Howard Schultz’s partners

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 →

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 →

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