Starbucks has grown from a modest Seattle coffee shop to the corporate behemoth recognizable
to people from every corner of the Earth.
What may seem like a simple staple of our day-to-day lives is actually a complex organization
with a vivid history and a host of bizarre quirks.
Starbucks fans have three people to thank for bringing the company into the world.
The first is Gordon Bowker, a college dropout from Seattle who had discovered his love of
coffee on a trip to Italy in 1962.
The other two were Bowker's roommates, Jerry Baldwin and Zev Siegl.
Spurred on by their love of good coffee, they began roasting their own and eventually, they
started a company and named it Starbucks.
This early iteration of the legendary coffee shop sold coffee beans, tea, spices, coffee
machines and accessories.
It wasn't until years later that they began to sell actual coffee drinks.
Bowker, Baldwin, and Siegl didn't stay with Starbucks forever.
In the '80s, a young salesman named Howard Schultz bought out the company and turned
it into the coffee juggernaut it is today.
The site of the original Starbucks is something of a place of pilgrimage for coffee fans,
even today.
The famous tourist spot, however, is actually the store's second location, where it moved
to in 1977.
Nonetheless, it constitutes a must-visit for visitors to Seattle from all around the world.
The store isn't much different to how it was back in the '70s: it's a small building, and
there's nowhere to sit or hang out inside, a strange remnant of the company's original
operation as a place to buy coffee beans and accessories, rather than drink coffee.
That's not to say they haven't modernized at all, though, and you can now buy coffee
drinks at the original store, which actually offers everything you'd find in any other
modern Starbucks branch.
In fact, to a passing observer, the only thing that would really give any indication as to
this store's long and hallowed history are the strange, barely-recognizable logos emblazoned
around the room.
Nowadays, nobody puts much thought into what the name Starbucks could possibly mean.
And why should they?
After all, everyone already knows it's the name of a coffee shop.
Once upon a time, however, the name might have seemed a little peculiar, and that's
because it finds its origins in a very specific place.
The founders of Starbucks took the name from Moby Dick, the legendary novel by Herman Melville.
In the book, Starbuck is the name of the first mate of the Pequod, Captain Ahab's ship, and
provides a calm contrast to the obsessive nature of Ahab.
Starbucks, however, was actually a second-choice name for the company.
Gordon Bowker had actually wanted to call the company Pequod, but Bowker's marketing
partner Terry Heckler was unconvinced.
Eventually, the two settled on Starbucks.
The Starbucks logo is one of the most iconic in corporate history.
Few can quite match the sheer recognizability of that white mermaid on her green background,
but that wasn't quite always the Starbucks logo.
The original logo — which is still plastered all over that early Seattle branch — was
actually brown, and depicted the mermaid as topless.
The idea was that the two-tailed mermaid, who was based on an image found on a 16th
century woodcut, was supposed to appear as seductive as the coffee itself.
Naturally, complaints were made, but Starbucks didn't see a problem until they reached the
point at which the logo needed to appear on the side of delivery trucks.
The logo was redesigned, and the mermaid was given her modesty along with a new hairstyle.
The legendary, modern, icon was born.
Yep, it's that classic Starbucks aroma.
In his 1997 book Pour Your Heart Into It, Howard Schultz describes it as, quote, "heady,
rich, full-bodied, dark, suggestive."
However you want to describe it, it's one of the defining features of Starbucks' image
and pervades practically every Starbucks store across the planet.
But keeping that smell strong is hard work for the company.
Coffee beans tend to absorb odors, meaning it's easy for them to be ruined by contaminant
smells.
To prevent this from happening, Starbucks banned smoking in their stores long before
it became the law.
They also don't allow their employees to use perfumes and colognes, and refuse to sell
chemically-flavored coffee beans.
Strong-smelling goods such as soup, pastrami and other foods are also off the menu, and
what results is one pure, simple smell: coffee.
Frankly, we wouldn't have it any other way.
The classic green staff apron is practically as recognizable to Starbucks customers as
the logo itself, but it's not the only one that exists.
In fact, there's a whole range of other aprons which all have their own individual meanings
and purposes.
The green apron is standard, of course.
Military vets and their spouses have the option of wearing one embroidered with an American
flag, while staff members who have graduated from the Starbucks College Achievement Plan
have one embroidered with a mortarboard.
Orange aprons are worn in the Netherlands to celebrate King's Day, while the purple
apron is saved exclusively for each year's 26 barista champions.
The black apron, meanwhile, is worn by Coffee Masters, who have a certified knowledge in
the field.
Occasionally, promotional events will involve the company giving out a few special aprons
to each store, such as the pale blue apron for the launch of Frappuccino Happy Hour or
the red aprons you might see during the holidays.
The apron isn't the only item on the Starbucks dress code worth a look.
In fact, the company is actually pretty strict on how it allows employees to present themselves.
Here's a run-through of the rules.
Hair must be kept looking "natural", meaning no bright colors such as purple, pink, blue
or green, although this can vary by store.
Rings are allowed, but only if they have no stones, and watches, bracelets and wristbands
are forbidden for food safety reasons.
The apron must be kept clean, unwrinkled and unstained, and it's preferred shirts be tucked
in.
