Starbucks has been very visible in my life over the last week. I thought I'd share the Jumble of comments that have been made:

1. At a recent chamber lunch, the speaker, Leslie Ungar, Electric Impulse, asked the question, "What does Starbucks sell?" The topic of her speech was "Finding Your Competitive Edge" and so although we wanted to yell out "coffee" we knew that probably wasn't the right answer. "They sell the Starbucks Experience," she told us. People go to Starbucks for the experience of sitting in comfortable chairs, reading the paper, being seen by the who's who of your town and, oh by the way, drinking a cup of wickedly strong, outrageously expensive coffee. If they just sold coffee, would they be able to get $4 a pop? Nope. So Starbucks is selling an experience.

2. So then I'm attending my son's first Swing Choir performance of the year and at the reception following I run into a father of one of the kids. He had a life altering experience that caused him to move to another city and I was anxious to see how he was. "What have you been doing?" I asked. "Working at Starbucks." He seems to enjoy the experience but recently worked at a brand new store that has a drive up window. He was appalled at the addition of the window. "It takes away from the experience," he told me. "It makes us just another fast food chain."

Well, I thought, I wonder if the President knows.

3. So then I'm reading the latest Fortune Magazine and in the regular column "First How I Work" who is featured? Jim Donald, CEO and President of Starbucks.

Freaky, isn't it?

Joe details how he spent his time in July:

11% strategic thinking
17% Meeting with employees
28% visiting stores and roasting plants
44% talking with direct reports

When traveling he'll visit 10 stores in a day.

I must say, having worked for many presidents at Pearle Vision over 20 years, I have never known a President/CEO to be that in touch with his stores and his customers.

So how long before he gets the message that a Starbucks drive through takes away from the Starbucks Experience.

OR DOES IT? That's where you come in. What do you think Starbucks is selling? I'm sure you've been there, heck, you might be one of the regulars.

Why do you buy from Starbucks?

Take it one step further - why do your customers buy from you????