We are not in the coffee business serving people, we are in the people business serving coffee.

I was born on the other side of the tracks, in public housing in Brooklyn, New York. My dad never made more than $20,000 a year, and I grew up in a family that lost health insurance. So I was scarred at a young age with understanding what it was like to watch my parents lose access to the American dream.

The entrepreneurial opportunity in America is alive and well.

In the 1960s, if you were a blue collar worker or uneducated, and you had an injury on the job, the company basically dismissed you.

I can't imagine a day without coffee. I can't imagine!

We woke up one day, and all the sudden Starbucks was in the middle of this political crossfire between the people who want to bring a gun into Starbucks and the people who want to prevent it. It is a very difficult, fragile situation.

My parents really wanted me to get out of New York, be exposed to other people, other ways of life.