Innovation

The innovation that Starbucks created was strawless lids which will become standard for their iced coffee, tea, espresso, and Refreshers line of cold drinks. The innovation emerged because Starbucks wanted to lessen its carbon footprint and create an alternative to wasting goods. Starbucks’ responsibility is to be as sustainable as possible. However, this has been a problem because hot drinks do not fare well with compostable materials. Now, customers can reuse their cups with strawless lids. Andy Corlett, the director of global packaging solutions and innovations for the company, and his team developed and tested many prototypes before finally presenting the strawless lids. Starbucks created and implemented the solution by announcing in July 2018 that it would begin phasing out plastic straws from all its stores by 2020. Tim McArdle, general store manager of the Starbucks location in Maplewood, NJ explained that the innovation was hard to adjust to because customers still liked the straws. Additionally, the store location still had the old cups in storage, and now they had to move to disburse the new cups and lids. Starbucks communicated the innovation to their internal and external stakeholders by having meetings with managers to explain implementing the strawless lids. Then, the managers received strawless lids and cups and had to have discussions with their employees to discuss plans and implement the strawless lids.

The innovation relates to a sense of mission, purpose and meaning because Starbucks values its integrity as a company. They want their customers to see that they are changing certain practices that were not benefiting the environment or the public. They could secure funding or other resources for their innovation by partnering with other companies and through sales. Starbucks also implemented other innovations such as plant-based options, Coffee Academy, sustainable practices, and COVID-19 implementations. Starbucks has methods in place to implement changes, spread information and have a seamless integration of new ideas/products on a store level. Almost 20 hours are invested in training and meetings to ensure execution and communication methods to implement these methods in stores. This innovative solution has satisfied the following four UN goals: good health and well-being; sustainability; climate actions; and responsible consumption and production. These UN goals are bettering the world by lessening their carbon footprint, making healthy food options available to customers, enabling tracking for their coffee beans, and taking responsibility to reduce the curve of COVID-19.

Inspiration

The innovation that Starbucks created was strawless lids. The new strawless lid will become standard for Starbucks’ iced coffee, tea, espresso, and Refreshers line of cold drinks. The innovation emerged because Starbucks wanted to lessen its carbon footprint and create an alternative to wasting goods. Starbucks’ responsibility is to be as sustainable as possible however it’s been a problem because hot drinks do not fare well with compostable materials. Now, customers can reuse their cups with strawless lids. Andy Corlett, the director of global packaging solutions and innovations for the company, and his team developed and tested many prototypes before finally presenting the strawless lids. Starbucks created and implemented the solution by announcing in July 2018 that it would begin phasing out plastic straws from all its stores by 2020. Our interviewee, Mr. Tim McArdle, general store manager of the Starbucks location in Maplewood, explained that the innovation was hard to adjust to because customers still liked the straws. Additionally, the store location still had the old cups in storage, and now they had to move to disburse the new cups and lids. Starbucks communicated the innovation to their internal and external stakeholders by having meetings with managers to explain implementing the strawless lids. Thus, the managers received strawless lids and cups and had to have discussions with their employees to discuss plans and implement the strawless lids.

The innovation relates to a sense of mission, purpose, or meaning because Starbucks values its integrity as a company. They want their customers to see that they are changing certain practices that were not benefiting the environment or them as consumers. They could secure funding or other resources for their innovation by partnering with other companies and through sales. Starbucks also implemented other innovations such as plant-based options, Coffee Academy, sustainable practices, and COVID-19 implementations. Throughout all of these changes that Starbucks has made, if changes want to be implemented from the corporate, there are methods in place to spread information. Seamless integration of new ideas/products on a store level. Almost 20 hours are invested in training and meetings to ensure execution and communication methods to implement these methods in stores. This innovative solution has satisfied the following four UN goals: have good health and well-being, sustainability, climate actions, and responsible consumption and production. These UN goals are bettering the world by lessening their carbon footprint, making healthy food options available to customers, enabling tracking for their coffee beans, and taking responsibility to reduce the curve of COVID-19.

Overall impact

Starbucks had set goals to make an impact to reduce the environmental impact of its cups by 2020. The overall impact Starbucks has had on the environment, coffee sustainability, and greener retail has made the company socially responsible. Starbucks values its integrity as a company, and its aspiration was to be recognized for its commitment to social responsibility. John Kelly, senior vice president of Global Social Impact and Public Policy said,“As a company, we are committed to using our scale to positively impact the communities we serve around the world.” Starbucks developed the innovation to bring strawless lids which impacts society and the environment because the company works towards helping the economy and making sure their customers and employees are happy. As a result, Starbucks has stayed committed to expanding plant-based and environmentally friendly menu options; shifting from single-use to reusable packaging; investing in responsible consumption and water conservation practices.

McArdel discussed several options Starbucks is implementing to change the beverages we drink, when and where we drink them, what they taste like, and how much we consume. He said “Starbucks stores are integrating greener power and practicing sustainability by allowing customers to have access to take coffee grounds and turn them into compost fertilizers. With regard to sustainability, clients take coffee grounds to make compost instead of trashing it.” Acting socially responsible, Starbucks promotes policies that benefit the environment and the reputation of the company. Because of these innovations, Starbucks is positively impacting the consumer base and the environment by creating environmental regulations, through sustainable methods for newer products, and using social responsibility in areas of sustainability, greener retail, and responsible consumption and production.

Business benefit

In a large scale operation like Starbucks, strawless lids mean producing fewer straws which could save the company hundreds of thousands of dollars globally. Also, strawless lids are less time-consuming, since products can be served more easily without the straw.

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Social and environmental benefit

With the creation of strawless lids, less plastic waste will be produced from consumers that will end up in landfills and the environment. Microplastics entering our drinking water and polluting our oceans have been a major problem that affects all living beings.

Interview

Tim McArdle, Store Manager

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