Empire never had delusions of Soul!
Bill Virgin, writing in last Thursday's P-I Business section, shed light on memo sent out by Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz (courtesy here of Starbucks Gossip). Since then, news of the memo has traveled the internet a few times over. On the one hand, the wiseacre in us says, "you made decisions to expand from 1,000 to 13,000 stores and nobody thought about the dilution and commoditization of the experience???" Please. Even at 1,000 stores, a corporation is certainly relying quite heavily on commoditization, even if at regional scale. Exactly how does one grow that much, world-wide, without branding, commodifying, marketing, and selling (out?) the original experience? We'll even argue that that scale of growth requires the "sterile" and "cookie-cutter" nature that Schultz bemoans.
In our mobile culture, global expansion on Starbucks' scale requires one requisite ingredient: standardization of product. Ask Pizza Hut. The majority of people stopping at a travel plaza on the Indiana Toll Road, for example, don't get Starbucks because they want some mythical Starbucks experience. Rather, they get it because it is a known quantity among other coffee shops of unknown quality. They will settle for Starbucks' industrially-controlled mocha rather than take the chance that the underpaid teenager at the place next door might make a good espresso. Such is the price of global domination, Mr. Schultz: one frequently trades soul for territory. Charm and authenticity cannot be forced into a new location just by hanging your sign above the door.
We have doubts about the original assertion that Starbucks had any soul to begin with. We know, of course, that that statement is highly subjective and depends on how one defines soul. We are thinking back to our non-Northwestern upbringing and point-of-view when we recall our first impressions of Starbucks' entrance into our humble burg. In that case, the "Starbucks experience" was entirely equated with high-priced, status coffee. It was about image rather than coffee; it was more about gallivanting about the streets showing off your Starbucks cup than about the coffee shop as a neighborhood place and destination. More importantly, Starbucks' appearance was the harbinger of impending gentrification of the neighborhood. We knew that we likely could no longer afford rent in that neighborhood. Finally, the Starbucks experience was exactly an issue of cookie-cutter style. If one defines "soul" as standardized coffee served by someone wearing that same green apron in a shop filled with the same dark-stained wood, tiny bistro tables, and prohibitively priced wi-fi, then we readily concede Starbucks had soul at one point.
Listen, there may not be anything wrong with lacking soul. Empire lived with this fact for centuries as it it standardized the globe. Certainly, in our post-colonial times, such imperialist thinking is on the outs but, like it or not, you have chosen the path of imperialism. Today, empire is built by the blotted end of a pen signing a checkbook rather than by a sword drawing blood. Did the Brits give a blink about establishing pompous aristocracy and, eventually, a cookie-cutter parliamentary system the world over? Buck up, little emperor! Know thyself, Starbucks, and embrace your role as the pre-eminent global emperor of upscale coffee reproduced --in burnt excessively roasted and stifling exactitude-- in any location thanks to standard, mechanical processes. The days of soul are over, friend, now there is only the crushing of soul! There is no shame in it; it is merely the nature of empire.
Surely, like all good cogs, we'll still patronize you on the Pennsylvania Turnpike when we crave something resembling a mocha. But please do not insult us with claims that any single one of your chain of over 13,000 shops had any individual charm to begin with.
Poor Mr. Schultz. Perhaps he is still smarting from the loss of his bungled civic stewardship of the Sonics/Storm. Well, cheer up, old bean! The other day, our coworker sent us a link to a little motivational video that just might perk up your flagging spirits. Enjoy!
