The CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, has released an open letter to respectfully ask Starbucks customers to “no longer bring firearms into our stores or outdoor seating areas”1. This action prompted gun enthusiasts to stage “Starbucks Appreciation Day”, during which they descended on Starbucks while armed.2 At the same time, a group called Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America urges mothers to show up at stores weekly to tell customers about the company’s lack of a gun ban3. Being characterized as both pro and anti-gun, Schultz struggles to find the right solution to please both sides of the customers and insisted that both sides of and insists on siding with neither.
Starbucks will not be putting up a no-gun sign as it does with smoking. Starbucks is simply asking customers to honor their request about guns but will still serve and smile to those who wish to enter the coffee store with their guns. This new request of Starbucks has caused some gun control advocates to “vow they’ll get their java someplace else” 3 but the overall result should be beneficial to the store. It gives responsible gun owners a chance to respect their request and allows the rest of the customers to enjoy their beverage in a more comfortable environment. Even though Starbucks may lose the loyalty of some customers, it has established its point of difference. This point of difference has nothing to do with the coffee it sells but rather the company’s views on the presence of guns in their stores. With this point of difference, customers holding similar values will lean more towards Starbucks and therefore raise Starbucks’ profit in the long-run as customers are given a sense of safety in their stores.
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz urges customers to not bring guns to cafes
1 Schultz, Howards. An Open Letter from Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks Coffee. Starbucks.com. September 17th 2013. September 22nd 2013.
2 ”The Right to Bear Arms is not Absolute.” The Economist. September 18th 2013. September 22nd 2013.
3 Jargon, Julie. “Starbucks Declare Guns Unwelcome but doesn’t Ban Them.” The Wall Street Journal. September 18th 2013. September 22nd 2013.
4 ”Starbucks CEO Say Guns Not Welcomed in Stores” USA Today. September 18th 2013. September 22nd 2013.
5 ”Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz Urges Costumers to Not Bring Guns to Cafes” CBS News. September 18th 2013. September 22nd 2013.