Customer : For Partners

Singing Our Hearts Out

James Hing — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Did you know that there is a Starbucks Chorus? It was founded in 1997 by Starbucks partners (employees) as a way to give back to the Seattle community. The group debuted at the city’s annual Great Figgy Pudding Street Corner Caroling Competition fundraiser and delighted audiences with their fun, festive and unique take on holiday classics.

Today, the Starbucks Chorus has grown to more than 30 members who share a passion for music and caroling. As we have grown in size and popularity, supporting local causes continues to be the cornerstone of our holiday tradition. We continue to perform annually at Figgy Pudding and, for the past 11 years, we’ve won the competition’s Figlanthropy Award, raising the most money to help the Pike Market Food Bank. This year, we were able to raise $30,000 thanks to the generous donations of friends, fellow partners and customers.

Our partners took their passion and created a special tradition. The Chorus loves what it does, and even more so, loves sharing that passion with the community every year. We invite you to take a further look at what we do.

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The Power of an Hour

Rodney H — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 16:00:00 GMT

Each of us knows how to make the best of an hour, particularly when every minute counts. An hour might be all it takes to get the laundry done, to squeeze in a workout, to cram for a test or a presentation or to generally lead us closer to achieving our own personal goals.

But that brief unit of time can also make a world of difference in the life of another person or in the health of a community. For Starbucks second annual Global Month of Service, we challenge you to harness the power of the hour to help your community thrive.

We’re allotted 24 of them every day. To make a difference, it can take as little as an hour. Read on for five ways volunteers will be supporting their communities this month in just an hour.

1. On April 25 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, ten volunteers are gathering at Crossroads Mall for an hour to assemble care packages to send to our troops overseas.

2. On March 31 in Olympia, Washington, a group of 300 REI-hosted volunteers will spend an hour picking up litter and fixing up trails at Priest Point Park.

3. In Chagrin Falls, Ohio on April 19, volunteers will spend an hour collecting food for the Chagrin Falls Park Community Center that will be distributed to families in need in Geauga County.

4. On April 19 in Nanaimo, British Columbia, 120 volunteers will work with the Downtown Nanaimo Business Improvement Association for one hour to clean up downtown Nanaimo.

5. Starting at 6pm on April 28 in Yuma, Arizona, volunteers will each walk for an hour for a 24 hour-long relay to raise money for cancer research.

Be prepared – if you haven’t volunteered before, your first hour might inspire you to see the impact that a few additional hours can make. Visit the Starbucks Community Service website to find volunteer opportunities in your area. To date, we’ve collectively donated more than 100,000 hours to communities around the world. With your help, it won’t be long before we reach our goal of contributing one million hours per year by 2015. Now that’s time well-spent.

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Show Your Favorite Starbucks Store Some Love

sbx_bean — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 21:04:00 GMT

Your favorite store means a lot to you, and you’ve told us here that you’d like there to be a way to show appreciation for your baristas, the quality beverages they make and how hard they work each day to create a great experience for you. We want you to be able to provide that recognition too! We have some ideas on how to show your local store some love, and would love to hear your thoughts.

• What if you could send a virtual or paper postcard with a message to your store?
• What if you could post your story to a website and your store and everyone else could read it?
• What if you could “like”, comment or review your store on our mobile app?

Tell us what you think about these ideas and share with us some of yours!

Inspired by your ideas:

Barista Appreciation Day
posted by MamaMcCarl

Join us for Global Month of Service

Rodney H — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 20:02:00 GMT

I’m Rodney Hines and I’m the director of community investments here at Starbucks.

I’m pleased to let you know that as part of Starbucks 40th anniversary celebrations, we’ve designated April as the Global Month of Service. Starbucks has a history of volunteering and supporting communities around the world, and we thought it would be fitting to have hundreds of community service projects taking place as part of our celebration festivities.

We are inviting both partners (employees) and customers to participate in local community service projects during this time. This may be weeding at your local park, painting a mural, sorting food at a local food bank or tutoring at a local school.

We have six large community service events planned to take place in the following cities: London (April 5), Los Angeles (April 9), Toronto (April 16). New York (April 23), Seattle (April 30), and Shanghai (April 25). These large-scale events will have many community service projects taking place within same the neighborhood on the same day.

In addition to the six marquee major community service events, many of our partners (employees) are creating projects in their local communities; they welcome you to take part.

You can check out and RSVP for a community service event in your community by visiting our Starbucks.com/community service. Volunteer spots are filling up quickly, so we encourage you to sign up today.

Come celebrate our 40 years by helping address some of the local needs in your community through service!

Inspired by your ideas:

Starbucks as a a base for community volunteers
posted by dorothy4PEACE

Starbucks should volunteer in the communities they're a part of
posted by Mizeral

100 of Your Ideas Launched with More to Come

sbx_bean — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 17:29:00 GMT

Thank you for participating on MyStarbucksIdea.com. We have picked up momentum on launching your ideas and are pleased to announce that 100 of your ideas are now a reality, with more on the way.

My Starbucks Idea is supported by 40 Starbucks partners, subject matter experts representing different areas of the business who look at the website regularly and then share back to the teams the most popular ideas as well as some of those great “sleeper” ideas. Your ideas are considered and we value your input into bettering the Starbucks Experience.

There is also an exclusive site for Starbucks partners (employees). You’ll see some partner ideas included in the list below too. Keep the ideas coming! We’re listening.

