When Schultz returned as Starbucks' CEO two years ago, he quickly
snatched her away from marketing and product oversight to serve in his
new, two-person "Office of the CEO," which meant talking strategy and
next steps with him one-on-one.
"We were courageous and disruptive," Gass says of that effort.Shop a wide selection of billabong outlet
products in the evo shop. "I felt unleashed, with his energy and vision
and willingness to be courageous.you will need to get an offshore merchant account. For someone like me who thrives on that, it was like, 'Wow! This is going to be a ride.' "
After
their turnaround plan jelled, Gass orchestrated some of the chain's
biggest moves ¡ª including putting together teams to launch Starbucks'
loyalty-card program and its instant coffee.
Having joined
Starbucks when it had just 1,000 stores ¡ª compared with more than
16,000 now ¡ª Gass knows the company well and has a strong sense of
what customers want after years of successes and flops ¡ª notably, a
chocolate drink called Chantico that lasted only a year.Has anyone done
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She
is known at headquarters for transforming Frappuccinos in the 1990s
into Starbucks' most popular beverage. The key was her insistence on a
visually appealing drink with caramel drizzle and a plastic domed lid.
When
the head of operations complained about the added complexity, Gass
refused to launch without the embellishments. She had customer feedback
to support the idea that theater was important for that particular
beverage, and she had the gumption to stand behind it.
Frappuccinos now bring in more than $2 billion a year in sales, out of the company's $10 billion total.
As
Schultz puts it, Gass "possesses a rare leadership combination of
courage, conviction and belief in her people that has made her an
invaluable asset to Starbucks."
About the time Gass and her
team rolled out Starbucks' instant coffee in 2009, Schultz called her
into his office. He wanted her to head up Seattle's Best Coffee, a
chain Starbucks had bought in 2003 and not done much with. It had about
550 cafes, most of them in Borders bookstores.
Her only orders were to "make it huge, and you get to own it all."
On a mission
In fewer than two years on the job, she is well on her way.
Gass
¡ª which rhymes with "floss" ¡ª has overhauled the identity of
Seattle's Best, making it big and bold and completely separate from
Starbucks.
Seattle's Best Coffee is sold now at 50,000
locations, including Subway and Burger King shops, AMC Theatres and the
United Nations building in New York; Schultz has said he expects it to
become a $1 billion brand. It's growing in the double digits now, but
Starbucks won't say how big it is.
Gass, 43, has no illusions about Seattle's Best becoming the next Starbucks, which is known for its caf¨¦s.
Her vision is for Seattle's Best to bring good coffee to people wherever they are, from fast-food restaurants to hotels.
"What
if Seattle's Best could be the brand that basically eradicates all the
bad coffee out there?" she asks, eyes lit by the possibility.
Gass wants to "create an emotional connection around fun and optimism and a level of approachability and simplicity."
It sounds a lot like her.
A
runner who majored in chemical engineering, she learned while working
at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati that she prefers consumers to
chemical plants.
"It's about the humanity, the emotion," Gass said. "People are complex; they're ever changing and evolving."
After six years at Procter & Gamble, she moved with her husband,Handmade oil paintings for sale at museum quality, Scott Gass, to Seattle, which they loved for its entrepreneurial opportunities and vibrancy.
Gass
met someone from Starbucks while working on her MBA at the University
of Washington, and started as the Frappuccino marketing manager in
1996.
It was a year-old drink at that point and well-liked, but
nothing indicated it would be a sales wonder until Gass added her
touches.Detailed information on the causes of Hemorrhoids,
She
has made changes to the Seattle's Best look, too, unveiling a new logo
for the brand and numbering and color coding its packaged coffees so
that customers can easily understand what kind of roast they are
buying.
"I would literally stand in a grocery store and watch
people try to pick their coffee, and in some cases they would turn away
without anything," Gass said. "Everything had gotten pretty serious
and dark, and everything looked the same."
No. 1 and No. 2,
which are yellow and orange, are lighter blends than either Seattle's
Best or Starbucks has offered before ¡ª the kind of roast that often
appeals to people coming off a Folgers habit. And the lineup of five
coffee packages is conspicuously missing Starbucks green.
Gass
has a talent for knowing what customers will like, said Chris Bruzzo,
Starbucks' online chief, who has worked with her closely during his
five years at the company.
"When we're in meetings and she says
something is a 'big idea,' that's when you know you've got it," said
Bruzzo, who remembers Gass using that phrase to describe many ideas
during Starbucks' turnaround ¡ª including the notion of using a taste
challenge to persuade customers to try its new instant coffee.
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