Good Company

Spencer: So Curtis, what companies do you really admire?

Curtis: One company that I really admire is one that is from near where I grew up, COSCO. Many people know them for their brand, Kirkland Signature. They’re from Kirkland, Washington close to Seattle and one of the reasons I really like them is because they treat their employees really well. And there are many companies that don’t compensate their employees very well, they don’t take care of them but there’s research and data now that shows that COSCO has been getting benefits for taking care of their employees. They have better productivity and they have a better bottom line at the end of things. They invest in their employees and their employees are able to invest their work back into the company.

Spencer: Ah, are there any other companies that you agree have the same amount of investment in their employees?

Curtis: I think Starbucks is actually also from the same region, it’s from Seattle and it's also very well known for taking care of its employees well, giving good benefits, paying them pretty well, giving them the option to put some of their earnings into stock immediately at a discount so that they can get into sharing part of the company as well.

Spencer: I like Starbucks as well. I like how they're constantly trying to come out with new types of drinks, with new types of themes to fit the season, for example, the other day they had some sort of like orange summery drink and I thought that was cool, how they are constantly working to make themselves better, more interesting and to offer more to their customers.

Curtis: Right. I think it’s also a very comfortable brand for customers because in Seattle, many Seattleites don’t really drink Starbucks unless they’re in a hurry. They’ll go to smaller coffee shops but if they travel around the world anywhere else they always know a drink that they can get at Starbucks. So it's a sort of safe and homey company that you can ... you know you can get a drink that you like anywhere that you go.

Spencer: Not just that but I like how it’s internationally recognizable, like everybody knows Starbucks and you can say, “Hey, meet me at the Starbucks” and no one’s going to say, “Oh, Starbucks, what’s that?”

Curtis: Right, right.

Spencer: So people come from all over and then can come together and meet each other for a coffee. It’s cool.

Curtis: Right. I think part of Starbucks' goal was to create a good atmosphere too so that it wasn’t just coffee that you were buying but you are buying the brand, the atmosphere,that people go there to study and have a comfortable environment with good music, a warm place that surrounds them.

Spencer: One company that I love a lot at home is another company that sells coffee called Port City Dover and they have branded themselves as being especially fairganic, so like they treat not only their employees well but they also try to get beans that have been sold at a good price for the farmers. So people will get a sense of, like doing good for like the world when they like buy a cup of coffee.

Curtis: And are they spreading out or are they just in your home town?

Spencer: Oh no, they’ve gone nationwide around the United States but I don’t think yet they’ve made the leap to going international.

Curtis: Oh, okay, okay.