In the early ‘80s, Howard Schultz joined the coffee roasting company, Starbucks, as its Marketing Director. On a business trip to Italy, he became fascinated with the country’s coffee house culture, which emphasized the relationship between the barista and the customer. The preparation and presentation of coffee was treated with reverence, done only by trained professionals. Fascinated with this ritual and the sense of community that he felt in Italy’s coffee houses, Schultz returned to the United States and convinced the Starbucks founders to test the Italian coffee house concept. The idea took off and Howard Schultz changed the trajectory of Starbucks forever.

This is the first article of a new section on this blog, Business Story, because #StoriesMatter.

Of course, I illustrate with creatures of the water by John William Waterhouse.