Who founded Starbucks and why?

Friends since their University of San Francisco days, Gerald Baldwin, a former English teacher, Gordon Bowker, a writer, and Zev Siegl, a history teacher, were three 20-somethings who were passionate about the arts, fine food, good wine and, of course, great coffee.

Who is the real founder of Starbucks?

Starbucks was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker at Seattle’s Pike Place Market. During the early 1980s, they sold the company to Howard Schultz who – after a business trip to Milan, Italy – decided to convert the coffee bean store into a coffee shop serving espresso-based drinks.

What is the story behind Starbucks?

Our name was inspired by the classic tale, “Moby-Dick,” evoking the seafaring tradition of the early coffee traders. Ten years later, a young New Yorker named Howard Schultz would walk through these doors and become captivated with Starbucks coffee from his first sip.