Howard Schultz on Strategy

This memo was sent in February 2007 by Howard Schultz. In the memo, he shares his feelings about the challenges of going from 1k to 13k stores and the changes and sacrifices that had to be made in order to accomplish the growth.

Additionally, they streamlined store design to gainefficiencies of scale and to make sure they had the ROI on sales to investment ratios that would satisfy the financial side of the business. Many decisions had to be made in order to maximize speed and profits. Decisions that sacrificed the feeling of a community coffee store for a chain feel. Star... See more

Among many things, Schultz was very concerned about the loss of the theatrics and romance of the art of making coffee after they decided to eliminate the espresso machines that allowed customers to witness the process. This experience is of utmost importance in certain industries where witnessing the making of the products is part of the sale, espe... See more