Power of Coffee: How you helped Starbucks hire 10,000 veterans and military spouses

Hundreds of thousands of service members transition from the military to civilian life each year. Imagine that for a minute. What would it be like? How would you translate your skills into terms a potential employer could understand? Starbucks gets it and values the unique leadership experience. We wanted to help create opportunities and pathways for successful transitions back into our communities.

So we made a goal in 2013 to hire 10,000 veterans and military spouses in five years. We are honored to have accomplished that mission ahead of schedule. Today, Starbucks proudly reaffirmed its commitment to supporting service members and military spouses by increasing its hiring commitment to 25,000 total hires by 2025. “The numbers don't tell the story. The story is the unbelievable heart, conscience, integrity, leadership skills of the people that we have been fortunate enough to bring into our company,” said Howard Schultz, Starbucks ceo and chairman.

Watch the story and see how your support as a customer has allowed us to proudly serve those who serve.

Starbucks is proud to support our armed forces in many other ways, too. We operate 32 Military Family stores near major military bases. The Military Mondays program provides a space in stores where pro bono legal support and other important transition services are offered. We also partner with organizations that help us bridge the civilian-military divide and enable veterans to serve in their communities, such as Blue Star Families, Team RWB, Team Rubicon and The Mission Continues. And we sponsor the Starbucks Armed Forces Network (AFN), an internal group with more than 16 chapters that provides support for employee veterans, veteran spouses and advocates.

For more information about Starbucks veterans and military support, check out starbucks.com/veterans .