Meaning of the name Starbucks:
The name of the company was inspired in the Moby Dick’s novel; Starbuck was the first mate of the ship Pequod.
The first Starbucks’ st
ore was opened in 1971 in Seattle, Washington. It was located at 2000 Western Avenue and later moved to the historic Pike Place Market. The three partners that started this company were Jerry Baldwin (English teacher), Gordon Bowker (writer), and Zev Siegl (history teacher). At the beginning they did not sell brew coffee, only roasted whole beans.
In 1982, Howard Schultz started to work in Starbucks as director of retail operations and marketing. One year later, in 1983 Schulz travels to Italy.
In 1984, Howard convinces the founders to test the coffeehouse concept. The first Starbucks Caffe Latte is served.
In 1985, Schultz found the store II Giornale where he sold coffee and espresso beverages using Starbucks coffee beans.
Expansion:
In 1987, Starbucks was sold to Howard Schultz, who had worked for Starbucks before. Schultz had been in Italy four years before and fell in love with the uniqueness the Italian coffeehouses had: a place where people gather for talking and sharing experiences. He wanted to reproduce that place in the United States. Schultz rebranded other stores he had as Starbucks and started to expand rapidly, having stores in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Chicago. The revenue for that year was of U$ 1.3 million. Two years later he had 46 stores and roasted over 2,000.000 pounds of coffee.
By 1991, Starbucks become the first privately owned U.S. company to offer a stock option program that includes part-time employees.
By 1992, Starbucks had 140 outlets with revenues of U$ 73.5 million and a company value of U$ 271 million. That year Starbucks had its initial public offering and sold 12% of the company, facilitating the expansion of the stores to nearly double number.
In 1994, Starbucks opened the first drive-thru location. Total stores 425. 
In 1996, Starbucks began selling bottled Frapuccino and opened first store outside of North America in Japan. Total stores: 1,015.
In 1999, Starbucks acquired Tazo Tea and Hear Music. Total stores: 2,498.
In 2001, Starbucks introduced the Starbucks card.
In 2003, Starbucks acquired Seattle Coffee Trading Company.
In 2004, Starbucks acquired Ethos Water. Total stores: 10,241.
In 2008, Starbucks acquired Coffee Equipment Company and its Clover brewing system. Launches the first Starbucks online community and joins Twitter and Facebook. Total stores: 16,680.
in 2009, Starbucks Launched loyalty program and Card mobile payment.
In 2013, Starbucks prices $750 million of Senior notes. Starbucks opened 1,000th stores in China and Japan.
Now, in 2014, Starbucks revenues have increased 11% earnings per share surge 22% to a Q3 record $0.67, and it has 20,519 stores across 64 countries. Starbucks opened stores in Brunei and Colombia.
Logo:
The logo is also inspired by the sea – featuring a twin-tailed siren from Greek mythology.
Original brown logo, used from 1971–1987.
Green logo used from 1992–2011, still being used as a secondary logo.
Redesigned logo used from 2011–present.