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Starbucks Uses 2012 Global Leader Conference as Central to Talent Development

10/04/2012 – HOUSTON – Starbucks Coffee Company (NASDAQ:SBUX) today kicked-off its three-day Global Leadership Conference in Houston where the company brings nearly 10,000 store managers together.  Their annual event intends to invest in store manager development, connect the managers with the company’s core values and motivate them to deliver against Starbucks business aspirations.

 

Conference highlights include:

  

• Starbucks chairman, president and ceo Howard Schultz and Square founder and ceo Jack Dorsey announced that customers will be able to use Square Wallet to pay with their mobile phones at U.S. Starbucks stores beginning in early November. Customers will also be able to use the Square directory to find more than 7,000 U.S. company-operated Starbucks stores.
• Starbucks also announced it will enable digital tipping on its existing mobile payment applications and on Square Wallet for its U.S. store partners (employees) in summer 2013.
• As a further testament to the company’s innovation in mobile payment, the Starbucks mobile application is now integrated with Apple’s Passbook allowing customers’ Starbucks Cards to appear on their iPhone screen automatically after they enter a favorite Starbucks store.
• The company announced plans to introduce its rare and exotic Starbucks Reserve® coffee line using its patented Clover® Brewing system to approximately 200 additional locations in the U.S. and Canada. Global expansion into key international markets, including Japan and the U.K., is also expected.
• Announced the San Francisco Evolution Fresh™ store will be opening for business in mid-October; next Evolution Fresh™ location coming to University Village shopping center in Seattle in mid-November.
• A nearly 400,000-square-foot immersive “Leaders’ Lab” has been constructed that will guide conference participants through a two-hour interactive journey that brings Starbucks mission statement to life by highlighting coffee, customers and community.
• By the close of the conference, Starbucks expects to have contributed $22 million in economic and community service impact to Houston – including the largest single corporate community volunteer project in the city’s recent history.
• The company celebrated the opening of its third profit-sharing Community Store in Houston in collaboration with the Association for the Advancement of Mexican Americans (AAMA).

“Building an enduring company requires making a sustained investment in its people,” said Schultz at the Houston conference. “In the forty-two year history of the company, there has never been a more important or exciting time for Starbucks. Four years ago I addressed our first global leadership conference in New Orleans, and we emerged from those meetings energized and poised for our next wave of growth. Today, Starbucks stands as a stronger, more innovative and relevant company, largely due to the bet we made on our partners (employees) in New Orleans. These next few days will give our leaders the opportunity to reconnect with the heart of our company through community engagement, refining our coffee expertise and perfecting the art of exceeding our customers’ expectations.”