The blissful ignorance surrounding hunger and lack of adequate nutrition is an issue forced inadvertently to the background; this charitable discrepancy is an effect of the textbook execution of a marketing strategy for diseases such as cancer, diabetes and others thus creating a hierarchy of public concentration. Thanks to the campaigning and charitable donations, preventative disease awareness has become a welcomed staple in the progressive American experience. We at Starbucks have evaluated the silence surrounding hunger in the United States, and decided to use our influence to provide sustenance and bring light to a starved issue currently lying idle behind the shade of others. We hope to be a voice to the 46 million Americans suffering with hunger and make feeding our nation a more significant cause in the minds of the general public.

1. Codes for Coffee
You’re Thirsty and They’re Hungry

2. The blissful ignorance surrounding hunger and lack of adequate nutrition is an issue
forced inadvertently to the background; this charitable discrepancy is an effect of the textbook
execution of a marketing strategy for diseases such as cancer, diabetes and others thus creating
a hierarchy of public concentration. According to Hart (2012), “An earlier FAIR study found that
over three years (from September 2003 to October 2006), there were just 58 stories on the big
networks that dealt with poverty”. The recent obsession of pink, blue, and yellow that saturate
our national charitable awareness have become chic. From accessories covering athletes of our
favorite sports teams to glossy pins on the collars of our business executives, the public
consciousness to commemorate and honor advances in medical research, is at the peak of our
curiosity. Thanks to the campaigning and charitable donations, preventative disease awareness
has become a welcomed staple in the progressive American experience. We at Starbucks have
evaluated the silence surrounding hunger in the United States, and decided to use our influence
to provide sustenance and bring light to a starved issue currently lying idle behind the shade of
others. We hope to be a voice to the 46 million Americans suffering with hunger and make
feeding our nation a more significant cause in the minds of the general public.
Hunger in the United States does not affect specific groups within our society but rather
has roots in many socioeconomic factors notably unemployment. However, poverty is
noteworthy as well. Both impact directly the 50.1 million Americans living in food insecure
households, 33.5 million adults and 16.7 million children, according to Feeding America (2011).
The lack of coverage and action towards both of these issues is a cause for concern.
Peter Hart of FAIR (2012) wrote:
Poverty is too important to soak up a mere 7.2 seconds per hour of campaign
coverage. It affects over 15 percent of the U.S. population, nearly one in six of us. A new
study by my colleagues at Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) shows that poverty is
essentially invisible in reporting on the presidential campaign. The prominent news
outlets we surveyed devoted just 0.2 percent of campaign coverage to substantive
discussions of the issue.
Families suffering from unemployment and poverty are much more likely to experience
hunger than those who are financially stable and have established careers. According to the
Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (2011) , “14.9 percent (17.9
million households) were food insecure… 5.7 percent of U.S. households (6.8 million
households and one-third of all food-insecure households) had very low food security”. (p.1)
Hunger is an issue that many people around the world deal with. We hear of millions of
issues, campaigns, and fundraisers for other issues, but hunger seems to be overlooked. Over
that past couple of years, Texas as a state had about 18% of households that were struggling to
meet their food needs (Garret, 2011). Between 2005 and 2007, Texas had a food insecurity rate
of 14.8% said J. C. Dwyer from the North Texas Food Bank. The number of people NTFB's food
pantries serve each month would fill the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium 2 1/2 times to capacity
(WFAA, 2011).

3. Dallas County has about 450,000 people who have unsteady access to food, or 19
percent of its population. Over 137,000 (87%) of the children attending Dallas schools rely on
school-subsidized breakfast and/or lunch as their only resource for food (Hunger Busters, Feed
The Need). Dallas is the main city in Texas that we are going to focus our program on, due to
the excessively high hunger needs. Having kids rely on schools to feed them once or twice a day
is not enough food. Not having enough food can lead to problems with every detail of a young
child’s life. Lack of nutrition affects cognitive skill, physical growth, and focus.
We are the Starbucks Coffee located in Dallas, Texas. Last year Starbucks made 11.7
billion dollars (Statistic Brain, 2012). Our momentum is also worth noting, as fourth-quarter
global same-store sales grew at a rate not seen since 2006. This strong performance is
attributable to our unique business model, which continues to leverage our emotional
connection to consumers, our global retail footprint, our diversified CPG channel distribution
capabilities and ongoing innovation across all areas. (Fiscal Year 11 Report)
Starbucks retail stores are typically located in high-traffic, high-visibility locations. Our
ability to vary the size and format of our stores allows us to locate them in or near a variety of
settings, including downtown and suburban retail centers, office buildings, university campuses,
and in select rural and off-highway locations. To provide a greater degree of access and
convenience for non-pedestrian customers, we continue to selectively expand development of
drive-thru retail stores. During the past year global revenues reached a record $11.7 billion, an
11 percent increase on a comparable 52-week basis. That revenue growth was driven by an 8
percent rise in global comparable store sales as Starbucks stores welcomed more visitors than
ever before—approximately 60 million each week—and by growth in CPG revenues. It is
significant that we achieved these results against the backdrop of stubbornly higher commodity
costs and a difficult global economy. (FY11) Starbucks has around 4.5 million customers a day.
Our location has enough traffic flow to keep a steady pace and raise money to feed the hungry.
We are committed to being a deeply responsible company in the communities where
we do business around the world. Our focus is on ethically sourcing high-quality coffee,
reducing our environmental impacts and contributing positively to communities. Starbucks
Global Responsibility strategy and commitments are integral to our overall business strategy.
We want to make a change to our community and make Dallas a better place for everyone.
Hunger is an issue that is not thought of too often, and these statistics show that we are the
second highest state with food insecurities. We need to make a change and help reduce the
number of people struggling with hunger.
We estimate that there are at least two hundred Starbucks locations in the immediate
Dallas area. We believe that our relevance and influence, as well as social need in this region,
make the Dallas-Fort Worth area the ideal location to implement our new Codes for Coffee
social initiative. Upon implementing this program we believe we can help millions of hungry
Americans with the growth and success of Codes for Coffee nationally.

