“How Starbucks Got It’s Buzz Back” by Beth Kowitt (Fortune October 2019)

The Post Schultz era:

CEO Kevin Johnson and COO Riz Brewer

One of the first things the portfolio had to get rid of was the noncore businesses- Tazo and Teavana retail stores. Johnson simplified the company and Brewer knew how to operate with discipline at scale. At one point in Walmart, Brewer (CEO of Sam’s warehouse membership club) ran a business of more than $100 Billion in sales, about 4X the size of all Starbucks.

Starbucks cut back on limited time offers which had produced rare one-off hits like the Instagram famous Unicorn Frappuccino

(The Philadelphia Incident) – Just search it up

Brewer doesn’t shy away from talking about race, and especially about being one of the few double minorities – both black and female in business. Sometimes she does it with humour and sometimes with pain. She laughs recalling the look of dawning recognition on the face of the executive who had pinned her as a marketer or merchandiser – anything but the CEO of Sam’s club – when she stood to give the keynote at a CEO Confab. She coked up during the Spelman commencement, recalling the demands of her resignation and the death threats she and her family received when she talked about the business case for corporate diversity during a CNN interview.

It’s not just a feel-good philosophy. Happier employees lead to happier customers and higher sales. Starbucks enhanced mental-health benefits and employee perks. The reality is that Starbucks is a public space like libraries and must serve the needs of their employees and communities. In some locations, it meant letting managers install needle boxes to dispose of drug users’ strongest in restrooms if this will increase safety.

The employees have to be trained to handle the hardest social situations they’ll encounter. Perhaps this has nothing or has everything to do with a cup of coffee but that’s what’s important.

Perking up customer service.