Piercings should be small, fingernails clean, and tattoos are allowed, as long as they are
tasteful and not on the face or throat.
Finally, any hats worn must have the Starbucks logo, and pants, shorts or skirts should be
khaki or black.
On the no-go list: blue jeans, hoodies, t-shirts, yoga pants, cowboy boots, canvas shoes and,
of course, colognes and perfumes.
Starbucks' round tables exist at pretty much every location the company owns, and they're
built that way for a very good reason.
According to Karen Blumenthal, author of Grande Expectations: A Year in the Life of Starbucks'
Stock, the store's round tables are made that way to make you feel less lonely and more
at home.
She wrote:
"Round tables are more welcoming than those with square edges, and people look less alone
while seated at a round table."
It just goes to show that even the most innocuous characteristics of stores like Starbucks have
been thought through over and over again, because making it all about the experience
is definitely one way to keep people coming back… and deciding to stay long enough to
get a second coffee.
You're probably well aware of Starbucks' cup sizes.
You've got the Tall, the Grande, and the Venti, sure, but did you know there are some other
cup sizes which, despite not appearing on the menu, are available to Starbucks customers?
"Venti is the only one that DOESN’T mean ‘large.’
It’s also the only one that’s Italian.
Congratulations, you’re stupid in three languages.”
The first is the Short, which was one of the two original cup sizes sold by the company.
It's only 8 ounces, and constitutes the smallest drink size that Starbucks offers, despite
being a fairly regular size for homemade coffee.
Another is the Trenta, a new-ish drink size that measures in at a whopping 31 ounces.
It's only available for iced drinks such as iced coffee, iced tea, lemonade and other
cold drinks, and usually costs 50 cents more than the Venti size.
But honestly, do you really need it?
"And FYI, it’s called a venti because it’s 20 ounces!
TWENTY!
VENTI!”
Of all the Starbucks locations around the world, however, perhaps most curious of all
is that which exists deep inside the CIA's headquarters at Langley in Virginia.
Known affectionately at "Stealthy Starbucks," the baristas who work at that branch are put
through a wide array of background checks and interviews before they're allowed to work
there, and even after getting through all that, they're escorted by agents in and out
of their work area.
Despite its clandestine nature, however, the Langley branch is one of the busiest in the
USA, and serves thousands of analysts, agents, economists, engineers, geographers, and cartographers
every day.
The purpose of this top secret Starbucks is to provide a humanizing environment for agency
workers, many of whom work in high-pressure scenarios and don't have their smartphones
to help them tune-out, because they have to leave those in their cars.
It also provides a setting for job interviews for current agents looking to get reassigned.
And no, before you ask — nobody gives their name at the counter.
Back in 2007, Starbucks and Concord Music Group co-founded Hear Music, the company's
very own record label.
It had gotten into the music business by selling the music of artists such as Ray Charles and
Bob Dylan in stores across America.
That same year, however, it made its first proper signing: Paul McCartney.
McCartney had spent his entire career, including his time as a Beatle, at EMI, save for a brief
foray into working with Columbia Records in the '80s.
The label itself didn't go far, though.
After signing a smattering of artists that included Carly Simon, they turned over management
of the label to the Concord Music Group.
They continued to sell CDs until 2015.
If there's one thing everyone knows about Starbucks, it's that they're everywhere.
Seriously, there's a good chance you can probably see one right now, and if you can't there's
probably one right around the corner.
The sheer scale of Starbucks' worldwide domination was put into context by the website Quartz
in 2014.
Their mapping of the chain across the world found that Starbucks existed in 63 countries,
with notable absences in Africa, Central Asia and Eastern Europe.
They also found that the distribution of Starbucks in cities mirrors the shape of the cities
themselves, demonstrating the sheer expanse of the stores across each.
Quartz also found that Seoul had the most Starbucks at the time, closely followed by
New York, Shanghai, London and Chicago.
They also found that, if you travel from Boston to NYC to Philadelphia, you'll never be more
than 10 miles of a Starbucks, and you could continue down to Baltimore, Washington, Richmond
and Virginia and only be more than 10 miles away twice.
So, yeah.
Lots of Starbucks.
Hate to break it to you, menu hackers, but the so-called "secret menu" at Starbucks isn't
actually a thing.
Sure, there are entire websites dedicated to keeping track of the latest and greatest
Starbucks secret menu items, but just because you see something on the internet doesn't
mean it's true — a good reminder in general, really.
"The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is so that people with no decision-making
abilities whatsoever to make 6 decisions just to buy one cup of coffee."
Baristas have spoken a lot about the growing trend of customers waltzing up to the counter
and ordering some bizarrely-named drink, and why it can be a problem.
At the heart of it all?
Websites that give a fancy concoction a fancy name, and forget to tell readers that this
secret menu isn't an official thing.
In other words, you can definitely order a Cotton Candy Unicorn Dust Golden Frappuccino,
but your barista will likely have no idea what goes into it.
Christine, a barista from Colorado, advises,
"Just make sure you bring in the recipe.
Because if it's off the secret menu, then we probably don't know how to make it."
You know, because the secret menu doesn't really exist.
Sorry!
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