4. Our plan to raise money for the North Texas Food Bank will be based on using an
application we create to not only track sales but to offer a reward program to our frequent
customers. We decided to use an application because our target audience is more tech savvy
and owns a smartphone. Our plan is to donate ten cents for every transaction registered during
this period. In 2007 the average daily customers per store for Starbucks was 408 (Trefis
Team). At this rate at a single store we anticipate, conservatively, to have a seventy percent
participation rate. We believe this many people will participate because of the reward program
we have put into place which I will describe later on. At seventy percent that means there will
be roughly 285 customers using the application per day, leading to a $28.50 donation per day
per store. We will start this initiative at ten Dallas area stores to monitor how successful it will
be.
The way our initiative will work starts with the customer making a purchase. On the
customers purchase will be a QR code, either on the sleeve for hot drinks, or on containers for
food and cold drinks. The customer can then scan the QR code using his/her smartphone which
will take them to the Starbucks “Codes for Coffee” application in either the iTunes Store or
Google Play Store. All newer smart phones have a scanning application already installed which
they will use to scan the code. However, if the customer wishes they can go to the store their
phone supports and download the application directly without scanning a code.
After downloading the application, the customer will be prompted to enter in his/her
email address and full name. The customer will then be asked on the initial download if they
would like to make a donation to the North Texas Food Bank, if they choose to do so they will
be able to choose an amount and pay through the application itself. This will only be asked
once so as not to hassle our customers. Overall donations from customers will also be tracked
and broadcasted, upon opening the application, so that all users can see the amount donated
and other interesting statistics.
After having the application downloaded all the customer will have to do is enter in the
transaction number of their purchase, this is found on the receipt. When they open the
application they will be prompted to enter their transaction number. The transaction number is
a nine-digit number (XXX-XX-XXXX) unique to each purchase. Next to the box will be a question
mark for those who have trouble finding the transaction number, this will open up a picture
detailing where to find it. After the customer enters their code our system will then thank the
consumer for participating, ask them if they would like to learn more about how to help those
in need, or prompt them to redeem their coupon, if applicable. If the customer chooses to learn
more about other needs, they will choose a cause in which they would like to learn more about.
Once they decide, more information is sent to them through the email registered to their
account. After entering in the transaction number the customer will be awarded one point,
which will be used for rewards that I will explain later. For every counted transaction, as stated
earlier, Starbucks will donate ten cents to ending hunger via the North Texas Food Bank.

5. Studies suggest that the main cause of hunger in the United States stems from
unemployment. Therefore we here at Starbucks have agreed that not only is it vital to fight
hunger but it is as important to fight the cause of hunger in our nation. We want to help
eliminate joblessness in our country. Therefore for every 100 thousand dollars donated through
our Coffee for Codes program, we have agreed to donate an additional ten thousand dollars to
job-help programs nationally and here locally in Dallas. We hope that these preventative
measures will help eliminate hunger at the source of the issue.
The incentive for the customer will be rewards based on the number of purchases
made. Every time the customer enters in a new transaction number into the application they
will accumulate one point. On the application there will be a separate tab labeled as
rewards. On this tab the customer will be able to track his/her progress for points and redeem
prizes. Once the customer has accumulated ten points they will have a chance to redeem it for
a coupon, this coupon will be for a free item of their choice up to $3.99. If a customer wishes,
he/she can wait to redeem their points at fifteen to get a coupon for a free item of their choice
up to $6.99. When the customer redeems their points they will receive a coupon via their
Codes For Coffee application that can be used once. Each coupon will be stored in the database
to avoid multiple uses. When the customer decides they would like to use their coupon for a
free drink, they would pull it up on their smartphone and let the Starbucks employee scan the
UPC for the coupon you chose, entering the coupon into the system. We believe by adding a
rewards program we will encourage frequent customers to come more often, and we believe it
will entice new customers to gain interest. The good publicity from donating to the North
Texas Food Bank will also reflect positively on our brand and lead to a slight sales increase.
We plan on starting this initiative on January 1st, and closely monitoring it for the first
month to determine whether or not it is successful. It will be deemed successful if we can
make a sizeable donation to the North Texas Food Bank without incurring too many costs. At
$28.50 a day per store we are looking at $285.00 a day for the first month. This is an estimated
donation of $8835.00 for the 31 days in January. If we reach our goal we plan to spread our
initiative to all the Starbucks in the Dallas area. With the huge amount of Starbucks locations in
the area, we estimate that it will be easy to make a goal of $3000 a day donated to end hunger
in the DFW metroplex.
Budget
Item $ Amount
Facility for training (Starbucks locations) Free
QR code development Free
Account for funds (Pay Pal) Free
Application creation $10,000
Poster and flyers creation $39/case
Printing QR codes on cup sleeve $39/case
Favors/T-shirts/Incentives $20 design charge, $5.99 for 1 color shirt

