And given its recent shift in business strategy, the brand seems keen on keeping it that way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the past two years, Starbucks has been cooling things down<\/em> strategy- and drink-wise, <\/em>focusing more on cold, customizable drinks like the (TikTok-famous<\/span><\/a>) Iced Shaken Espresso. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And, considering Starbucks has just been ranked<\/span><\/a> the world\u2019s most valuable<\/em> restaurant brand (marking their 8th year in a row, might I add), it seems their new business strategy is going to be a multi-billion-dollar one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both literally and<\/em> figuratively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before you can fully appreciate the longevity \u2013 and magnitude \u2013 of Starbucks’ success, you need to understand how small<\/em> it started, first. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Seattle coffee brand opened the doors to its first, thousand-square-foot, single-employee store in Pike Place Market on March 30, 1971<\/span><\/a>. Then, after a successful first year \u2014 and a whopping $46,000 in gross sales<\/span><\/a>! \u2014 the brand opened its second University Village store in 1972<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two stores in two years? An incredibly respectable start, for sure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But here\u2019s the kicker: neither of these stores sold any drinks. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Starbucks started out selling \u201cwhole bean coffee, tea, and spices<\/span><\/a>\u201d for the first decade<\/em> of operations, without selling a single cup of brewed coffee until 1982<\/span><\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That same year, Howard Schultz joined Starbucks<\/span><\/a> as Director of Retail Operations and Marketing, turning the brand\u2019s business strategy completely <\/em>on its head\u2026 in a really, really profitable way. Here are his first few years of highlights: <\/p>\n\n\n\n With Schultz behind the wheel and international expansion underway, Starbucks continued on its strong, upward trajectory, straight into the next century: <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026 and the rest is, as they say, history<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Okay, so we know Starbucks had a \u201czero to hero\u201d transformation, mostly because of Schultz and his growth-focused business strategy\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n But what about the cold drinks?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, perhaps unsurprisingly, Starbucks\u2019 cold drink revolution was \u2014 and still is \u2014 all about growth-focused business strategy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the early 2000s, bloggers<\/a>, journalists, and coffee lovers alike have been talking about Starbucks\u2019 seemingly impossible number of drink combinations \u2014 which, at the time, was \u201cover 87,000<\/span><\/a>\u201d (but is now over 170,000<\/span><\/a>!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seeing an obvious desire for consumer customization options, Starbucks began exploring what that type of customization could look like, starting with the crowd-favorite Frappuccinos. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In May 2010<\/span><\/a>, Starbucks launched their However-You-Want-It Frappuccino Blended Beverage, allowing customers to choose their milk, coffee type, syrups, and toppings. Add a sweltering hot summer and a customization-focused marketing campaign to the mix, and what do you get? A 37% increase in profits, with sales stats higher than Starbucks had seen in over four years<\/span><\/em><\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n By 2015, Starbucks\u2019 customization efforts were in full swing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Media outlets started reporting on Starbucks customization options, noting that the app \u201clets you customize the drink to the nth degree<\/span><\/a>.\u201d Mobile ordering and in-app customization launched internationally, starting in Canada<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, maybe most importantly, customization hacks started pouring out en masse. <\/em>Social media feeds were filled with clickbait-y blog titles like \u201c9 Hacks Every Starbucks Lover NEEDS to Try!\u201d <\/em>or \u201cSecret Menu Tricks Your Barista Won\u2019t Tell You!\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, in 2024, customization hacks are still a popular type of content\u2026 and Starbucks is definitely<\/em> not complaining about it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the beginning of the internet, social media has always been a part of Starbucks\u2019 business strategy. The brand made its Facebook and Twitter debut in 2008<\/span><\/a>, steadily growing to millions of followers on almost every platform \u2014 including TikTok, the newest one of the bunch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you look at Starbucks\u2019 TikTok<\/span><\/a> or Instagram<\/span><\/a> accounts, you\u2019ll see fun, relatable videos about coffee dates, puppaccinos, and \u2014 of course \u2014 customization tips. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But, in reality, brands like Starbucks aren\u2019t on social media just to create their own content \u2014 they\u2019re there for user-generated content (UGC). <\/p>\n\n\n\n UGC is \u201ccontent created by social media users<\/span><\/a>\u201d that they post on their own channels for the world to see. Or, from a brand\u2019s perspective, UGC is free advertising, free market research, and free hotspots for consumer engagement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And Starbucks lovers are especially<\/em> great at creating an almost limitless supply of UGC about their cold drink customizations and hacks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A TikTok search of \u201cStarbucks secret menu,\u201d for example, generates thousands of highly popular, consumer-created videos, like this TikTok featuring \u201c5 Secret Menu Drinks<\/span><\/a>.