starbucks in my home town upon returning back to school purely to see if any aspects of that traditional location were present at the roastery. While I know each change is going to be small and concise, I mainly noticed the changes in the products. The drinks were more skewed towards nitro brews and foreign blends, not the same generic blends of old. I am sure that Starbucks is monitoring the performance of these unique creations, and I am curious as to how and when new creations will arrive.
Key Takeaways
- Starbucks' vision of the future involves more of a sit-down, "exclusive experience" type feel
- The best way to adapt to a millennial customer base is to provide them with moments worth articulating on social media
- Be willing to tinker with you product in order to please customers
- Starbucks was one of the most successful food-based franchises in the world.
- Starbucks originated out of Seattle, WA.
- Starbucks has begun to experiment with fusing coffee with substances such as alcohol.
Intro and Expectations
While I knew that the place we were visiting was not a headquarters for Starbucks, I knew it was more than just your average shop. I expected to see an experimental location that clearly has its mind set on the future. The place would be almost unrecognizable as a Starbucks and would show where the company was planning to go, not where it was. Coming from a family who is truly Starbucks-obsessed, I was intrigued as to what this location had to offer.
Visit
We visited the Starbucks Roastery on Seattle's famous Pike Street one afternoon. While this was not a Starbucks executive office or headquarters, this Starbucks facility was what the company called "the future of Starbucks". There was an open bar, a gift shop and entire roasting machines clearly visible on the outskirts of the facility, a clear attempt to capture the microbrewery feel that is becoming increasingly popular. Starbucks is a coffee powerhouse, with over 26,000 stores worldwide and roughly $22 billion in sales last year. With Starbucks' massive scope in my mind, I was curious to see what Starbucks' idea for their future was.
During my tour of Starbucks, one thing that became abundantly clear is that Starbucks does not view themselves as merely a coffee marketplace, but rather an "experience provider". This perspective of the company was only enhanced throughout my visit, for the roastery was significantly unlike the traditional Starbucks' I had previously been in. The roastery offered high end coffee options that cost much more than the traditional coffee options they offer. Additionally, the machines present in the background were not merely for show, there was significant work that was happening. Every bag of Starbucks ground coffee comes from this location, and is massed produced by employee-run machines everyday. Something else that this roastery clearly prided itself on was giving what former CEO Howard Schultz often referred to as an "Italian feel" to the location. Light music played in the background, and fancy menus were used to display all of the foreign coffee, it was part-bistro, part-microbrewery.
We were escorted around the facility by "brand storytellers", another example of how Starbucks is clearly trying to shed the tired label of being merely a coffee company, but rather an experience. These energetic spokespeople went through the location stop-by-stop and explained to us the various facts and history that comes along with Starbucks. Starbucks is clearly a company that values its history, but certainly is striving to tour new terrains. As millennials are continuing to turn industries upside down, Starbucks has keyed into their tendencies by making "Instagram friendly" locations such as this roastery, and making fancy coffee creatiosn part of their name. Customizable coffees additionally fit into the "have it your way" leanings of upcoming generations who shy away from traditional menu items. As the ideas spawned in this roastery evolve nationwide, I look for Starbucks to continue in authenticating their traditional stores to create this unique Italian feel.
Post-Visit Actions
I bought a mug for my family back home and made it a point to visit a Starbucks in my home town upon returning back to school purely to see if any aspects of that traditional location were present at the roastery. While I know each change is going to be small and concise, I mainly noticed the changes in the products. The drinks were more skewed towards nitro brews and foreign blends, not the same generic blends of old. I am sure that Starbucks is monitoring the performance of these unique creations, and I am curious as to how and when new creations will arrive.
Key Takeaways
- Starbucks' vision of the future involves more of a sit-down, "exclusive experience" type feel
- The best way to adapt to a millennial customer base is to provide them with moments worth articulating on social media
- Be willing to tinker with you product in order to please customers