Howard Schultz- billionaire Starbucks coffee empire, turned out to be from the poor class

"Because of where I came from, I used to fear that I would live a life of failure." This is a quote that reveals the whole life of Howard Schultz. Unlike many billionaires with a solid family background, Howard Schultz comes from a family with a low social class.

Starting the coffee business 30 years ago, businessman Howard Schultz has had a desirable achievement as a Starbucks branded coffee shop chain, one of the largest coffee chains on the planet and bringing huge profits. annual giant.

However, few people know that, before becoming a rich and powerful businessman, this man used to have a childhood to live in damp, dark buildings in stark contrast to the flashy look. of the rich Manhattan, New York, USA.

Poor childhood

Howard Schultz was born on July 19, 1953 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was born into a poor family with a hard life. His parents didn't even finish high school.

In an interview with Bloomberg, the billionaire once shared that his parents were both low-income people. The whole family had to live in a degraded social housing project and this made him clearly aware of what is called the gap between rich and poor in the world.

In 1961, when Howard Schultz was 7 years old, he came home from school one day and witnessed his father's accident, breaking his ankle while driving a truck and delivering diapers. Howard Schultz's father was injured at work but had no workers' compensation, no contract, and no health insurance. He lost his ability to work after that accident and received absolutely no benefits. Because of that, the family's income has become less and less, the family falls into "poverty".

To this day, he still remembers the image of his father lying helplessly in a chair with a brace because of an accident at work. A few years later, when his father died, the family's economic situation became increasingly difficult. Despite this, Howard Schultz's mother always encouraged her children to study well so as not to follow in the footsteps of their father. Mom. She believes that a good education is the door that opens the door to escape poverty for her son and family.

"I witnessed the cracks of the American dream and watched my parents go from disappointment to despair. Those scars, all those shame still haunt me to this day," he said. . From there, Schultz was determined to get out of poverty and change his fate.

It was a difficult childhood that helped shape Howard's resilience. When going to school, Howard worked constantly, even selling blood to cover living expenses. He participated in many odd jobs in the school. To pay for school, he worked as a bartender, even selling blood.

Capture from the smallest things

Despite the difficult family situation, Schultz showed that he was a man who knew how to take advantage of even the smallest opportunities. Realizing that his athletic ability was his only ticket to school, Howard Schultz found his "escape".

While still in high school, Howard brilliantly won a football scholarship to Northern Michigan University and helped himself to finish college as desired. However, after entering university, he decided to give up his football career to aim for a bigger goal.

To pay for his studies, the communications student took out a loan and enlisted to earn money through various jobs, including working as a waiter and bartender.

After graduating, Schultz got a job in the sales training program at Xerox. A few years later, he worked at Hammarplast, a homewares business owned by a Swedish company called Perstorp. At this company, Schultz rose to the position of vice president and general manager, leading a team of junior salespeople. Although he had a bit of success in his early life, he still had a pain in his heart, wondering "what will I do next".

Schultz first learned about Starbucks while working for Hammarplast. The coffee brand now has four stores in Seattle. They caught his attention when they ordered a large number of drip coffee machines. Intrigued, the businessman went to Seattle to meet the two co-founders of this company, Gerald Baldwin and Gordon Bowker. He was immediately drawn into the passion of the two opposites. They make a strong impression by bravely selling a product that is located in a very small niche of coffee connoisseurs.

Schultz thought he had to join Starbucks, despite facing the future of constantly moving around and accepting a lower salary. But he was extremely excited about his decision and never regretted it. However, it took a year for Schultz to convince Baldwin to hire him as the company's chief marketing officer.

Schultz doesn't want Starbucks to stay in a small environment like many other chains. Therefore, he decided to look for new models for the brand.

Once in Milan, Italy, he stopped by many bars serving espresso. Here, the shop owner knows each guest's name and serves his customers unique dishes like Cappuccino and Latte.

"It's like a religion," Schult mused with amusement. At that moment, he began to deeply understand someone's personal relationship with coffee. It's not just a drink, it's much more than that. He began to believe that Starbucks should deploy espresso dishes the Italian way, that going to Starbucks should be an experience, not just a store.

However, Baldwin and Bowker thought otherwise. They disagreed with Schultz's ideas. He couldn't convince the Starbucks founders that the company could become an international chain of brands, not just a coffee roaster.

The differences led to the departure of the marketing director in 1985. He decided to start his own coffee company called Il Giornale, Italian for "everyday". He wanted to stick to the path his senses told him to in the land of pasta.

For two years, Schultz focused on opening Il Giornale stores, recreating the unique coffee culture he had witnessed in Italy. Very quickly, in 1987, Il Giornale bought Starbucks, which now had 17 stores, meaning Schultz became the CEO of this corporation.

From there, he began to plant the seeds of one of the most ambitious expansions in the history of coffee retail. When the first Starbucks opened in New York, The New York Times had to start defining what a latte was, even describing it as "lah-tay". Starbucks injects its unique naturalness into everything from cup size to its association with Italian coffee culture that inspired Schultz.

Currently, Starbucks has more than 28,000 stores in 77 countries, generating net sales of about $22.4 billion in 2017 alone. Its market size is estimated at $84 billion.

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