CyndiA's Full Review: Taylor Clark - Starbucked: A Double Tall Tale of C...
I have only stepped foot inside a Starbucks one time in my life. That was in New York City, and one of my kids needed to use the bathroom. I think that Starbucks, like McDonalds, has enjoyed tremendous success by being generous with the bathrooms. That can’t be all though, so I thought I’d read Starbucked: A Double Tall Tale of Caffeine, Commerce, and Culture by Taylor Clark.
As someone who very rarely drinks coffee (one of the few vices I’ve avoided), I’ve been amazed at the popularity of Starbucks. When we get something “in town,” then it must be darn near everywhere, and Starbucks is. They even have them across the street from each other as noted in the book. Who goes head to head with their own shop? Well, Starbucks.
The initial idea with Starbucks was that they’d sell better coffee. The guys who started it up did not plan to have an international mega-company. A sales guy came on board and pushed for coffee by the cup rather than the ground beans with the initial plan. That idea showed promise but it was not in the cards with the start up guys, so the sales guy bought them out. And, Starbucks took off as anyone can see.
The original idea was kind of stuffy – a coffee snob mentality. Some of that sticks. You really need a whole new vocabulary to get a cup of Joe at Starbucks. They’ve even published cheat sheets, so coffee drinkers can sound very cool ordering coffee. Every customer can feel quite special by ordering mass produced drinks and adding a little of this and that.
Being too nose in the air would not cut it with the general public though, so Starbucks has a great training program. You should walk in and feel like you are almost home but maybe better with nothing to clean and no one to yell at you. I know that we felt fine in New York City when we borrowed the bathroom. So, that friendly thing is working.
Advertising has been ingenious at Starbucks. They just put the name on those cups. Everyone (including stars) carry those around. No need to pay for billboards or commercials. Coffee is an “on the go” kind of product. The cool cup to carry is Starbucks. You see it. You want it. Even if you do not drink coffee, you start to think about it. I know I do.
You don’t get coupons at Starbucks. Nope. They are above that and do not have to do it to make it. This ties in with the classy mentality and the great advertising. Pay your $4, jump on the fast track, and you are part of the “in” crowd.
Concerns like the starving coffee growers has also been addressed well by Starbucks. They buy the Fair Trade coffee and note it. There are some problems with that model. If you know you get paid, you may not make a great effort. In fact, Starbucks pays more for better beans but has to balance that with Fair Trade coffee. Who would have guessed?
From start to finish, Starbucked is a fascinating story of how a couple of buddies who loved coffee put coffee on the map in the United States where that has not been the hot drink. Once they took off, they managed to branch out and go international and head to head in countries where coffee has been a tradition. That really is amazing.
The story is written in chronological narrative format. There are two major book sections. The first part covers Starbucks specifically. The second half looks at the coffee industy with related stories on Starbucks and the impact the company has had on coffee growing and sales worldwide.
Although there's lots of information in the book, the style is flowing and more like reading a good work of fiction. The characters seem real (and are real), and Clark captures the excitement of coming up with and building a business as well as all the drama as Starbucks went from being one little coffee store to being a global giant. It really is kind of "edge of your seat" as you read on to find out what happens next.
Near the end, I discovered that Clark (the author) is not a coffee fan either. He watched this from afar as I did. But he took it another step and dug in and learned how Starbucks took the world by storm. He did a wonderful job telling the story, and I would think anyone who loves coffee and those who don’t will enjoy this tale of how a Starbucks came to be on almost every corner in every town. The bathrooms did help, but it’s obviously more complex than that.
* I think this book is scheduled to come out Nov 2008. I have an advance copy. Photo holding book available.
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