Latte Lessons

I drank my first coffee in Paris, as a college student abroad, while I was biding time between train connections early one morning. My Berkeley-born travel mate was already a seasoned coffee afficionado and introduced me to my first “grand café au lait.” It wasn’t long before I was hooked, not only to the coffee itself, but the cafe experience. As I traveled around Europe, I learned to order "cafe con leche" in Spain and "caffe latte" in Italy. Returning to the U.S., it was tough in the late seventies to find a good café au lait or café latte, except in French or Italian restaurants or the occasional bohemian coffee house. How the world has changed. Today Starbucks, which claims to be the largest coffee chain in the world, has an astounding 16,635 locations world wide, including 11,068 in the United States, and many in our Marriott hotels. Starbucks is followed closely by Dunkin’ Donuts with 8,800 stores in 31 countries and 6,400 locations in the USA. Café Coffee Day, an aspiring Indian competitor that inspired the name of this blog with their slogan, “A lot can happen over coffee,” has a running ticker on their website, now boasting more than 1000 stores in India. And Illy Coffee, based in Trieste Italy, reports they sell their product out of 50 million public venues worldwide, including many hotels in our Marriott portfolio. I love and drink them all.

More important, is what you can do over coffee. And more than caffeine, that’s my addiction. I find that sitting over a cup of coffee --served up in a big round ceramic cup, a tall glass mug or re-cycled paper cup --smooths the transaction, just like a good blend of coffee. It takes the edge off the discussion, whether it's ironing out a misunderstanding, trying to secure a commitment, giving career advice or finding common ground to change the world.

I remember this from my first job interviews after college. The one with NBC's Meet the Press host Bill Monroe was over coffee at the St. Regis Hotel. While he offered little hope of a job to a neophyte just out of college, the message was warmed by the coffee. Another interview in the office of Newsweek Bureau Chief Mel Elfin conveyed the same message – go to a small town and get some experience – but was harder to swallow in a stark cold office with no brew to break the edge. A third with a PBS producer, over a glass a wine, was confusing and ill advised.

Today, I accomplish my best work over a tall skim latte. Truly, you can do a latte over coffee.

Four years ago, I convinced the CEO and Chairman of Marriott International, Bill Marriott, to launch his blog, "Marriott on the Move." He was skeptical, but jumped onboard when I told him that a blog would enable him to have a very personal conversation with the millions of travelers who check into his hotels around the world. Four years later, I've decided to take the leap into blogging myself and join the global conversation. I was inspired to share my stories while on a business trip in November 2010 to India, where Marriott operates 12 hotels but plans to manage as many as 100 hotels in 5 years. I was traveling by mini-van into Pune, a city of nearly 6 million, where Marriott has recently opened three hotels. On the recommendation of Robert Goodwin from Executives Without Borders (whom I'd met over coffee), I'd arranged to visit the Mahindra Pride School, where low-income, rural youth between the ages of 18 and 25, are learning the basics of hospitality. Most of these eager young people had never glimpsed a hotel and come from the "scheduled classes" of rural Indian society, but they all aspire for a piece of the prosperity that is overtaking India. As we bumped along the pot-holed roads, I noticed a hand-painted sign at at local coffee shop that proclaimed, "You Can Do A Lot Over Coffee." I'm a confirmed cafe latte addict, so it rang true for me. When I arrived at the neat but modest three story building, I saw students intent on their studies learning basic english skills and how to set and serve a dining table. The world felt very small when the director, Raj Iyer, explained how he had Googled me and even watched some of my former TV videos on YouTube. As we sat over coffee, we discussed the opportunity for Marriott to partner with his school to train and hire students for our growing portfolio of India hotels. Thanks to the follow-up of Ranju Alex, General Manager of our Courtyard by Marriott Hinjewadi, on April 15, Marriott willwe bring the first students from the Mahindra Pride School to work in our three Pune Marriott hotels. As I drink one of my three daily "lattes," the sign on that coffee shop in Pune rings true. You can certainly do a "latte" over coffee.

3/12/11

by Kathleen Matthews

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