Starbucks

Whether you savour the flavour, tolerate its taste, or use it solely as an early morning pick-me-up, there’s no denying that coffee has become a commodity many cannot live without. With revenues of over $10 billion US dollars in 2010, Starbucks is certainly extracting every last drop from those little black beans.

Caffeine can be addictive. Socially however, there is very little stigma attached to a caffeine addiction. Certainly, you wouldn’t be too pleased if your office had a designated ‘Coffee Drinking Area’, forcing people to stand outside in the cold and rain, quickly drinking their brews so they don’t get soaked. But just look around you as you go about your morning routine, virtually every desk has its own coffee mug. Think of all those lost employee hours, as they stand in front of the kettle, chatting idly with Susan from accounts, waiting for their next fix. 

Coffee has been cleverly marketed as quite a sexy product. Especially during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, the idea of inviting a lady friend back to your penthouse for a coffee was seen as quite the romantic gesture. Though how you were expected to enjoy each other’s company once you both had coffee breath is anyone’s guess. 

Then with the 1990’s came TV show ‘Friends’, truly glamourizing the coffee house experience. Unsurprisingly, many wished to live that lifestyle – perhaps ignoring the small fact that even with the combined income of a chef and a waitress, they still wouldn’t be able to cover the rent of a Manhattan apartment. 

You only need to venture into a Starbucks coffeehouse today to see people trying to recreate that lifestyle. Whether typing up their latest blog post on a shiny Macbook Pro, or curled up on the couch, discussing the events of last night with a girlfriend, the Western world has embraced coffeehouse culture – a fact not lost on Starbucks who now have over 17000 stores in 50 different countries.

Whatever your take on Starbucks – whether you like or loathe their coffee, admire or dislike their corporate policies, think they have too many stores already or can’t wait for one to open in your area – you cannot deny their ability to capitalise on the popularity of the lifestyle their product implies, and with a net profit of nearly $1 billion US during 2010, it’s clearly one that many people buy in too.