Seeing that he would not be able to persuade Baldwin and Bowker to embrace the café idea, Schultz left Starbucks in 1985 and started his own coffee chain, called Il Giornale, which was an immediate success, quickly expanding into multiple cities. In March 1987 Baldwin and Bowker decided to sell Starbucks, and Schultz was quick to use Il Giornale to purchase the company with investor backing. He combined all his operations under the Starbucks brand and committed to the café concept for the business, with additional sales of beans, equipment, and other items in Starbucks stores. Under Schultz’s guidance, in four years the coffeehouse chain grew from fewer than 20 stores to more than 100.
