Starbucks Ethnographic Study

After purchasing a drink I settled down to the left of the shop just by the window from this location, I observed several rituals through watching interactions and general behavior. My vantage point of view proved useful in the first trip so it was used for observation in subsequent visits as well. I also obtained information by interviewing an informant. The informant is an employee at the coffee shop: a barista who works mainly in the morning shift. The barista has been an employee at this particular Starbucks for three months. According to the informant, having been on duty during the early morning rush has provided sufficient material, which they have used to observe customer behavior, maybe for business strategy.

During my visits to the coffee shop, I was very surprised that the amount of people that ordered donuts was not as large as I expected. I made that assumption that donuts would be a regularly ordered item because of the variety offered by the coffee house. However, the number of people who ordered donuts were more than those that ordered coffee. I noticed that the majority of people either ordered hot coffee or iced coffee (Figure 1). The other beverages such as, Macchiato, Cappuccino, Latte, Punch, Coolatta and Smoothie were not as popular. Additionally, I observed that many of the customers paid using cash, however the majority

For my ethnography project, I decided to observe the Starbucks on Rockside Road in Independence, Ohio. My plan was to observe the subculture of Starbucks’ customers. A subculture is defined as a “structured social inequality or, more specifically, systematic inequalities between groups of people that arise as intended or unintended consequences of social processes and relationships.” My question was twofold. Does Starbucks appeal to certain social statuses? And if so, does Starbucks serve as another example of social inequality?

Starbucks positions itself as a place college students can hang out, study, write term papers and meet people. A Starbucks appeal to this consumer directly through introducing technology as soon as it comes available, focusing on social networking and actively cultivating a “cool” image. The young adult audience grows 4.6 percent each year (O’ Farrell).” However, the majority of the advertising is catered to Adults around the ages of 25 to 40. Adults seem to prefer a pick me up first thing in the morning on their way to work. Most Starbucks today have a drive thru to make it faster to grab and go.

Patrons like myself stood in line scanning the café for empty tables and available seats. The arrangement of the tables in this area allowed for more seating flexibility and appeared to lower social boundaries between customers while encouraging interaction between members of cliques and individual patrons. Armed with my laptop and cappuccino, my observations occurred from an empty table in the center of the café.

I chose to do the Starbucks Ethnography over all of the other options because Starbucks currently plays a large role in the social behaviors of today’s society. It has grown significantly from when it was first founded and is currently dominating the coffee market worldwide. Starbucks has become a social and cultural phenomenon because, “...it is at once a globalized consumer institution and a local place in which the mundane daily activities of sipping coffee, writing in journals, and conversing with friends are practiced” (Dickinson 7). Since I am in the age group that Starbucks is particularly trendy with (young adults), I already have some expectations for what the results of the ethnography will be. I have also lived in Orange County for my entire life, so I had some context as to which race would be more prevalent to the Starbucks I had gone to. I wish to explore the symbolic anthropology, which, “...focuses on understanding cultures by discovering and analyzing the symbols that are most important to their members” (Nanda 35). Understanding the symbolism behind coffee and Starbucks is important since it has multiple meanings and has become deeply ingrained within our culture.

Imaging if there was no more coffee in this world, how would you feel? Nowadays, coffee becomes an important part of people’s life. People who often work overtime, they drink coffee because caffeine can make you awake; people who have to wake up early in the morning, they drink coffee because instead of making breakfast, coffee is more convenient; people drink coffee during the free time, because it also tastes good.

1. In the beginning, how was Starbucks different from other coffee options for coffee drinkers in the United States? What activities and assets did Starbucks leverage to differentiate itself from competitors?

The survey questions mostly consisted of multiple choice questions, two open-ended questions, allowing written responses, and one qualitative response question. These questions were chosen to establish consumers differences and comparative perspective of Starbuck’s competitors, their daily usage of the social media platforms, the coffee shops visited frequently, and their opinions on consumers who frequent Starbucks. The survey contains one matrix/rating scale question ( Appendix I, Question 5) based on how important qualities are when choosing a coffee shop. Lastly, there were two demographic questions. The demographic questions are for a general understanding on consumers behavior based on age group and gender. For an overview of the survey, see appendix I.

I set out to find a place to begin my observations, not knowing what to fully expect, what I may find. So I decided to look around at what is close to my home that isn’t a place I frequent or have even visited at all. Then it came to me, the Starbucks that is only about a mile away is a perfect place for me to observe subjects that I would consider different from myself, seeing as how I consider such obscene prices for coffee ridiculous. Starbucks is a very popular chain of coffee vendors that describe their product as more about quality than what Americans are used to in typical coffee joints.

In general the coffeehouse industry in the United States was experiencing an increase in coffee consumption per capita due to the “Starbucks effect”. At this time Starbucks was operating approximately 20,000 stores in the United States and was living a fast expansion strategy worldwide.

Starbucks dates back from 1971 and is based in Seattle, Washington. The company was founded by Gordon Bowker, Jerry Baldwin and Zev Siegl and it

Coming up with development goals to, facilitate growth. Growth is an important aspect that determines the progress of an organization and how completive it should be.

This is evidence of people going to coffee shops with their electrical devices, and, more than likely, using the free wifi. Along with reifying the idea of what a coffee shop should be like, as was previously mentioned, the decorations in a coffee shop tend to be very non-intrusive and rather pleasant. This, in conjunction with the free wifi and electricity, makes the coffee shop an excellent destination for study. For this reason, there tend to be a large number of students who attend coffee

The demand for coffee shops is born from the increased number of individuals seeking coffee brewed outside of the home. This creates a larger market for coffee shops. An increased amount of people are starting their mornings off by purchasing breakfast and a cup of coffee away from home (Tuttle 2014), more people are enjoying gourmet coffee (NCA National Coffee Drinking Trends 2015 Infographic), and younger generations are demanding more coffee and coffee drinks from coffee shops (Tuttle 2014, S&D Coffee and Tea inc. 2014, Statista 2015). Coffee shops must compete with at home coffee, work place coffee, and teas for the caffeinated beverage markets (LN 2015). Demand for coffee within different markets varies, and provides competition for coffee shops. Single cup coffee makers, increasingly qualitative instant coffees, and gourmet beans are all sources of competition that could satisfy the demand for coffee. However, coffee shops are becoming more ingrained in social