The History of Starbucks

If you're thinking of starting a coffee business but don't know where to start, remember that even one of the largest coffee companies in the world had to start somewhere. That somewhere happened to be The Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington and the someone is Starbucks Coffee.

On March 31, 1971, founders Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker opened the first store in Seattle, Washington. At this time, the company only sold roasted whole coffee beans and did not yet brew coffee to sell. 

Expansion
In 1984, Starbucks expanded by purchasing Pete's coffee and tea company. In 1987 Starbucks opened its first stores outside of Seattle in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Chicago, Illinois. By 1989 the Starbucks company had 46 locations across the Northwest and Midwest. 

Starbucks opened its first international store in Tokyo, Japan in 1996 and entered the U.K in 1998. Although coffee is not the only thing Starbucks has had its hand it. In 1999 the company experimented with a couple restaurants in the San Fransisco Bay area. Once people began to figure out they were Starbucks establishments, they were turned into cafes. On November 14, 2012, Starbucks announced their purchase of the Teavana company for $620 million in cash. 

Today Starbucks serves its hand crafted products to their loyal customers at over 24,000 locations in 70 countries. With a mission like Starbucks: to inspire and nurture the human spirit-one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time, you too, could be on your way to owning a successful coffee business.