Starbucks, Adipurush, and the Value of Introspection

Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker often visited Alfred Peet's coffee store in Seattle and bought coffee beans from him. Peet set up his first coffee store in 1966 because he was disgusted with the lousy and sludgy coffee available across the United States.?

Jerry, Zev, and Gordon took inspiration from Alfred and set up their first high-quality coffee store in 1971. They called it Starbucks. The shop quickly gained prominence in the local market. Howard Schultz, a visionary entrepreneur, joined the company as Director of Marketing in 1982. He took a trip to Milan in 1983 and experienced firsthand the delights of the Italian coffeehouse culture. He was amazed by the emotion that coffee generated in its patrons. It was the romance of the purest kind. Coffee shops had vibrant energy, and the place was always buzzing with patrons who flitted in and out seamlessly, sipping their expressos.??

Howard returned to Seattle and tried his best to convince the founders to replicate this experience in the States. They were hesitant and wanted to stay in the proven model of selling coffee and equipment and felt it was too risky to be the first company to create a coffee culture. Howard walked away from Starbucks to create his coffee chain, which was an instant hit and grew rapidly. The founder of Starbucks decided to sell the chain in 1987, and Howard Schultz purchased it. He opened the first Starbucks that sold coffee as a beverage on Pike Street in Seattle. Under his leadership, Starbucks experienced unprecedented growth and expanded rapidly. Starbucks became synonymous with premium coffee and ambiance by focusing on creating a distinctive customer experience and providing well-crafted coffee. Starbucks introduced Frappuccino blended beverages in 1995, thus cementing its dominance as a leader in the specialty coffee market.

By the late 1990s, Starbucks had become a global phenomenon, with more than 3000 stores. However, this incessant growth came at a steep cost. Both Howard and Starbucks forgot what they stood for when they began this journey.?Starbucks' initial success was built on providing customers with a unique coffeehouse experience, where they could savor high-quality, handcrafted beverages while enjoying a warm and inviting atmosphere. However, Starbucks embraced a model of standardization as it expanded at breakneck speed. This meant that all stores looked like cookie-cutter shops and lost any sense of individuality and local flavor.??

In its initial years, Starbucks had a maniacal focus on maintaining the quality of its coffee by sourcing the finest beans. As it rapidly expanded, maintaining the quality of its coffee became an increasingly challenging endeavor. Hence, they shifted focus from sourcing the finest Arabica beans to ensuring a steady supply, thus sacrificing quality.?Starbucks consistently demonstrated its commitment to social responsibility and ethical sourcing in its initial years. However, as Starbucks expanded rapidly, they ignored their famed values around sustainable practices, fair trade, and support for local coffee farmers. They developed a reputation of being a corporate behemoth that would crush local coffee cultures and independent coffee shops.?

The remarkable rise of Starbucks was accompanied by an equally significant decline, and Howard resigned as the C.E.O. before coming back in 2008.?

The Renaissance of Starbucks

When Howard Schultz returned, he came back with a simple agenda. He had to remind everyone at Starbucks what they stood for when he started the store. Their love for coffee, the energy he felt in the shops in Italy, and the maniacal focus on quality had to take first priority.?

He started by closing underperforming stores, thus allowing Starbucks to concentrate on quality rather than quantity. He also rolled out a comprehensive training program that focused on ensuring that the baristas fell in love with the art of coffee making. This helped reignite passion and commitment across all the stores. He also spearheaded Starbucks' foray into digital innovation. The Starbucks mobile app and the My Starbucks Rewards program revolutionized how customers interacted with the brand. He consciously designed Starbucks stores as a community hub where people could gather, work, and connect. Hence, he introduced free Wi-Fi in stores, inviting customers to linger longer and use the store as a virtual office.?

Finally, Starbucks renewed its commitment to ethical sourcing. They pledged to purchase coffee beans from farmers adhering to strict social and environmental standards. The company also launched the C.A.F.E. (Coffee and Farmer Equity) Practices program, which aimed to promote sustainable farming practices and improve the livelihoods of coffee farmers. Schultz extended Starbucks' social impact beyond the coffee supply chain by championing initiatives such as the Starbucks College Achievement Plan, which provided educational opportunities to employees.?

The story of Starbucks is remarkable because very few companies can arrest the seemingly terminal decline that Starbucks faced. Howard reminded the organization about the purpose of their existence. He relentlessly focused on core values, digital transformation, and social responsibility to reenergize the company.?

The Phenomenon Called Adipurush

You are right if you are wondering what the resurgence of a famous coffee brand has to do with an Indian movie loosely based on the Ramayan. Companies are the manifestation of the collective consciousness of their founders and employees. That's why Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Google, and Oracle may compete in the same cloud computing market but approach it entirely differently. When Howard Schultz wanted to revive Starbucks, he took inspiration from its past. He understood and embraced the original values which made the company successful.?

Cultures are also the manifestation of the collective consciousness of individuals who participate in the society. Most of us never put in the effort to actually read the spiritual texts that laid the foundation bedrock of our culture. Instead, we prefer to reinterpret the text to suit our current situations and circumstances. That is precisely what has happened when it comes to Adipurush.?

Sanatana Dharma, often mistaken as Hinduism, has been experiencing a resurgence over the past few years. A culture that has been colonized for the past few centuries is finding its voice, and we naturally look at our past for guidance and inspiration. Our itihasas - loosely translated as history, namely Ramayana and Mahabharata, are rich with stories highlighting the role of Sri Rama and Sri Krishna, who shaped the consciousness of the Indian subcontinent.?

Hence, remaking and delivering them to the masses is a big business. You can see that in the business of both literature and cinema. When the makers of Adipurush had to decide on how to represent the Ramayan, they chose to depict characters and events as mirrored in modern society. Hence, the golden city of Lanka became gothic black. The rakshasas became orcs, and the vanaras resembled characters from Planet of the Apes. The language of the movie resembled those of social media influencers who sometimes spit out vile garbage to gain views. The reaction to the film is just as telling as the movie itself. The language used by many of the so-called critiques to gain laughs and views is why we deserve the Adipurush we got. You can dive deeper into all of these ideas by watching the following video by Acharya Prashant.?

Most people who critiqued the film used the T.V. series by Ramanand Sagar as a reference. Very few people have bothered to read the actual Valmiki Ramayan to understand the true nature of Sri Rama. It's much easier to take the idea of Sri Rama and superimpose it in our current scenario. I highly recommend you watch these videos to get at a glimpse of the immensity that is Sri Ram.?

When we talk about reviving Sanatana Dharma, we imagine a political and a social revolution. However, that can only happen when we have a spiritual resurgence in our country, and that is only possible when we read out scriptures. The ideas shared by Sri Rama and Sri Krishna are immensely powerful, but implementing them to create a beautiful society requires us to reexamine almost every aspect of our lives.?

We are right to be extremely upset at Adipurush. The way they have treated the most beautiful text of Sanatana Dharma is shabby. However, the movie is simply pointing a mirror to our relationship with our spiritual texts. Since we have ignored reading them, they have become fodder for the publishing and entertainment industries.?

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