A Case For Starbucks
by Nancy Mueller
Trying to find the perfect coffee house can be daunt-
ing; especially when you’re new in town! Ask any
coffee lover where their favorite coffee hangout is,
and you’ll probably get answers that range from, the
local independent coffee house to their favorite
corporate coffee chain. By actively seeking diverse-owned businesses to
purchase from, Starbucks helps build prosperous
communities and they believe their Supplier Diversi-
ty Program has been a great success, it must,
because the amount of business they conduct with
diverse suppliers grows every year!
Having recently located to a new area, I will admit,
my favorite corporate coffee chain was my first “go
to” coffee stop. When people in the area tried to
convince me that I should switch to a local coffee
house, I decided to do some inside investigating!
Did you know that The Starbucks Mission is to
inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person,
one cup and one neighborhood at a time as a perfor-
mance driven company, through the lens of humani-
ty. In addition to their buying practices, they support
supplier diversity outreach projects sponsored by
various organizations including the National Minority
Supplier Development Council, the Women’s Busi-
ness Enterprise National Council and our local
Northwest Minority Supplier Development Council.
These projects include opportunity fairs, business
development roundtables and supplier development
projects.
Starbucks global sourcing supports this in 5 ways:
Designing a flexible, dynamic supply network; Lever-
aging suppliers who enhance their margins &
increase certainty; Building a supply base to expe-
dite their growth & innovation; Establishing supplier
relationships that protect and elevate their brand that
creates a shared value relationship.
I was intrigued, so I kept digging!
I learned that one coffee tree yields one bag of
beans, per year! Holy coffee bean; what does that
mean?
It means Starbucks practices ethical
harvesting when it comes to their coffee beans!
Being a woman who owns a small business, I can
really get onboard with their diversity outreach proj-
ects and started thinking that my decision to support
a corporate coffee chain was actually a pretty good
idea. After all, regardless of which Starbucks loca-
tion I choose to get my hot or cold beverage, I know
that every single cup will taste like the last because
every store follows the corporate standards set for
every single location.
I decided that the real truth would lie with the
employees, so I took my investigation into the stores
and asked some questions! Out of the twenty or so
employees I spoke with; all of them raved about the
way they are treated as a valued employee.
Now I ask you, do I have a case for Starbucks or
what!