60 Fun Facts About Starbucks

At which famous Seattle public market was Starbucks founded in 1971?

The first store sold only beans and equipment at 2000 Western Avenue before moving to its famous Pike Place Market address in 1976.

What did the original Starbucks sell for its first decade?

The three founders met at the University of San Francisco and learned roasting from a Berkeley coffee pioneer, whose company supplied their beans until 1973.

Which novel supplied the name Starbucks, via its chief mate?

The founders had shortlisted 'Starbo' from a Cascade mining town; co-founder Bowker admitted the Melville link was 'only coincidental'.

Which coffee pioneer, whose Berkeley company supplied the beans, taught the Starbucks founders to roast?

Peet stopped supplying them in 1973 but helped train their new roastmaster; in 1984 the Starbucks owners bought Peet's outright.

What is the twin-tailed figure in the Starbucks logo?

A spokeswoman described her in 2006 as a twin-tailed mermaid or siren from Greek mythology; the first version was topless.

When the logo went from brown to green in 1987, the colour was said to be a nod to what?

The 1987-92 version also covered the siren's breasts with her hair; her navel disappeared in 1992.

Which marketing director was inspired by a 1983 trip to Milan to bring espresso bars to America?

The owners resisted, so he left to open his own chain, Il Giornale, in 1985.

What was the name of the coffee-bar chain the future owner founded in 1985 before buying Starbucks?

In 1987 the original owners sold him the Starbucks chain and he rebranded Il Giornale's outlets under the older name.

Starbucks opened its first stores outside Seattle in 1987 in Chicago and which Canadian city?

The Waterfront Station store came the same year Schultz took over; by 1989 there were 46 stores.

How many outlets did Starbucks have at its June 1992 IPO?

Revenue was $73.5 million, market value $271 million, and the 12% float raised about $25 million under the ticker SBUX.

Starbucks acquired the rights to the Frappuccino by buying which Boston-area chain in 1994?

George Howell's marketing director Andrew Frank coined the name from 'frappe', New England's word for a thick milkshake, and 'cappuccino'.

The word Frappuccino blends 'cappuccino' with which New England term?

By 2012 Frappuccino sales topped $2 billion a year; the bottled version was the first product of Starbucks' joint venture with PepsiCo.

Which limited-edition Frappuccino, launched in April 2017, changed colour and flavour as you stirred it?

It kicked off a run of novelty drinks including the Zombie and Red Velvet Cake Cream Frappuccinos.

Starbucks opened its first store outside North America in July 1996 in which city?

Singapore followed in December 1996; by 2003 Japan alone had 466 stores.

What is the name of Starbucks' largest cup size, introduced in January 2011, holding 31 US ounces?

Venti means twenty in Italian; Trenta means thirty, though the cup holds a little more.

A Starbucks inside which Beijing landmark closed in 2007 after protests?

China is now the company's second-largest market; a 2026 joint venture hands up to 60% of the business there to Boyu Capital.

In July 2008 Starbucks announced it was closing how many underperforming US stores amid the recession?

Another 300 closures followed in January 2009; some 18,400 US jobs went in a year, and Schultz cut his own salary.

In which country did Starbucks close 61 of its 84 stores in 2008?

The remaining stores were sold to the Withers family in 2014; the first Australian store had opened in Sydney in 2000.

Which chain, bought in 2003 with Torrefazione Italia for $72 million, gave Starbucks a hometown rival brand?

The deal added only 150 stores but a large wholesale business.

Starbucks paid $620 million in 2012 for which tea retailer, then closed all its shops by 2018?

Mall landlord Simon Property Group won a court order forcing some Teavana stores to stay open temporarily.

Which juice company did Starbucks buy for $30 million in November 2011?

It planned a chain of juice bars starting in San Bernardino, taking on Jamba.

What is Starbucks' bottled water brand that donates five cents a bottle to clean-water projects?

Critics say the labelling makes a for-profit brand look like a charity; it has raised over $6.2 million.

What was the name of the instant coffee line Starbucks launched in March 2009?

Verismo was the 2012 single-serve pod machine, discontinued at the end of 2020.

In which year did the Shanghai Starbucks Reserve Roastery, the first outside the US, open?

Milan, New York, Tokyo and Chicago followed by 2019 before the plan for 20 roasteries was scaled back.

Starbucks opened its first store in Italy, the country that inspired the whole idea, in which year?

The Milan roastery opened on 6 September 2018, by which point the chain was already in 78 countries.

Which 2015 campaign had baristas write a phrase on cups to spark a national conversation, and drew backlash?

It joined the annual red-cup design rows and the 2018 Philadelphia arrests among the brand's PR crises.

Which Starbucks CEO apologised after two Black men were arrested in a Philadelphia store in 2018?

The company later closed its US stores for an afternoon of racial-bias training and dropped its purchase requirement, a policy reversed in 2025.

Which Buffalo store became the first unionised company-owned Starbucks in the US in December 2021?

Starbucks Workers United went on to certify unions at over 200 stores within a year; the Camp Road store voted no.

Which annual promotional day in November 2022 saw workers at over 100 unionised stores walk out?

