Why Starbucks is Actually a Bank

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Among fast food chains, Starbucks is unique in the way that it dominates mainstream culture. Not only in the language it's trained us all to use, tall, grande, venti, etc., but also in the scrutiny it receives. No other cup design can command such controversy. No other change of store policy gets so much media attention, and no other drink has taken on such a life of its own as the pumpkin spice latte.

在快餐连锁店中，星巴克独具特色，因为它主宰了主流文化。它不仅训练我们使用的语言，如小杯、中杯、大杯等，还受到了极大的关注。没有其他的杯子设计能引起如此大的争议。没有其他的店铺政策变更会得到这么多的媒体关注，也没有其他的饮品像南瓜香料拿铁那样拥有如此独特的生命力。

Mocked, stereotyped, and yet still highly adored, Starbucks is known everywhere as the coffee shop, almost in a league of its own. But what you might not know is that, viewed from a financial perspective, Starbucks is far more than a seller of expensive drinks. Starbucks has become a bank. Whether you know it or not, Starbucks might already be your bank. Its customers have lent the company around $1.6 billion. In some ways, Starbucks is a technology company, competing favorably with PayPal. Even some traditional banks are fearful of what it might do next.

星巴克被嘲笑和模式化，但仍然深受喜爱，并被公认为咖啡店中的佼佼者。但是你可能不知道的是，从财务角度来看，星巴克远不止是一家卖昂贵饮料的公司。星巴克已经成为了一家银行。无论你是否知道，星巴克可能已经是你的银行。它的客户已经向公司借出了约16亿美元。从某些方面来说，星巴克是一家科技公司，与PayPal竞争优势。甚至一些传统的银行也担心它可能会做出什么样的举措。

Why? How did Starbucks, behind all of our backs, become a bank?

为什么？星巴克是如何在我们背后成为银行的？

Arguably, the first genius idea in Starbucks history was to carefully craft an experience. Its physical locations would be just as much an attraction as its coffee. More than just a restaurant though, each coffee house was designed to act as a third place in our lives, something that would complement both the rigid formal setting that is the workplace and our private homes. It was well timed.

可以说，在星巴克的历史上，第一个天才点子就是精心打造一种体验。星巴克的实体店不仅仅是一家餐厅，它们的设计旨在成为我们生活中的第三个场所，既能补充工作场所这种严格正式的环境，也能和我们的私人家居相互补充。这个想法时机恰好。

As it grew during the 90s and early 2000s, the number of shared spaces which served a communal, social, inclusive role were in decline. Fewer malls, for example, were being built, and many sat empty or forgotten. At the same time, many people were becoming self-employed or had begun working from home, creating the need for a place with good Wi-Fi, ample caffeine, and air conditioning. Tacky as it may sound, Starbucks was also supposed to be friendly in a small-town neighborhood kind of way, encouraging its employees to get to know regulars, make small talk, and personalize each cup with its customers name, misspelled as they may be.

在90年代和21世纪初，随着发展，扮演社交、社区和包容的共享空间数量逐渐减少。例如，建造的购物中心越来越少，许多则变得废弃无人问津。与此同时，许多人开始自谋职业或者在家工作，需要一个带有良好Wi-Fi信号、充足咖啡和空调的场所。尽管听起来有些俗套，但是星巴克也被认为是一个友好的小镇邻居般的地方，鼓励员工与常客交谈、打趣，并且用客户名字为每个杯子上个性化指定，即使名字拼写错误。

Besides these reasons, Starbucks grew thanks to its great branding, remarkable consistency, and yes, arguably the taste of its coffee. Most impressively, it expanded very rapidly without franchising. The company believed from the very beginning that it needed to exert very tight control over every process and facet of its presentation. It was also very good at scouting locations, so much so that there's a so-called frappuccino effect in real estate, a significant increase in nearby property prices when a new location opens. According to the CEO of Zillow, in the time a normal home has appreciated by 65%, one near a Starbucks location will have appreciated by 96%. This is likely due in part to the perceived value of its convenience, but also in large part to Starbucks' ability to find up-and-coming neighborhoods before the rest of the market.

