Specialty Coffee Retailer is a publication for owners, managers and employees of retail outlets that sell specialty coffee. Its scope includes best sales practices, supplies, business trends and anything else to assist the small coffee retailer.
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pan demetrakakes, editor share of taxes. We're all familiar by now with how CEO salaries have zoomed up to obscene multiples of ordinary workers'. Now comes Howard Schultz, head of Starbucks Corp., who apparently has T decided to get involved in politics, without actually entering the presidential race like fellow CEO Herman Cain. Schultz has been making noises about how there's a lack of leadership in Washington, and we could all use more advice from business leaders like him. On Sept. 2, Schultz came out with his latest bright idea: Putting out a tip jar for the whole country. No lie. Starbucks customers will be dunned to contribute $5 per purchase to something called "Create Jobs for USA." Those who do will receive a wristband with the word "Indivisible" (how's that for wishful thinking?), along with the knowledge that their contribution will go toward small business loans. Now, as corporate charity efforts go, this is far from the most egregious I've seen. And Starbucks has some skin in the game: They're putting up $5 million in seed money. However, I think this would go down a little easier if Schultz's last significant decisions at Starbucks hadn't been marked by what we've seen in so many corporations: management by machete. Schultz, who built Starbucks up from a four-store operation beginning in the early 1980s, returned as chief executive in 2008 when the company was struggling. He stopped the bleeding by laying off more than 6,000 employees, roughly divided between workers in the stores (some 900 of which got closed) and corporate employees. Don't get me wrong; it worked, and you can't argue with success. Schultz did what he had to do to save his company and maximize shareholder value, as was his duty. On the other hand, someone who just threw that many people out of work is perhaps not the best candidate for job-creation poster boy. What grates on me personally, even more than the tin-eared insensitivity, is the general above-it-all tone that Schultz tends to take when he talks about politics. His previous political pronouncement, before the "Create Jobs for USA" dunning, was a call for "better leadership" and a suggestion that the American people en masse stop contributing to any incumbent politicians until a "fair, bipartisan" deal on the national debt is reached. This plague-on-both-your-houses approach is irksome, vacuous and intellectually lazy. It's annoying enough when it comes from pundits who have to grind out the next column without having anything meaningful to say. Schultz has less of an excuse: He has a major corporation to run. May I suggest in all humility that he devote his formidable talents to his duties at Starbucks, and leave politics to those who are willing to take actual, meaningful and, yes, partisan positions. 4 | November 2011 • www.specialty-coffee.com Mr. Schultz, please stick to running Starbucks his isn't the best time to be a CEO, at least in terms of public image. We're now embroiled in a shrill debate over whether "the rich" pay their fair EDITORIAL OFFICE 1030 W. Higgins Road, Suite 230 Park Ridge, IL 60068 • (847) 720-5600 Visit us online: www.specialty-coffee.com E-mail: specialtycoffee@m2media360.com EDITORIAL STAFF Editor PRODUCTION STAFF Art Director Production Manager CIRCULATION STAFF Vice President of Circulation & Collateral Services SALES STAFF Sales Manager List Rental & Reprint Services EXECUTIVE STAFF Group Publisher CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Ed Avis, Jack Groot, Maura Keller, Caroline Rath, Alan Richman, Brenda Russell, Peter Surkowski EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Jason Burton, lab5702 Desiree Farden, Big Train, Inc. Jack Groot, JP's Coffee And Espresso Bar Wes Herman, The Woods Coffee Meghan Hubbs, Equal Exchange Rob Jeffries, North Atlantic Specialty Bag Craig Min, LAMIL Coffee Lon LaFlamme, Dillanos Coffee Roasters Kate LaPoint, Sound Provisions, Inc. Joe Monaghan, La Marzocco Tom Palm, Design & Layout Services Steve Schnitzler, Port City Java® Andi C. Trindle, Atlantic Specialty Coffee Bill Waddington, TeaSource Corporate Office: 1030 W. Higgins Road, Suite 230 Park Ridge, IL 60068 PRESIDENT/CEO VP FINANCE & OPERATIONS VP OF CIRCULATION & COLLATERAL SERVICES PRODUCTION & OPERATIONS DIRECTOR SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION AND REQUESTS Phone (845) 856-2229 Marion Minor Gerald Winkel Joanne Juda-Prainito Mary Jo Tomei Fax (845) 856-5822 Subscriptions: $39 for one year, $61 for two years, U.S.; $48 for one year, $72 for two years, Canada; $110 for one year, all other countries (includes airmail postage). Single copies $10 each; Annual Buyers Guide $25. Payable in U.S. funds only. Customer Service: (847) 763-9565 PRESS RELEASES: Press releases on supplies, services and new products are welcomed and encouraged. Direct them to Specialty Coffee Retailer. Color print photography is preferred, slides and transparencies are accepted. Specialty Coffee Retailer reserves the right to edit all submissions. Pan Demetrakakes pan@m2media360.com Britt Menendez Mary Jo Tomei Joanne Juda-Prainito Brian Grau (314) 487-6568 Cheryl Naughton (678) 292-6054 Charlie Forman cforman@m2media360.com Membership applied for July 2010 Specialty Coffee Retailer (ISSN 1077-3460) is published monthly by Bev-Al Communications, 1030 W. Higgins Road, Suite 230, Park Ridge, IL 60068. Copyright© 2010 by Bev-Al Communications Inc. Postmaster please send address corrections to: Specialty Coffee Retailer, P.O. Box 4290, Port Jervis, NY 12771. Periodicals postage paid at Port Jervis, NY and additional mailing offices.