George Howell (born 1945) is an American

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

and one of the pioneers of the specialty-coffee movement in the early 1970s.

Early life

Born and raised in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, Howell's family moved to

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when he was 13. He studied art history, French, and Spanish literature at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

from 1964 to 1967, when he dropped out.

Career

In 1974, Howell and his wife Laurie moved to

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. After having lived in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

, for a time, Howell said, "In 1974 we ecidedto leave the West Coast, I already had two kids with another on the way. We decided to move east to Boston. We drove cross-country. I took with me some whole bean coffee and a grinder. We stopped at the various Howard Johnson’s that were on the interstates on our way and I would go into men’s room, grind the coffee there, leaving it smelling a whole lot better than when I walked in, and then I would take out my French press on the counter, ask for hot water for 35 cents and make my French press at the Howard Johnson’s counter. And within minutes I would always have several people around me wondering what that was, and this is before I even had any clue that I would get into a coffee business." In 1975, Howell founded Coffee Connection, a coffee shop and retailer in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

which was a pioneer in third wave coffee. It expanded to 23 locations in the Northeast. It was acquired by

Starbucks Corporation Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...

for $23 million in 1994 (equivalent to $ in ), and formed the nexus of their expansion into the Boston area. With the acquisition, Starbucks acquired the rights to use the name Frappuccino for a popular blended iced coffee drink, which Starbucks reformulated. Howell later founded George Howell Coffee.George Howell Coffee
/ref> In 1997, Howell was invited to become a quality consultant to

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as part of the Gourmet Project, a 2-year initiative set up by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

’ International Trade Council (ITC) and the

International Coffee Organization The International Coffee Organization (ICO) was set up in 1963 in London under the auspices of the United Nations (UN) due to the economic importance of coffee. It administers the International Coffee Agreement (ICA) which is an important instrum ...

(ICO), which influenced the creation of the Cup of Excellence competition.

References

External links

Article Featuring the life of George Howell
from ''Boston Magazine'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Howell, George 1945 births Living people Businesspeople in coffee American people of Welsh descent Yale University alumni Starbucks people