Yes you are a regular Starbucks coffee buyer. Almost everyday you grab a cup of Venti or Grande. You know what to order once you are there out of the 87,000 different drinks you can choose from. You know the priciest Starbucks product in the store, a $54.75 sexagintuple Vanilla Bean Mocha Frapuccino.
But do you know that round tables at Starbucks are meant to be round to make people less lonely?
Starbucks chain of 23, 187 branches are all designed with round tables. Do you want to know why? These stores house round tables to make you feel comfortable and make you buy more. This means, even if you are alone, you don't feel really alone as you enjoy your cup of coffee.
"Round tables are more welcoming than those with square edges," Karen Blumenthal reports in her book Grande Expectations. "And people look less alone while seated at a round table."
Another significant reason why round tables are good design for every gathering just like Starbucks is that it promoted communication. In 1950s, an English psychiatrist has found that her patients interact better when they sat face-to-face to each other rather than side-by-side.
The design of round tables was also explained by Bruce Feiler in his book, "The Secrets of Happy Families" where he said that if you want to have a communal family gathering, people must sit in L, O or V formation.
According to HiConsumption, since many people love to drink coffee alone, round table can make them feel less noticeable like in the setting of Starbucks. Why is it so? Think for instance that you are alone and you are sitting on a square or rectangular table.
What do you see? Lots of gaps and spaces as there are vacant seats that make you uncomfortable.
This is also true when Starbucks use huge rectangular table to cater many people who are sitting on a single table but they do not know each other. They feel more at ease and no one among them feel sad of course!
Starbucks became a household name everywhere in the world. Its popularity is beyond compare much to its regular customers that have grown through the years.
With humble beginning in 1971, the shop in Seattle became the first Starbucks owned by three friends- English teacher Jerry Baldwin, history teacher Zev Siegl and writer Gordon Bowker.
But in 1982, Brooklyn-born investor Howard Schultz bought Starbucks from the three- Baldwin, Siegl and Bowker when Starbucks was earlier known as "Pequods Coffee."
Starbucks is a $14.89 billion industry, thanks to Howard Schultz.
Have you grab your Starbucks cup of coffee today?
