What does almost every small, medium or large sized town or city in the developed or developing world have in common? Well most of them will have a McDonald's restaurant, most will have a KFC takeaway and most will also a Burger King too. All three of those companies could compete for the title of Americas leading symbol of multi-nationalism, well globalisation actually. They are giant American corporations of completely incomparable world penetration, and all have amazing stories in their own right. But there is one globalised American business with a story like no other, one completely unrivalled in it's rate of prosperity and growth, probably the fastest growing business in history. Starbucks.

The first Starbucks opened in just 1971, in heritage rich Seattle's famous Pike Place Market. The name was taken from Herman Melville's legendary novel Moby Dick, and chosen by its founders as a name that was considered appropriate for a store that imported coffees from all over the world. Perhaps it should be noted, for those that did not already know, Moby Dick was written about the 19th Century Whaling industry. Over a decade later, and Starbucks were still sitting happy in the same solitary location and selling exactly the same coffees to exactly the same regular Seattle customers, when in 1982 a man named Howard Schultz invested into the business as a new partner; Shultz was an ambitious businessman and was not one to miss an opportunity. Whilst on a business trip in Italy, probably to source Coffee, Schultz became enthralled in the cafe culture of Milan and was astonished by their famous traditional Espresso bars. Within months the people of Seattle were drinking Lattes and Mocha's like there were no tomorrow.

Despite the great popularity of the new coffees amongst the citizens of Seattle, it was another decade before Starbucks made the decision to expand beyond the city, fuelled by a growing global demand for great coffee. Throughout the nineties the company was setting up shop in every town and city in America, and by the end of the decade it had even expanded outside of America. Starbucks became a publicly traded company and made corporate history by becoming one of only a few companies ever to offer share options to its part-time employees. In less than a decade Starbucks had grown from a small independent coffee specialist to an eternally growing global monster, spilling out franchise after franchise from their over-sized coffee mugs and attracting investment from investors all around the world. This growth has still shown no sign of slowing, and Starbucks currently has over 6,000 locations in over 30 countries, a level of growth that can only ever be described as phenomenonal.