In-depth life history interviews were conducted with 30 recently-pregnant women who had used alcohol or other drugs during their pregnancies. The three-part interview schedule included questions about past and current substance use, life history, and experiences with criminal justice authorities, child protective services, and health professionals.
In these excerpts from interviews with Vicki, a methamphetamine user, and Kim, who was using alcohol and marijuana, both women express their hope that being up-front with doctors would help them be perceived as good mothers who were concerned about the health of their fetuses, resisting the master narrative of substance-using mothers who are selfish and unconcerned. Vicki was pregnant at the time of her interview and was yet to see if her strategy would be successful. Kim had stopped smoking marijuana before the birth of her daughter and was only using alcohol (albeit heavily), so she did not have any contact with CPS.
In interviews with women who had sought residential treatment during their pregnancies, references to the same treatment facility repeatedly arose. It became obvious that women were talking about this single treatment facility because, to their knowledge, it is the only residential substance abuse treatment program in the state that will accept pregnant women.
One day over lunch and a bad cup of coffee, Bowker flashed an idea. In search of quality coffee, he'd been driving to Vancouver, B.C., to a coffee and tea company called Murchie's. Before long, many of his friends had gotten hooked and were placing orders with him. Why not start a coffee company in Seattle? Baldwin and Siegl liked the idea. "It was really informal," Baldwin remembered, "We didn't have a pre-nup or anything. We just started doing stuff" (Baldwin interview).
Siegl was the champion researcher of the group in those pre-internet days. At the public library, through phone-book and newspaper searches, he located a place that sounded like what they had in mind: a gourmet coffee company in Berkeley, called Peet's. He phoned Alfred Peet (1920-2007), who was generous with information, and later arranged to visit. The two men hit it off. Peet, an old-school European who grew up in the Netherlands working in the family coffee business, was impressed that Siegl's father was concertmaster of the Seattle Symphony. And Siegl was awed by Peet's business acumen: "He had a depth of knowledge of coffee that was unparalleled in this country. There was nobody in his league" (Siegl interview).
Siegl remembered that when he first visited Peet in December 1970, "his store was booming" (Siegl interview). Later that month, Baldwin and Bowker each made trips to Berkeley to briefly apprentice at Peet's and observe the business. Peet agreed to supply their fledgling company with fresh-roasted coffee beans.
By this time Seattle magazine had folded and Bowker had teamed up with designer Terry Heckler to form the advertising firm Heckler Bowker. As Bowker, Baldwin, and Siegl struggled to find a name for their coffee business, Heckler suggested that names beginning with the letters "ST" had a bold, memorable character. One day Bowker, looking at an old mining map hanging in his firm's waterfront office, noticed a town called Starbo: "I immediately connected it to the character in Moby Dick and said 'Starbuck' ... And from that moment it became Starbucks. I didn't really have to convince Zev and Jerry very hard" (Bowker interview).
At first Siegl was the only paid employee, while Baldwin and Bowker kept their day jobs. All three worked the store on Saturdays. Each partner took a distinct role in company management. Bowker liked to refer to himself as "a background power figure" (Baldwin interview) and strategized on ways to publicize the company. Baldwin, who had taken an accounting course in college, became the default money guy. He also had a good palate for coffee and fell easily into the job of tasting and buying. Siegl liked tea and took on that department. Baldwin recalled, "One of the interesting things is how we accidently chose others with complementary skills. ... There was little overlap in skill set and I think that makes a huge difference" (Baldwin interview).
In its first years, Starbucks looked nothing like the espresso bars serving food and beverages that now bear its name. The store sold bulk coffee beans, tea, and spices. That -- along with a selection of coffee makers, grinders, and teapots -- was it. The only brewed coffee was given away as samples. Siegl explained: "We would use coffee as a way to get people who came in the door to engage with us. ... 'Would you like a sample?' 'Oh sure,' and that would root them in the store; they couldn't leave. We would scoop some coffee, put it under their nose ..." (Siegl interview).
