Today was the annual Starbucks shareholder’s meeting, held at 10:00 AM in McCaw Hall in Seattle. I thought I’d share my recap. I had a great time. One thing I thoroughly enjoy about the annual meeting is that it’s a chance to say hello to many friendly faces whom I otherwise rarely get to see. There is a lot of socializing that goes on in the hallway area before the actual meeting starts and numerous Starbucks displays showing off products, beverages, and a chance to eat lots of food and order beverages too. I’ll come back to that aspect of the meeting a little later.
First off, the big news from today: the huge news was the announcement of a forthcoming tea called Oprah Chai Tea which will be available at both Starbucks stores and Teavana stores near Mother’s Day this year. I’m nearly sure Howard said it would show up in stores a couple of weeks before Mother’s Day. The proceeds from the new chai will go to benefit a small number of good-cause organizations aimed at improving the education and lives of children and young adults. Proceeds will benefit the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Foundation, Girls Inc., the US Dream Academy, and the National Cares Mentoring Foundation.
The Oprah Chai too will be an all new offering. Oprah helped work with Teavana tea blend masters to create a bold and spicy chai. There was a sample of the new tea in the goody bag that we got after the meeting. Also, Starbucks partners were sampling the new tea towards the end of the meeting so I did get to try it. I’m no Chai expert, but I did thoroughly enjoy it. We got to try it both sweetened and unsweetened.
I want to circle back to the part of the event where a shareholder can walk around, look at displays, and socialize with others. This is usually the hour or so before everyone goes into the auditorium for the actual meeting. I ran into one of my favorite store managers, Jesse, as well as two other friendly partners:
Among the many displays that one could walk through, I saw this interesting sign. Who knew that Starbucks has sold over 10,000,000 La Boulange chocolate croissants! That’s a lot of chocolate croissants!
Starbucks executive Adam Brotman presented on the success of all things digital, including the enormous success of the Starbucks card. In the thirteen years since the Starbucks card was first introduced, more than 18 billion dollars has been loaded onto cards. This past holiday season, one in eight Americans received a Starbucks card as a gift. The Starbucks card has been launched in 28 countries where Starbucks operates, and in the U.S. the Starbucks card accounts for 35% of the U.S. tender.
I’m looking forward to your thoughts from this 2014 Starbucks shareholder meeting roundup!