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Third Place
by Roderick Armageddon

In Howard Schultz’ book, Pour Your Heart into It, the Starbucks Chairman and CEO recounts his discovery of a uniquely European curiosity: The Third Place. While the notion of the third place was Schultz’ primary driver for redefining Starbucks as an every-corner-in-the-world phenomenon, the concept is far from unique for many America small business owners. In fact, for many entrepreneurs, the idea of customers sharing a cup of tasty at any hour is just good business…with real soul.

The third place is another necessary destination in your life — where people might expect to find you when you’re not at work and you’re not at home. For many Europeans, it’s just as reliable as those other, seemingly more personal places, and just as necessary to a well-balanced life. However for many Americans, the concept of the third place is often lost. We might know what it feels like — the comforting buzz of your favorite dive or hang-out — but we haven’t necessarily developed the idea of having our own, full-fledged morning to dusk comfort zone. That is, we haven’t developed the concept enough to understand its potential in our busy American lives.

In Italy, the third place is very specific — and essential- to neighborhood dynamics. Around the corner from your little row house is a coffee house of some sort that’s buried deep in the basement of a building, perhaps accessible only by an awkward step down into its cozy wrappings. This is the place you might visit for an espresso in the morning or afternoon, and the place you’d probably frequent for a glass of house red in the evening. It’s your humble little home away from home and nothing is rushed. You know the barista or barkeep by name and chances are they’re there when your eyes are just opening and when they’re getting ready to close. If you opened up Webster’s dictionary and looked for "Third Place," this is what you would find. For many, it’s as significant a part of life as having children.

Howard Schultz has done his best to manage Seattle’s growing green empire while still embracing some of the philosophy that made the third place so attractive to him —and much of Europe. But a good deal of the concept’s purity has fallen to the wayside. Some Starbucks cafes seem to embrace the concept better than others, with most being little more than oversized coffee carts. The company recently started removing most of their La Marzocco double boiler espresso machines in favor of a new breed of machine called the "super automatic." Super automatics grind the perfect amount of bean for each shot, pull it in near perfect time and provide an almost fool-proof frothing system. Basically, it takes a good deal of the art out of the process, making the barista little more than an administrator of service, as opposed to someone who is charge of ensuring the shot is pulled in 18 to 22 seconds, and milk frothed at no more than 164 degrees. Super automatics make it possible for just about anyone to pull a decent shot. Decent, but not as good as a shot pulled by a pro —and without the artful display provided by a solid barista. I see how this makes good business sense, by ensuring consistency across the company’s product line — especially with the potential for high turnover among staff. But I can’t help but think that it also fractures the employee’s sense of ownership by taking away a skilled job, as well as removing the theatre from the customer experience. Don’t forget, it’s often the theatre that makes it easier for you shell out $3.75 for a cup of coffee and milk — but that’s fodder for another column.

My opinion is that Schultz has gone a bit astray in reaching his goal of introducing the third place to America. It appears to me that most Starbucks cafes are still morning spots. While retail coffee market studies show that the largest growth period for prepared coffee beverage sales is between the hours of 3 and 5 p.m., the vast majority of coffee drinkers swing by their local Starbucks or Peet’s primarily on their way to the office or on their morning break — somewhere between the hours of 6 and 11 a.m. The idea of Starbucks as a dawn to dusk destination just hasn’t caught on.

If Schultz wants to become the third place that Americans seek out dawn to dusk, he might consider adding vino to the mix, contracting vineyards to produce case upon case of Starbucks-labeled reds and whites. I doubt this is news to Schultz, but then again, perhaps the third place was merely his starting vision. Now that the company has notched 121 consecutive months of positive comp sales since it went public in 1992, building a dawn to dusk third place might not be so important.

While corporate America decides whether to address the potential in the third place, a small but steady stream of American dreamers are serving up just that — a truly European style alternative destination. These budding businessmen and businesswomen have much less to lose in building a neighborhood destination — in fact, it’s almost necessary for their survival and future profitability. These entrepreneurs are building third places because they like to be in touch with their community while making a decent living talking with old and new friends, alike. These pint-sized Schultz-alikes are usually in it for more humble reasons than mere profit and gain. Like it or not, Howard, the third place is opening up in communities all around you.

In fact, this is happening right now in my neighborhood. I never had a third place to turn to, but my local haunt is indeed making the transition. Just around the corner from my home is a quaint little coffee house serving the best brew Portland has to offer. Working primarily from my home office, I find this hangout to be just the ticket for meeting my need for human interaction — something I’ve missed since leaving the corporate world. Like many café owners before him, the owner of my haunt is also the morning barkeep, serving up a decent cup of Joe and an educated, empathetic ear. He’s witty and enjoyable to speak with, and beginning in January he’s extending his hours to 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. — possibly staying open until midnight on the weekends. It appears that my morning spot is going to become my third place - serving tasty espresso and French press coffee in the morning, and a small selection of imported wine and beer in the evening.

The desire to build a third place isn’t entirely unique, but the passion and personal investment behind that desire just can’t be duplicated on a grand scale. It might just be this passion that helps another small businessperson succeed. It’s a passion built around the concept of sharing thoughts and emotions over a cup or glass of tasty, in a place that feels as cozy as home. We’ll see just how the little guy fares — who knows, it might just attract the interest of a certain dreamer from the emerald empire.