除了这些原因外，星巴克之所以壮大，要归功于它的出色品牌形象、卓越的一致性，以及可口的咖啡味道（这也是一个争议点）。最令人印象深刻的是，星巴克在没有加盟的情况下快速扩张。公司从一开始就认为，需要对其每一个过程和方面进行非常严密的控制。它还非常擅长寻找地点，以至于当一个新位置开业时，周边房价会出现所谓的“星冰乐效应”。根据Zillow的CEO所说，在一个普通家庭房子的升值周期中，选择靠近星巴克的房子会升值96%，而不是普通房子的65%。这可能在一定程度上归因于其便利性所带来的感知价值，但也很大程度上归因于星巴克在市场其他地方之前发现逐渐兴起的社区的能力。

The very first location opened in Seattle in 1971. There were 84 locations in 1990, 677 in 1995, the first international in Japan during 1996, 3501 by the turn of the millennium, and 16,680 in 2008. At its peak, over seven new stores were opening each day.

该公司于1971年在西雅图开设了第一家店。1990年有84个店铺，1995年有677个店铺，1996年在日本开设了第一家国际店，到2000年为止有3501家店铺，到2008年有16,680家店铺。在高峰期，每天新开业七家以上的店铺。

Around this time, however, Starbucks began showing signs that it had grown too big too fast. Some in the company attributed these issues to the wider global recession, but it was hard to ignore the increasing competition from McDonald's, the concern about oversaturation, and rising customer dissatisfaction. This culminated when Howard Schultz, a board member at the time, wrote a brutally honest internal memo that was somehow leaked to the press. The email openly questions its focus on efficiency and speed over quality, and suggests, politely, that the company had lost its magic.

然而，在这个时期，星巴克开始显示出它已经变得太大太快的迹象。公司内部的一些人把这些问题归因于全球经济衰退，但很难忽视麦当劳不断增加的竞争、过度饱和的担忧和消费者的不满情绪。最终，公司董事会成员霍华德·舒尔茨写了一封非常坦诚的内部备忘录，但这封备忘录却被泄露给了媒体。这封邮件公开质疑了公司过于追求效率和速度而不注重质量的重心，并礼貌地表达出公司丧失了其魔力的观点。

It was time for a change if Starbucks was to continue being Starbucks it needed to do something drastic, and that it did. Schultz, who wrote the leaked memo, was effectively the founder of Modern Starbucks, taking over the brand in 1982, back when it was just four little coffee houses in the Pacific Northwest. He stepped down in 2000 to devote his time to international expansion with a focus on China. But in the rocky times of 2008, Schultz was asked to return to the position of CEO.

如果星巴克想继续做星巴克，就需要做出一些激进的改变，这是时候做出改变了。而它确实做到了。谢尔茨是那封泄漏备忘录的作者，实际上也是现代星巴克的创始人。1982年，当星巴克只是太平洋西北部的四家小咖啡馆时，谢尔茨接手了这个品牌。他在2000年辞职，以便将时间专注于国际扩张，并专注于中国。但在2008年的不稳定时期，谢尔茨被要求回到CEO的职位。

He inherited the company's worst three-month performance in its history, and was tasked with guiding it back to its glory days. After just one month in his new role, Schultz made a drastic decision. Things had gotten so sloppy, he needed to make a big gesture to reinvigorate the company. He decided to close every single store for one day at an estimated cost of $6 million in lost profit.

他继承了公司历史上最糟糕的三个月表现，并被委托将其带回辉煌时期。在他担任新角色仅一个月后，舒尔茨做出了一个极端的决定。事情变得如此混乱，他需要做出一个大的姿态来重振公司。他决定关闭每个店铺一天，预计将损失600万美元的利润。

That day, its 135,000 baristas at the time were reminded of the very basics, how to pour coffee, please customers, and pay attention to the details. Later that year, a similar all-hands-on-board meeting was called at the corporate level. 10,000 of its partners were flown to New Orleans for an additional $30 million, where they were updated during a three-day conference.

那一天，星巴克公司的13.5万名咖啡师被提醒要重视基础技能，如倒咖啡、取悦顾客，并注重细节。同年晚些时候，公司级别的类似全员参与会议被召开。1万名星巴克合作伙伴被花费3000万美元飞往新奥尔良，在为期三天的会议中进行更新。

And then came the really hard part. Starbucks closed 600 stores in 2008, followed by 300 more in 2009. It did, on the other hand, continue offering free online college to every employee working more than 20 hours a week, in partnership with Arizona State University. Among quick-serve restaurants, jobs at Starbucks are highly coveted, and see lower-than-average turnover.