But business was picking up and in 1978 Starbucks moved its roasting plant and offices to a 6,000-square-foot facility at 2010 Airport Way. Throughout that period, Siegl had been coming up with ideas to expand and diversify the business. Starbucks started a subsidiary called Pike Place Teas, imported commercial coffee grinders, and developed a grocery-store brand called Blue Anchor. "My partners were tolerant, interested supporters" he recalled (Siegl interview). To accommodate the new ventures, the company reorganized, with Siegl supervising the roasting plant. Reynolds was coffee buyer, head roaster, and plant manager; Linda Grossman, retail-merchandising manager; and Steve Ramsey the new plant-operations manager. Mach was promoted to vice president, sales. Baldwin narrowed his focus to planning and financial management.
After hearing Schultz's pitch, the three Starbucks leaders discussed whether or not to hire him. There were reservations and the decision was against it. Schultz, shocked and devastated, was not about to accept that answer. "Jerry, you are making a terrible mistake," Schultz told him by phone, then laid out an impassioned defense of his proposal (Pour ..., 42). Baldwin went back to his partners with Schultz's plea. "So we caucused about it some more and ... the veto was withdrawn, and we hired him" (Bowker interview).
Baldwin disagreed with Schultz's portrayal of events. "Apocryphal," he said in 2016, then explained: "It's like Howard body-slammed Gordon and me ... but that's not the case" (Baldwin interview). In fact, Starbucks was already selling coffee by the cup at its U District store and planned to continue adding coffee bars. But Baldwin did believe in retaining the focus on selling coffee beans. He knew that Peet's popular coffee bar in Berkeley provided only about 10 percent of its sales. And Baldwin acknowledged that neither he nor Bowker saw the huge potential of espresso drinks. Schultz was determined to demonstrate that potential.
Sheila Farr interviews with Zev Siegl (October 4, 2016), Jerry Baldwin (telephone, October 5, 2016), Gordon Bowker (October 5, 2016), Jim Reynolds (telephone, November 29, 2016), and Jean Mach (telephone, November 29, 2016), notes, recordings, and transcripts in possession of Sheila Farr, Seattle, Washington; Farr Zev Siegl email to Sheila Farr, November 1, 2016, in possession of Sheila Farr; Gordon Bowker email to Sheila Farr, November 1, 2016, in possession of Sheila Farr; Starbucks annual reports, 1972-1986, copies in possession of Gordon Bowker, Seattle, Washington; Mark Pendergrast, Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How it Transformed Our World (New York: Basic Books, rev. ed. 2010); Howard Schultz and Dori Jones Yang, Pour Your Heart Into It (New York: Hyperion, 1997); Howard Schultz and Joanne Gordon, Onward: How Starbucks Fought For Its Life Without Losing Its Soul (New York: Rodale, 2011); Don Duncan, "A New Source for That Heady Aroma," The Seattle Times, June 17, 1971, p. B-1; Stephen H. Dunphy, "Sky High Coffee Prices Going Higher?" Ibid., October 18, 1976, p. A-7; John Wilson, "City to Sell 3 Acres Near Market for New Housing," Ibid., October 20, 1976, p. D-1; "Coffee Company Dropping Prices," Ibid., June 21, 1977, p. A-11; "Local Roaster Drops Price of Coffee Blends," Ibid., March 18, 1978, p. B-8; Tom Stockley, "Adventure in Coffee," Ibid., January 18, 1981, Pacific Northwest magazine, pp. 11-14; Carol Pucci, "Coffee Wars: Canadian Company Invading the State and is Edging Out Largest Local Roaster," Ibid., April 16, 1981, p. E-1; "People & Places," Ibid., January 4, 1983, p. E-2; Alf Collins, "Fresh Today," Ibid., May 25, 1983, p. E-3; Alf Collins, "Fresh Today," Ibid., May 16, 1984, p. D-11; Carolyn Marshall, "Alfred H. Peet, 87, Dies; Leader of a Coffee Revolution," The New York Times, September 3, 2007 ( ); Daniel Jack Chasan, "How Great Corporate Power Shadows Gregoire on Coal Shipments," Crosscut, March 9, 2011 ( -great-corporate-power-shadows-gregoire-on-coal/); "Starbucks Company Timeline," Starbucks website accessed November 30, 2016 ( -us/company-information/starbucks-company-timeline).
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