6. Graphic Design Brochure $150
Total About $1500
Facilities that will be used to train employees for the fundraiser will be the Starbucks
locations. We will incur no extra costs by training employees at their own store locations. The
QR code is something that we can generate for free and will only have to pay to have it printed
onto the coffee sleeves. The cost for the APPLICATION creation is by far the largest expense. To
sync the application with the QR code is included in the creation of the application. The
remaining items will vary in cost depending on the overall production of the location.
Staffing
Role
Project
Responsibility
Required Skills
Number of
Staff
Required
Estimated
Start Date
Duration
Required
Project Team
Project
Manager
Lead team, report
status, establish
initial contact with
food bank
Project
Management
1 11/26/12 1 year
Core Team
Review QR codes,
assure quality,
Manage money
Project
Management
2 11/26.12 1 year
Content
Developer
Create framework
content
Research and
web writing
skills
1 6/1/12 6 months
Starbucks
Management
Learn about the
promotion, Teach
retail employees
Management
position
10 4/1/12
14
months
Starbucks
retail
Promote "Codes for
Coffee"
General
Starbucks
knowledge
20+ 11/26/12 1 year
The staffing will be over the duration of a year. Until we know if the program is a success
and will continue there is a limit on the time the employee may be with the company. The
project manager will be responsible for leading the team through the program. They must make
the first contact with the food bank. The core team must review the QR codes and assure that
they have been made with quality. They will also be managing the money to ensure the QR
code and application is running with no problems. Content Developer will be in charge of
creating an overall design for the program. They will then put the design on t-shirt, brochures,

7. etc... Starbucks management will attend additional training to learn about the program to be
able to teach the retail employees how to promote and handle the program. Starbucks retail
are going to be in direct contact with customer. They will be the ones making sure people are
getting codes for coffee.

8. Hunger in the Dallas-Fort Worth area is need that not only affects one person but
influences each of us in a negative way. From the child who cannot focus on his grade-school
arithmetic because he has not eaten today, from the urban family who must choose to buy
groceries or pay for their fuel to work and school, we all suffer from the burden of lack of
adequate nutrition. We hope that you will help us here at Starbucks in assuring that no person
has to worry about when their next meal will be. We would like to thank you for considering
our proposal and hope that we could convey how positively influential this campaign can be. If
you and your representatives could respond before the end of this quarter we would be
thankful. We can begin planning and implementing this program in the subsequent quarterly
campaign starting January 5, 2013. Please sign and date below if you choose to accept.
X
Clint McDonnough
Regional Chamber Chairman of the Board
X
Jane Doe
Regional Chamber Secretary of the Board

9. Web Cited
Andrews, Carlson, Coleman-Jensen, and Nord (September 2012) Household Food Security in the
United States in 2011. ERS Summary Report. Retrieved from
http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/884529/err-141-summary.pdf
Feeding America (2011) Hunger in America. Hunger and Poverty Statistics. Retrieved from
http://feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/hunger-facts/hunger-and-poverty-statistics.aspx
Hart, Peter (17 September 2012) Poor Visibility. Retrieved from
http://www.otherwords.org/articles/poor_visibility
Starbucks (2011) Fiscal Year Report. Retrieved from
http://investor.starbucks.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=99518&p=irol-irhome
Trefis Team. (2010, Nov 22). Starbucks tastes a bit rich at $28 but more java junkies can justify
the price. Retrieved from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2010/10/22/starbucks-tastes-a-bit-rich-at-28-
but-more-java-junkies-can-justify-the-price/
WFAA (19 July 2011) North Texas Food Bank. Retrieved from
http://www.wfaa.com/marketplace/cadillac/hot-topics/North-Texas-Food-Bank-
125830858.html
Garrett, Robert (7 September 2011) Hunger in Texas Increases, Latest Federal Survey Shows.
Retrieved from http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2011/09/hunger-in-texas-increases-
late.html/
HungerBusters. (2012) About Us. Retrieved from http://www.hungerbusters.com/about-2/