missio

With the economy on the way down, businesses are having to make changes. From the small business on the corner of Arlington and 14th to the major corporations across the nation. In fact, CNN has a forecast for a US recession as their top story today (link). But there’s one company that I have close ties to that I think is doing an incredible job of preparing for the economic downturn. That company, of course is Starbucks. So what are they doing that makes their story unique?

They are cutting back. And we are loving it. They are painting their cutbacks in a good light. They have switched logos on their cups to a single color (saving money on ink). They are switching to a single coffee all day instead of different roasts (saving tons of money on shipping costs and the coffee bean process). These seem like small changes, and they are, but when you multiply these small changes across the gazillion stores they have, it has huge economic implications.

And on top of all this, they are making us, the customer, love every step of the way. They are framing it in a “get-back-to-basics” scheme, and swaying us to believe that they are getting to the roots of coffee, while at the same time eliminating choices and therefore, costs.

Don’t get me wrong: I love the idea. I’m a tremendous fan of coffee, and I’m thinking I’m going to love this new idea. I’m just saying that the whole scheme is genius on Starbucks’ behalf. And the Church has a lot to learn from them.

For those of you who haven’t seen what’s going on, check out their website here: link