NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Listening to Howard Behar is like reading the simple profundities of Winnie the Pooh or enjoying the sensitive observations of Pixar director Pete Docter (Inside Out, Monsters Inc., Up)
With Behar, the retired president who helped grow Starbucks from a local coffeehouse of 28 stores to a global caffeinated powerhouse, there are simple truths that layer a nest of complex metrics and measurements.
Author of It’s Not About the Coffee, Behar highlighted the opening day at Fare 2015, an event sponsored by CSP Business Media’s four magazine: Foodservice Director, Restaurant Business, CSP and Convenience Store Products.
During an easygoing conversation with Restaurant Business’s director of digital content Peter Romeo, Behar spoke of the key ingredients behind Starbucks’ enormous success--and we’re not talking about the burnt-roasted coffee beans or the myriad flavorings or acoustic coffeehouse recordings that permeate the chain’s more than 23,000 locations.
Here are some of my favorite Behar aphorisms from Monday’s session:
- It’s about people.
“People are my day job. Business is my night job.”
“Nurture and inspire the human spirit … What can be more purposeful than that.”
- Yes, profits do matter.
“It’s hard to do the things we’re doing if we’re going broke.”
- Culture.
“Culture is not static. Culture is changing all the time. … Culture has to be authentic.”
- Rules.
“I believe in recipes not in rules.” Behar joked about a poster he saw on the company wall that said: Be nice, be fast, be clean. “I hated it,” he said, adding he wanted to take it down and replace it with the following: “Be human.”
- Sustainability.
Behar’s dream cup is one that would decompose immediately after consumption.
- What makes Howard shake?
“I shiver when I hear [an executive] say, 'people are our most important assets.' People are not assets!”
- Diversity.
Behar talked about the road tours he and CEO Howard Schultz took to meet with employees across the country. While Starbucks from the outset fostered an open culture, Behar recalled being caught off guard when a worker who is African-American asked why there were no blacks in senior management. With no easy answer, Behar asked the young employee to serve on a committee to explore the matter.
- Food vs. coffee.
Unlike the coffee that is made on site, Behar doesn’t see Starbucks embracing a made-to-order foodservice model. Reflecting, he said, “We almost gave up on food at one time.”
“Howard [Schultz] had a dream that the food needed to be as good as the coffee.”
Watch for more insight from the FARE Conference on CSPnet.com, and follow CSP’s coverage on Twitter at #FAREconference.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.