然后来到了真正困难的部分。星巴克在2008年关闭了600家门店，接着在2009年又关闭了300家。然而，它继续与亚利桑那州立大学合作，为每个每周工作超过20小时的员工提供免费的在线大学课程。在快餐行业中，星巴克的工作岗位备受追捧，并且有低于平均水平的员工流失率。

One of the less high-profile changes was an increasing focus on technology. This began with the introduction of the Starbucks card. For the uninitiated, the way it works now in 2021 is this. Instead of paying with cash or credit card, you can also add money to your Starbucks account. Then you can pay with the app on your phone, giving you twice the number of stars, which let you redeem free drinks. While this may not sound all that revolutionary, Starbucks is the most popular restaurant rewards app, allowing it to do what others can't. Because of its size and customer loyalty, people are not afraid to keep decent chunks of their money in their Starbucks account, knowing they'll use it eventually.

其中一项不太引人注目的变化是对科技的日益关注。这始于星巴克卡的推出。对于没有接触过的人来说，2021年的使用方式是这样的。除了用现金或信用卡支付外，你还可以将钱添加到你的星巴克账户中。然后你可以用手机上的应用程序进行支付，并获得两倍星星，让你可以兑换免费的饮料。虽然这听起来并不是很革命性，但是星巴克是最受欢迎的餐厅奖励应用程序，使它能够做到其他人所不能。由于其规模和客户忠诚度，人们不害怕将相当大的一部分钱放在他们的星巴克账户中，知道他们最终会用掉它。

41% of US and Canadian users pay with their Starbucks card. At the end of 2019, users held a collective $1.5 billion in balances. To put this in perspective, 85% of all US banks have less than $1 billion in total assets. Customers will, of course, eventually exchange this money for coffee, but in the meantime, unknowingly provide Starbucks with a $1.5 billion loan at 0% interest. That's money Starbucks could simply invest in the market, earning free money from the generosity of its users, or spend on building more stores.

41%的美国和加拿大消费者使用星巴克卡付款。截至2019年底，用户的余额总计达到了15亿美元。以85%的美国银行总资产低于10亿美元作为对比，这个数字相当惊人。当然，顾客最终会将这些钱换成咖啡，但在此期间，他们无意中为星巴克提供了近15亿美元的零利率贷款。这是星巴克可以轻松投资市场，从用户的慷慨中赚取免费资金，或者用于建立更多门店的资金。

Actually, it's even better than that. About 10% of this money will be forgotten or lost and never used, known in the industry as breakage. But here's the thing, Starbucks is not a bank legally speaking. With only a few exceptions, Starbucks balance cannot be withdrawn for cash, only coffee, allowing it to bypass financial regulation, and use deposited money however it likes. It doesn't, for example, have to keep a certain amount of cash ready on hand in case of mass withdrawals. If it wanted to...

实际上，情况要更好一些。大约有10%的这些钱会被遗忘或丢失，永远不会被使用，这在行业中被称为未使用的余额。但是现在问题来了，法律上来说，星巴克并不是一家银行。除了极少数情况外，星巴克的余额不能被提现，只能用来购买咖啡，从而让其避开财务监管，并自由支配存入的钱。例如，它不需要保留一定量的现金以备大规模提款。假设它想要……

Starbucks has all the ingredients necessary to build a fully fledged currency, or partner with other brands to create a widely available mobile payment system. Customers already use Starbucks gift cards as the next best thing to money. It's the go-to gift to someone you don't know super well but don't want to give cash. It's sorta liquid, not just because it can be converted to coffee, but because you can be reasonably sure anyone will have use for it, making it an almost universal intermediary. All this is very scary to regular old banks.

星巴克拥有构建完整的货币所需的所有要素，或与其他品牌合作建立广泛的移动支付系统。顾客已经将星巴克礼品卡作为与现金相似的全新付款方式。它是赠送给不是很熟悉但不想给现金的人的最佳礼物选择。它具有流动性，不仅因为可以兑换咖啡，而且因为您可以合理地相信任何人都会使用它，使其成为几乎普遍的中介货币。这一切对普通银行来说非常可怕。

The CEO of South Korea's third largest financial group was quoted calling Starbucks an unregulated bank, not a mere coffee company. It's anyone's guess what Starbucks will do next, or what its ultimate goals are. In the meantime though, no one can say it hasn't kept up with the times, or managed an incredible comeback.

韩国第三大金融集团的CEO称星巴克不是一家仅仅卖咖啡的公司，而是一个不受监管的银行。星巴克接下来的计划以及其最终目标仍然是未知数。但与此同时，没有人能否认它已经跟上了时代的步伐，并取得了惊人的复苏。

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