So I just recently finnished the book Starbucked (ISBN-10: 0-316-01348-X) by Taylor Clark who is a former alt-week writer. This book in my opinion was very interesting and showed how Starbucks did its global expansion and how they continue to grow. For those who are now thinking, “How can they grow more?” the answer is that they intent on opening approximately three times more stores than they allready have. There goal is to reach 40000 Starbucks stores of which they allready have around 13000.
One of the top guys at Starbucks says that as long as there are lines in the shops, there is enough demand to have more shops, and he suggest that the customer should not have to wait more than 3 minutes to recieve his or her order.
According to Tim Harford, “Coffee is, of course, the most important subject in the world. Taylor Clark loves it, and his witty, skeptical, and evenhanded take on the world’s most famous coffee chain is as pleasuable and addictive as an espresso.”
On the back cover of the book, they included the following interesting facts; [not quoted]
- Starbucks now opens more than 2000 coffee houses per year
- Americans drink so much coffee that scientists have detected caffeine in many of the nations rivers, lakes and bays
- Starbucks builds coffeehouses in such close proximity to each other that they can be as little as 12 feet apart
All in all, I would suggest that you read this book. Although I purchased it whilst I was in the United States, I have seen it avaliable at Wordsworth and Exclusive books in paperback.