The Meeting of the Starbucks Shareholders

Howard Schultz is probably enjoying his first relaxing day in a while today after the Starbucks shareholder's meeting yesterday. At least, he finally had a chance to explain to everyone just what the hell he was talking about with that whole memo thing. You remember the memo--we're talking about the one where he complained that Starbucks had lost its way in the name of growth and had become a cookie cutter retail chain that was squeezing the romance out of caffeinated beverages. When he was dictating that memo it must have occurred to him that he'd be standing on the stage inside McCaw Hall someday soon explaining it. Yesterday was the day.

Local blogger Jeff Carlson attended the event:

At this morning's annual meeting for Starbucks shareholders, Chairman Howard Schultz appeared sternly defensive about what he called, "The Memo," a critical note to the company's board of directors (see "The Commoditization of Starbucks, by Howard Schultz"). Although a small portion of the two-plus hour meeting mentioned the memo specifically, the tone of the presentation seemed focused on pushing the positive aspects of Starbucks's business practices in order to challenge recent criticisms from inside and outside the company.

[Part of] "my role in the company is to ask questions," Schultz said, noting that his 25 years' worth of memos demonstrate an "entrepreneurial push". Within the memo in question, Schultz voiced concerns about the switch to super-automatic espresso machines ("...we overlooked the fact that we would remove much of the romance and theatre that was in play with the La Mazocca machines") and the cookie-cutter nature of the stores ("...stores that no longer have the soul of the past and reflect a chain of stores vs. the warm feeling of a neighborhood store"). He said that contrary to some reports, the memo was not intended for public consumption.

Outside McCaw Hall a Boston-based nonprofit protested Starbucks' fairtrade practices in Etheopia, an issue which was also discussed inside the building.

Outside McCaw hall in Seattle, a group of protestors (and accompanying large inflatable rat) picketed for fair prices for coffee farmers, unionization for Starbucks employees, and in support of Ethiopia's move to trademark coffee names from associated regions such as Yirgacheffe and Sidamo.

On the latter point, Starbucks President and CEO James Donald stated that the company believes regional certification and its C.A.F.E (coffee and farmer equity) practices are better than the Ethiopian government's trademark move.

In other Starbucks news: A hilarious rant was posted to Chicago's Craigslist site recently that manages to touch on everything from overly-friendly customers to the Ghetto Latte to cell phones, strollers, the George Carlin Starbucks Joke and more.

2. Oh, you work from home? We are not your water-cooler break. We may be the only humans you have interacted with for days, but do not expect us to be interested in your stupid home business or your racist, sexist, totally unfunny commentary. Get your drink and get out.

It's since been removed, but Starbucks Gossip has it reposted.

And in other other Starbucks news: Just as the company selected an untested new author for their books imprint, so, too, have they enlisted an experimental young musician to record their first record label release.