You & Starbucks: It's bigger than coffee

Being on a college campus, I have noticed the popularity of starbucks coffee more than ever before. Whether on the oval or in my 8:30am math lecture, I see their product everywhere. Fortunately, I am able to notice more than just a venti cup of coffee. Starbucks serves more than espresso and coffee cake; they serve an ehtical, local and global community. When visiting their website, http://www.starbucks.com/, one may mistake the popular coffee chain for a community service campaign. (Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining!) The first thing that a person sees centered on their website are words such as "volunteer" and "community" in large, bold print. The company claims that together the customer and Starbucks are "bigger than coffee." It's inspiring and quite refreshing to see that a company of this size is working to send a greater message in today's economy. Although this has become a common theme amoung a handful of companies today, it's nice to see Starbucks taking such a personal approach. They work to encourage the public to become more involved citizens by volunteering in their community and have made a larger effort to ensure that their products are natural and environmentally friendly. Starbucks advertises their message in their stores, online and even on their products so that their customers and ultimately the general public are able to see the efforts that they are making to increase the human experience. Service in the local and global community is most definitely the major organizational value that Starbucks is working to promote.