Apple's Steve Jobs asked Starbucks' Howard Schultz to fire his management team

Schultz is a familiar face at the helm of the Seattle-founded brand, having served three separate tenures in the corner office. The first time was in 1987, when he and local investors bought the brand, until 2000, when he stepped back to focus on global expansion as chief strategist.

His second stint took place from 2008 to 2018, then a final return in 2022 for one year.

The timing of Schultz's two second appearances is significant: 2008 was a year when the company was in crisis and badly in need of a turnaround, and the final return came after the coronavirus pandemic, when the ship had needs to be stabilized.

But although Schultz was repeatedly used as a safe pair of hands for the brand worth more than $92 billion, he always relied on other notables. Fortune 500 CEO. And it was during his tenure in 2008 that he first met Jobs and sought his advice on navigating the board he had inherited.

Speaking on the 'Acquired' podcast released last week, Schultz recounted the first contact he had with Jobs: “There was an upcoming meeting planned for Starbucks and Apple around mobile ordering and payment and other things. I met Steve on a phone call – I’d never met him – I was talking to him on the phone and telling him what’s going on.

Jobs invited Schultz, who was headquartered in Washington, to Apple's offices in Cupertino, California, to discuss the matter in person. At the time, Apple's offices were based on the now-famous “Infinite Loop” campus, comprised of six buildings spread around an oval courtyard.

Jobs was famous for walking around this courtyard – a habit now adopted by current Apple CEO Tim Cook, who is known for strolling around the circular headquarters at Apple Park.

“[Jobs] I had a weakness for walking,” Schultz said. “He would come out and walk around the building. And so I went over there and basically we walked around. I just told him all my problems, everything that was happening.

“He just stopped me and said, 'This is what you have to do.' He looked at me and said, “You go back to Seattle and fire everyone on your management team. » I thought he was joking.

Schultz said he pushed back: “I said what are you talking about 'firing everyone?' He said, “I just told you. Damn, shoot all these people. He felt like he was yelling in my face: “Fire all these people, that’s what I’ll do.” I said, “Steve, I can't fire all these people, who's going to do the work?”

“He said, 'I promise you in six months, maybe nine, they will all be gone. He was right. With the exception of one, the attorney general, they had all left.

Jobs and Schultz met again, with the former being correct in his prediction.

“I've spoken to him since, we were on stage together at an event and I told him, 'They're all gone.' He said, “Well, you're six months, nine months late, think of everything you could have done.”

Missed opportunity

As the world's largest coffee chain, with over 32,000 stores worldwide, Starbucks has clearly made the most of the opportunities it has been given.

However, there are a few decisions that Schultz regrets, chief among them not trademarking the phrase “caffe latte” – often shortened to simply latte – in America.

While the origins of latte, which essentially involves mixing milk with coffee, can be traced in one way or another to Europe as early as the 17th century, the drink was standardized in America in the 1970s with the help from Starbucks.

“We introduced the latte to America,” Schultz added. “We have not registered a trademark. We trademarked Frappuccino later, but we didn't trademark Caffe Latte, I wasn't thinking about it.