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Issue date: 10/3/08 Section: Views

Casey Ferguson

This is what we now to be true:

Earlier this year, coffee giant Starbucks turned a bit unconventional, serving their hot beverages paper cups bearing a new logo for a short period of time. But it wasn't a new logo; it was their old logo, slightly modified to make it a little more family friendly. This is not the point, however. Anytime a company like Starbucks makes a change, it is an intentional one. Why did they make this change? I believe they were trying to make the point, "We've been brewing coffee successfully for so long that even our logo has made a change; that tells you something about us." And on the back of the cup there was a brief paragraph written about the company, about being successful. Here is how it began: "This is what we know to be true…"

In the U.S. alone, Starbucks has just over 4,000 licensed stores, as of February 2008. This figure does not include the smaller shops operated by Starbucks who "proudly brew Starbucks' coffee." The company seems to be doing fairly well for themselves, and reveling in their success, they print up a lot of paper cups sporting a vintage logo paired with a paragraph telling about what has made the company successful. How significant is that?

Maybe you are not personally a fan of Starbucks. Maybe you feel that they are a heartless mega-corporation, unfairly competing with all of the Baker Streets of America, I don't know. But regardless of your personal stance, still you must acknowledge that if a coffee shop learns to compete at a global level within 30 years of opening their doors, anything they have to say about 'caffeinating' the masses can be considered legitimate.

That being said, what does their assertion that, "this is what we know to be true" tell us? It tells us a few things.

First, it tells us that if there is something known to be true, there can also be something known to be false. People pass up 75-cent cups of coffee at gas stations and delis in order to pay $2 at Starbucks, and this tells us that there are certainly both right and wrong ways to sell coffee. Secondly, it tells us that if you do not adhere to a truth there are consequences. Am I saying that Starbucks is the only company who does coffee the right way? No. But that does not take away from the fact that they do coffee the right way and that there are other businesses that do not. We see this demonstrated by the fact that other businesses have closed their doors and Starbucks will open theirs again at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning. And finally, this statement tells us that if there is a truth which exists, it exists absolutely. It has been 37 years since this little coffee shop opened up in Seattle.

There are successful stores in New York City just as well as San Angelo.

This is no coincidence. The Starbucks way works and this is all because, according to them, for the past three decades they have known this one thing to be true.

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