Howard Shultz and I were partners once. The Starbucks Coffee Company in my historical fiction novel Tripio was, in real life, far and away the best workplace I have experience, before or since. There have been a lot more workplaces since I hung up my apron than I care to admit. My point is, it... Continue Reading →
Starbucks books for Starbucks fans
Books for the Starbucks fan on your list A while back I read How Starbucks Saved my Life by Michael Gates Gill. In the interest of full disclosure, I read it out of curiosity, as opposed to organic intellectual interest. In other words, I read it to see how that memoir compared to my historical... Continue Reading →
Starbucks gone to pieces?
Has Starbucks gone to pieces? Starbucks today and the Starbucks I worked at in Chicago and set my historical fiction novel Tripio in, would have a hard time recognizing each other. For one, there are about 25,000 more stores and 200,000 more employees around than when I wore the green apron. Those numbers tell the... Continue Reading →
From Barista to Boardroom and back
. Thoughts on Barista to Boardroom “It felt like the circle had softly closed, like it was all meant to happen exactly that way. I could now let go and move forward, embracing life as a former partner.’ These couple of sentences conclude Christne McHugh's’ memoir, From Barista to Boardroom. In my historical... Continue Reading →
When enough is enough
. 'He reminded us that the ambitions for Starbucks were focused on large and global company growth." - from Barista to Boardroom recounting Howard Schultz announcing Starbuck's IPO "I look down the now quiet tree lined street and wonder why it wasn't enough? Why wasn't a record breaking weekend at store... Continue Reading →
How well do know yourself?
"It is odd to realize how little we know ourselves." -Oscar Wilde "What is sometimes simply needed is just a gap of pure time, an insulating period, between the making of your art and the time your share it with others." - Art & Fear -Observations on the Perils and Rewards of Art Making ... Continue Reading →
Comparative literature-Books on Starbucks
A book I wrote, a book I am reading This year Starbucks is celebrating it's 50th anniversary. I thought it was time to mark the occasion by reading books on Starbucks. I have written and published an historical fiction novel called Tripio, set at a Chicago Starbucks in 1992. Firstly, my comparative study of Starbucks... Continue Reading →
What along strange Tripio its been
"This can't be happening." It was nearly dinner time when the realization struck me. There would be no coffee available tomorrow morning. But, indeed it was true. You see, I was visiting my family in Ohio and the house I was spending the night in was being renovated. Not in a... Continue Reading →
A trip back to Starbucks store #204
A trip to my Starbucks #204 It is the summer of 1992. In my "Starbucks novel", Tripio, Jay works at a Starbucks store #204 located on north side of Chicago on the corner of Clark, Diversey and Broadway. In Tripio, for the sake of brevity and authenticity, I refer to it simply as store #204,... Continue Reading →
Two Starbucks books
The tale of two Starbucks green aprons I am reading "How Starbucks Saved my Life" by Michael Gates Gill with great interest and a good deal of empathy. I am marking Starbucks 50th anniversary by attempting to read other books on Starbucks that focus on the baristas, and not the business. My novel, Tripio, does... Continue Reading →