#100 – Buy a Friend a Beverage Remotely
#99 – Starbucks Card Benefits at Licensed Stores
#98 – Bring Back Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate
#97 – Starbucks Reserve
#96 – Venti Stainless Steel Mug
#95 – Reusable Cup Sleeve
#94 – Mobile App for Blackberry
#93 – Dome Lid Button on Register (partner idea)
#92 – Wireless Headsets for Drive Thru Stores (partner idea)
#91 – Recycling
#90 – Coconut Mocha Frappuccino
#89 – Extend the Treat Receipt
#88 – Sell Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee
#87 – Improve Chocolate Chunk Cookie Recipe
#86 – Serve More Snack Food (popcorn)
#85- My Rewards in Canada
#84 – Free Wi-Fi
#83 – Special Occasion Starbucks Cards
#82 – Mini Cookies
#81 – Cold Cup Replacement Straws
#80 – VIA® Ready Brew at Grocery Stores
#79 – Bring Back Reusable Cold Cup
#78 – Better Incentives for Personal Mugs
#77 – Expand Mobile Payment Starbucks Card
#76 – Fat Free/Sugar-free Frappuccinos
#75 – Decaf Frappuccinos
#74 – Stop Wasting so Many Pastries – National Donation Program
#73 – Computer Wallpaper
#72 – Eco-conscious Starbucks Card
#71 – LED Lighting
#70 – Bring Back Molasses Cookie
#69 – Bold Coffee Available All Day
#68 – Teach Baristas to say “Thank You” in Sign Language
#67 – Post Store Hours Online
#66 – Dark Cherry Mocha
#65 – Brewed Decaf coffee Available in the Afternoon
#64 – Open a Store in Sweden
#63 – iPhone App in Canada & UK
#62 – Loose Leaf Tea for Retail Sale
#61 – New Whole Grain Wrap
#60 – Offer Healthier Treats
#59 – Sell the Earl Grey Tea Bags
#58 – Extend (RED) Starbucks Card Beyond December 2009
#57 – Frequency Reward
#56 – Make Gold Card Gold
#55 – (RED) Gold Card
#54 – Tea Refills for Rewards Program
#53 – More Reusable Venti Cold Tumblers
#52 – Decaf Starbucks VIA Ready Brew
#51 – MSI Inbox
#50 – POS e-learning (partner idea)

To see the the first 50 ideas launched click here:

A Note from Starbucks Access Alliance

Leigh B — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:52:00 GMT

Hi there,

I am an Idea Partner here at Starbucks working in the marketing department. I do have another role here in the company and that is being the co-president of the Starbucks Access Alliance (SAA). The SAA is a great network of people here at Starbucks whose mission is to promote equal access for all partners and customers. We connect with each other around disability issues and keep the concept of accessibility and universal design at the forefront of our daily work.

As I was going through the site and saw the Your Employees idea, it got me thinking about how proud I am to work for Starbucks. This isn’t the first time I have heard a story similar to this one. What really strikes me is that this company has a lot of soul and simply sees people as human beings.

We hear about a variety of groups that like to meet in our stores. Everyday we are trying to improve their Starbucks experience and implement a more universal store design. Take our lowered hand off planes as an example. It makes picking up your drink easier for everyone, including people who use wheelchairs, people of short stature, and the baristas handing you your drink too.

Last month each of the stores received a Braille and Large Print version of the “Make It Your Drink” brochure. They are in every one of our stores across the U.S.

I must say that I am very proud to work at Starbucks and I am excited to see what we will do in the future. We know we have done some great things but there is still a long way to go…

Thanks again for sharing!

Leigh

Creating community with Farmers in Costa Rica

sbx_kand — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 18:03:00 GMT

Through this site and other conversations partners and customer have asked us how we connect with coffee farmers in origin country. Since 2001, Starbucks has partnered with Earthwatch Institute in Boston, MA. Earthwatch is an incredible organization and if you don’t know who they are you should check out their website at www.earthwatch.org.

Since 2007, we’ve been partnering with Earthwatch on a project in the Tarrazu Region of Costa Rica called “Sustainable Coffee Farming”. Through this project, we have the ability to send a limited number of partners and customers to Costa Rica each year to meet farmers and work along side them on their farms. Our partners and customers get to ask the questions that they’ve always wanted to ask of a coffee farmer, they get to see how coffee farmers are impacted by C.A.F.E. Practices and many other certification programs.

This is the second year of a three-year project and so far we’ve gathered a significant amount of data. This project is looking at many aspects of growing sustainable coffee and environmental impacts of growing coffee. It also connects us to our broader community and gives farmers a chance to learn about what happens to their coffee once it leaves the mill. Farmers, customers and partners end their two week adventure together with a big family-style dinner where everyone gets an opportunity to tell their story. Some Farmers stand up and say (after seeing pictures of their coffee on display in a Starbucks store) things like “I had no idea people took so much time to display coffee so carefully,” “I had no idea a customer would really care how I was treated,” etc.

You can read what customers and partners say about this amazing, often life-changing, experience by reading their blog at www.earthwatch2.org/starbucks.

We will use this forum (and others) to tell you more specifics about what we’ve learned in conjunction with Earthwatch about sustainable coffee farming practices at the end of this project.

This year we ran an essay contest to select eight partners from Starbucks in the U.S. and certain International Markets to join us on this great project. We also ran a sweepstakes online to select 20 customers from the U.S. and Canada to participate in August and September.

Stay tuned in 2009 to learn more about Earthwatch.