Strikers wanted higher staffing and consistent schedules; a further strike in June 2023 concerned Pride decorations.

Who became CEO in October 2022 and famously trained as a barista to work a half-day a month?

He was ousted in August 2024 after less than 18 months.

Brian Niccol, named Starbucks CEO in August 2024, had run which chain since 2018?

He had earlier turned around Taco Bell as CEO from 2015; he started at Starbucks on 9 September 2024.

What did Starbucks end in January 2025, again requiring a purchase to use restrooms and seating?

The open-door approach dated from the aftermath of the Philadelphia arrests seven years earlier.

Which pro sports team did the Starbucks boss own from 2001 to 2006?

He sold for $350 million after failing to win a new arena; the team became the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2008.

In which years did the Starbucks chairman publicly toy with an independent presidential run, declining each time?

He describes himself as socially liberal and fiscally conservative and has written four business books.

The future CEO was US general manager for which Swedish kitchenware maker before visiting the company in 1981?

He had been a Xerox salesman before that, and grew up in Brooklyn's Canarsie housing projects.

Which neighbourhood houses the Starbucks Center headquarters, a former Sears mail-order warehouse?

About 3,750 people worked there in 2023; a $100 million Nashville regional hub was announced in 2026.

As of 2024, roughly how many Starbucks stores were there worldwide?

Around 61% are in the US and China; the US count alone was near 16,000.

Which non-dairy milk did Starbucks first offer in US stores, in 1997?

Oat milk went national in 2021 and the non-dairy upcharge was scrapped with the November 2024 holiday menu.

Starbucks' 2023 Oleato drinks, discontinued in 2024, were infused with what?

Schultz picked up the habit of a daily spoonful of olive oil from a producer he met in Sicily.

Which CEO ran the company from 2005 to 2008 before the previous boss returned?

Schultz's comeback included firing executives, closing hundreds of stores and shutting every US store one evening to retrain baristas on espresso.

On his 2008 return as CEO, the founder-figure temporarily closed all US stores to do what?

He also approved a $100 million settlement of a California baristas' tips lawsuit in 2009.

Starbucks began offering free Wi-Fi in all US and Canadian stores on what date?

The UK had it from 2002 with a rewards card; loyalty perks began with the Starbucks Card programme of May 2008.

Starbucks sold its Russian stores in 2022 to which local celebrity?

The 130 stores reopened under a new name; the chain had entered Russia in 2007.

Where did Starbucks open its largest store ever in November 2019?

The five-storey Reserve Roastery joined those in Shanghai, Milan and New York.

Which 2012 Reuters investigation finding embarrassed Starbucks in Britain?

Sales in that time topped £3 billion; royalties flowed to a Dutch entity with a special tax rate.

What did Schultz call the unbranded cafés like 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea opened in 2009?

They served beer and wine and hosted live music, testing the local-coffee-house look the chain later adopted store by store.

Starbucks began posting calorie counts for drinks and pastries in all US stores in which year?

The 'skinny' low-calorie drinks line had launched in January 2008.

Which financial firm agreed in January 2026 to take up to 60% of Starbucks' China arm?

China is the company's second-largest market; the January 2026 joint-venture deal was announced subject to regulatory approval.

Which alcoholic option did Starbucks offer at some US stores from 2010, reaching about 30 'Evenings' locations?

A Williamsburg, Brooklyn store opened in August 2014 with the programme; Toronto followed in 2016.

Where did the three Starbucks founders first meet?

Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl and Gordon Bowker opened their first shop on March 30, 1971, initially as a coffee bean wholesaler.

The founders' shortlist of 'st' words first produced what brand name, a misreading of a mining town?

Partner Terry Heckler believed words beginning with 'st' were powerful; the town Storbo was named for a Mount Rainier mining boss.

On what Seattle street was the very first Starbucks store located from 1971 to 1976?

The shop at number 2000 predates the famous Pike Place Market location that tourists queue at today.

Which Berkeley roaster did the original Starbucks owners buy in 1984?

The Berkeley roaster had supplied Starbucks' green beans for its first two years; Jerry Baldwin led the purchase.

Under what brand did Starbucks experiment with restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1999?

The same year it bought Pasqua Coffee, a chain with almost 60 stores in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York.

How much did Starbucks pay for the Tazo tea brand in 1999?

Teavana, bought in 2012, cost far more at $620 million and was shut down in early 2018.

Starbucks' Indian stores are run as a 50:50 joint venture with which conglomerate?

The first Indian store opened in Mumbai on October 19, 2012, after a false start in 2007.

What was the name of the single-serve pod coffee machine Starbucks launched in 2012?

It used the K-Fee pod system; Starbucks stopped making its own pods for it at the end of 2020.

Roughly how many countries had Starbucks locations as of February 2023?

About 61% of its 36,171 stores were in just two countries, the US and China.

In which country did Starbucks open its first store in July 2025?

Nordic openings tend to start at airports: Sweden's first was at Arlanda, Norway's at Oslo Gardermoen.

What is the Starbucks stock ticker symbol?

At its June 1992 IPO the company had revenue of $73.5 million, up from $1.3 million in 1987.