Research a hospitality business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Research a hospitality business - Essay Example Starbucks has been in the UK since 1998 when they purchased 65 Seattle Coffee stores that were already located in the UK. The reason that Starbucks bought these companies was because they shared a common culture. Both companies had a commitment to create customised coffee, they had similar values, a mutual respect for their customers, their employees, and they had a commitment to the environment. This information prompted them to buy Seattle Coffee as a way to reach out to the UK community (Starbucks Coffee Company, 2011a). Overview of the Business Starbucks actually began in 1971 when they were a roaster and a retailer for whole bean, ground coffee, and tea and spices. At that time, they owned one store in Pike Place Market in Seattle, WA, USA. They were a private company at that time and did not become a public company until 1992 and 1993. At that time, they decided to look for locations in large cities so that they would have a 'hub' store with smaller stores around in these locat ions. They hired what they called 'zone presidents' to oversee the new stores; each zone president had many years of experience in marketing chain stores (Thompson and Gamble, 1997). Starbucks was able to easily identify those retail sites that would be best for theirs stores. They hired a real estate team who was versed in the coffee bar industry and they instituted a 'sophisticated system' that allowed them to identify the locations that would be best for their stores. They were able to track each area in such a way that they also found attractive city blocks where they could start their stores (Thompson and Gamble, 1997). Today, they have 17,000 companies in 50 countries and they continue to grow (Starbucks Coffee Company, 2011a). Starbucks took its name from the book, Moby Dick by Herman Melville. Starbucks was the name of the first mate in the story. They boast that they have millions of customers world wide and they enjoy serving them the best coffee possible. Starbucks has 70 0 stores across the UK (Farrell, 2010). Every business must start with a mission and Starbucks mission is 'to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighbourhood at a time' (Starbucks Coffee Company, 2011b, p.1). With this mission, they know exactly what they want to do when they go into each new country or new city. Processes and Systems Starbucks has been able to institute specific processes and systems in their company that worked. They have used the same system in each of the countries they moved into because it worked. Food and beverages purchasing Starbucks purchases coffee from farmers around the world. They basically have four brands that they sell all of their beverages under. These brands are: 'Starbucks Coffee, Seattle’s Best Coffee, Tazo Tea, and Torrefazione Italia Coffee' (Starbucks Coffee Company, 2011b, p.2). In the UK, Starbucks has only introduced a few of its products which include: Via, a new instant coffee that people c an purchase at Tesco stores Starbucks Whole Bean Coffees, Starbucks Discoveries Chilled Coffees, and Starbucks Doubleshot Expresso drinks (Puget Sound Business Journal, 2010). Dave Olsen who is Starbucks' senior vice president for coffee, travelled around the world to coffee growing companies and talked to farmers to find the richest quality coffee beans that would produce the best flavour. Starbucks bought the beans above the price that they would