November 16, 2009
The Honorable Tom Harkin
Chairman HELP Committee
United States Senate
428 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

The Honorable Mike EnziRanking Member HELP Committee
United States Senate
428 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

The Honorable Henry Waxman
Chairman
Energy and Commerce Committee
U.S. House of Representatives
2125 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable Joe Barton
Ranking Member
Energy and Commerce Committee
U.S. House of Representatives
2322A Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Chairmen Harkin and Waxman and Ranking Members Enzi and Barton:
Starbucks was founded almost 40 years ago as a company that believed it was possible
to balance good business with uncompromising values. These values have never been as
important as they are today, as our country faces a growing healthcare crisis.
As a long-time provider of comprehensive health care to full-time and eligible part-time
employees, we have chosen to lend our voice and demonstrate our support for the needto enact meaningful healthcare reform this year. We have been on our own journey tooffer healthier options since 2007, and have followed with great interest the health andwellness components of healthcare reform. We believe that some of what we learned canhelp inform the debate related to menu labeling.
We know Starbucks customers are health conscious and seek reliable nutritional
information. Millions visit our website every month and more customers go to ournutritional information web page than any other page on our site. We have made nutrition
information easier to find and understand, from brochures in our stores to our recently
launched iPhone™ nutrition application which has quickly become one of the top ten mostdownloaded free applications on iTunes.
We were also one of the first in New York City to include calories on our menu board incompliance with Mayor Bloomberg’s mandate. This program showed us first-hand thatmenu labeling can work to help consumers make choices. Based on our experience inNew York City, San Francisco, Seattle and extensive customer feedback, we believe thata national menu labeling standard is an important component in helping customers makehealthier food choices.
As a global business, we also know that implementing a national or global standard iscostly and complex. From our perspective, the regulations and standards should be
uniform to enable customers to consistently compare products and make informedchoices. Not only is this necessary for consumers, it is also critical for multi-state retailers,
as it is challenging and expensive to create city by city menu boards in order to satisfy
Starbucks Coffee Company  2401 Utah Ave. S.  Seattle, WA 98134  206-441-1575

different rules and regulations around the country. Businesses need a level playing fieldso that they can compete fairly while supporting these important consumer health reforms.
As we continue our journey to provide healthier options and to educate our customers, webelieve now is the time to lay the foundation and set expectations for significant impact.
With this in mind, Starbucks urges Congress to enact an appropriate national menu
labeling standard, which can be implemented in a practical way, as part of overall
healthcare reform.
Sincerely,

Vivek Varma
Senior Vice President, Public Affairs
Starbucks Coffee Company
Attachments:
Starbucks Health and Wellness TimelineStarbucks Coffee Company  2401 Utah Ave. S.  Seattle, WA 98134  206-441-1575