2008 Woodie Awards
Criticism of Starbucks unfair
Issue date: 4/11/08 Section: Rocket Letters
To the editor and Lisbeth Wells-Pratt:
For the last 19 years I have been a Starbucks Partner (employee).
Although I am still a shareholder, I am now retired from day-to-day operations and from the board of directors.
I went to work at Starbucks for two reasons, the first being Howard Schultz's vision of how a company could honor its people and still be financially successful, the second being my love for the taste of Starbucks coffee.
Lisbeth Wells-Pratt said that "people" prefer McDonald's over Starbucks (April 4, "Wake up and smell the coffee: Starbucks superior in name only"). Her comments come from a "Consumer Reports" article in which only a few CR people compared the coffees.
Believing in the ability of "Consumer Reports" to determine the "best" coffee would be like asking them to determine the best religion. I think that is best left up to individual tastes and preferences, just like judging coffee.
She also made a statement saying that we are just a "label," in essence, an organization without purpose, cause, values and no reason for being other than money.
That is an insult to me and all the people at Starbucks who have worked passionately to create a company that puts people ahead of profits and who have made our love for coffee an art.
Please do not call us a "label." We are good and caring human beings who happen to love people and coffee.
So here is an invitation: come to Seattle and find out the facts-who we are as human beings and what the differences are in our coffee versus others' and why.
Then, after you have some information, you can write an opinion that has come from being truly informed not just from a prejudiced and cynical view.
You may not like the taste of Starbucks or even us, but at least you will know the reason we do what we do. I am also happy to come to speak at Slippery Rock University and share my views on Starbucks and our coffee. I think you will find that I am a little more open and curious than you have been.
At the end of the day, honest and open dialogue makes us all more able to evaluate what comes before us-with coffee being the least important of the issues we face in this country and world.
So invite me out. We might both learn something.
Howard Behar
Retired president
Starbucks Coffee International
For the last 19 years I have been a Starbucks Partner (employee).
Although I am still a shareholder, I am now retired from day-to-day operations and from the board of directors.
I went to work at Starbucks for two reasons, the first being Howard Schultz's vision of how a company could honor its people and still be financially successful, the second being my love for the taste of Starbucks coffee.
Lisbeth Wells-Pratt said that "people" prefer McDonald's over Starbucks (April 4, "Wake up and smell the coffee: Starbucks superior in name only"). Her comments come from a "Consumer Reports" article in which only a few CR people compared the coffees.
Believing in the ability of "Consumer Reports" to determine the "best" coffee would be like asking them to determine the best religion. I think that is best left up to individual tastes and preferences, just like judging coffee.
She also made a statement saying that we are just a "label," in essence, an organization without purpose, cause, values and no reason for being other than money.
That is an insult to me and all the people at Starbucks who have worked passionately to create a company that puts people ahead of profits and who have made our love for coffee an art.
Please do not call us a "label." We are good and caring human beings who happen to love people and coffee.
So here is an invitation: come to Seattle and find out the facts-who we are as human beings and what the differences are in our coffee versus others' and why.
Then, after you have some information, you can write an opinion that has come from being truly informed not just from a prejudiced and cynical view.
You may not like the taste of Starbucks or even us, but at least you will know the reason we do what we do. I am also happy to come to speak at Slippery Rock University and share my views on Starbucks and our coffee. I think you will find that I am a little more open and curious than you have been.
At the end of the day, honest and open dialogue makes us all more able to evaluate what comes before us-with coffee being the least important of the issues we face in this country and world.
So invite me out. We might both learn something.
Howard Behar
Retired president
Starbucks Coffee International
