Starbucks was founded in 1971 in Seattle, Washington. It aimed to become a "third place" that was separate from home and work. By 2002, Starbucks had over 5,000 stores globally and was serving 20 million customers per year. However, customer satisfaction had begun to decline due to long wait times, inconsistent service, and a perception that Starbucks primarily cared about profits over customers. To address this, Starbucks proposed investing an additional $40 million per year in labor across its 4,500 stores to improve speed of service. However, there was a dilemma around whether this would truly satisfy customers and boost sales and profits.