\u201d This simple, 30-second video does nothing but show off a range of aesthetic, \u201cInsta-worthy\u201d drinks. Yet, despite its simplicity, it\u2019s garnered almost 5 million views, 52,000 saves, and 600 comments (a few of which even said the user went to try the drink themselves!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Searching \u201cStarbucks hacks\u201d on Instagram offers a similar result, with thousands of carousels, reels, and posts about modifications for \u201csecret menu\u201d drinks and swaps to make drinks healthier or allergy-friendly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, it\u2019s worth saying that yes, social media platforms are extremely popular outside of Starbucks-specific content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But is there any other brand that dominates UGC in the same, customization-focused way? If there is\u2026 I have yet to find it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, despite humble beginnings, Starbucks has risen to the top performance spot in the coffee industry, propelled forward by a customization-centric business strategy and an unwavering commitment to cold drinks, trend-spotting, and social media insight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But is what Starbucks doing actually profitable or is it nothing more than a viral content starter?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, considering the past few years of sales stats\u2026 most definitely the former (although going viral on TikTok for delicious, customizable drinks never<\/em> hurts.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n In Q4 2022, Starbucks announced<\/span><\/a> that 60% of all drinks sold in the US were customized, contributing to an incredible $1 billion in sales generated just<\/em> by modifiers (A.K.A. the customizable bits of your drinks).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, $1 billion in modifier-focused sales is impressive, but perhaps more<\/em> impressive is that most of those sales come from cold<\/em> drink mods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Over the past few years, Starbucks lovers have been compelled by the cold. 76% of total beverage sales<\/span><\/a> in the US now come from cold coffee drinks, especially<\/em> their innovative cold foam drinks. In their Q3 2023 earnings call, Starbucks called cold foam not only a \u201ccustomization favorite<\/span><\/a>,\u201d but \u201cthe fastest-growing customization<\/span><\/a>\u201d the coffee brand offers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, why the recent push for highly customized, cold \u2018n\u2019 foamy drinks? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Simple: Gen Z. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have never been in our history more relevant than we are today to Gen Z,\u201d said Howard D. Schultz<\/span><\/a>, Interim Chief Executive Officer & Director of Starbucks Corp. \u201c[To] me, that cohort is so powerful and the attachment rate that we have with them and the loyalty is just building.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since Gen Z has become a key part of Starbucks\u2019 business strategy, so, too, has social media and UGC. And, intentionally or not, Gen Z\u2019s involvement on social media has created something far more elusive than sales \u2014 a feeling of exclusivity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “[Customized beverage sales are] important because what our customers have discovered is that their favorite beverage is not possible to buy anywhere else,\u201d says Brady Brewer<\/span><\/a>, Chief Marketing Officer & Executive Vice President of Starbucks Corp. \u201c[It\u2019s] a beverage you can only get at Starbucks, and you can’t make at home. And increasingly, customization has enabled that in our stores.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n With that in mind\u2026 what does the future hold for cold drink customization and Starbucks\u2019 business strategy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c[We’re] in the early stages of the cold beverage platform in terms of what we’re going to bring in terms of innovation and the modifiers and the customization gives us a significant competitive advantage,\u201d says Schultz.<\/span><\/a> \u201cAnd I think all bets are off in terms of the operating leverage that we’re going to get here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n TikTok may have given us the Iced White Mocha, and Instagram the Twix Frappuccino. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But Starbucks?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, they gave us a powerful lesson in crafting a customization-forward business strategy that\u2019s popular, profitable, ridiculously powerful\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\nA Brief History of Starbucks Coffee<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
The Evolution of Starbucks\u2019 Drinks Customizations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Starbucks](\"https:\/\/www.getcraver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Starbucks-frapuccino.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe Business Strategy Behind Going Viral<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Starbucks](\"https:\/\/www.getcraver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Starbucks-TikTok-1.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhere Starbucks Is Today (And Where They\u2019re Going)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Wrap Up (& Craver Connection) <\/h2>\n\n\n\n