Since 1982, when Howard Schultz took over, Starbucks has experienced rapid growth. More and more coffee houses opened worldwide, providing guests with coffee and other beverages. However, this relentless pursuit of "faster, higher, further!" led to the problem that Starbucks began to lose its soul and distinctive charm. The coffee houses, which had always prided themselves on being the third most important place in the lives of their guests after home and work, increasingly resembled branches of any generic fast-food chain. This was one reason for Howard Schultz to return to the CEO position in 2008, which he had left nearly eight years earlier. In a publicly known memo from February 2007, Schultz had already pointed out that the romance was gone and that it was essential to return to the core values and the legacy, the tradition.