BC Business
A great thing about being a franchise operation in B.C. is that you just have to look a short way across the border to see how it’s done. Seattle-based Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) could give yeast cells a lesson in propagation. But Vancouver-based trash trucker 1-800-Got-Junk LLC recently got more than just tips from the neighbouring giant: it scored a new president.
But Vancouver-based trash trucker 1-800-Got-Junk LLC recently got more than just tips from the neighbouring giant: it scored a new president.
Launi Skinner resigned as president of Starbucks Coffee U.S. in March, after a mere eight months on the job. The departure marked the end of a 14½-year relationship with the coffee merchant that began in her native B.C. when she was hired as a district manager for Vancouver. She became the new president and COO of 1-800-Got-Junk in June, charged with boosting growth for the homegrown opera-tion that already boasts 300 franchises in North America, the U.K. and Australia.Repatriating to Vancouver with her husband and two daughters, Skinner has a lot to learn about the trash business – she hadn’t even heard of 1-800-Got-Junk when she quit Starbucks, she confesses. But after a decade and a half of managing service chains and expanding a franchise, she’ll likely do most of the teaching at her new office.
You had quite a journey within one company. How did you get started with Starbucks?I left a company called McGavin Foods to join Starbucks in 1993. To be honest, I didn’t really like coffee all that much, but I found I really appreciated the retail experience at Starbucks. I’d heard that they were looking to hire a district manager, so I actually called this fellow that I knew who was managing the Vancouver Starbucks operation, and that’s how I applied.
Was it a wild ride to be part of management during Starbucks’s rapid growth?We used to always joke that it’s just really busy right now because we’re opening this market, or, it’s just really busy because we’re launching this new performance management thing or because we’re launching this great new product. And you realize, that’s just what we are.We’ve seen recently that Starbucks has had to scale back its operations. Did that make for some challenging times?I wouldn’t call it challenging; it’s just different. I think that companies go through product life cycles. For me at the time, I would say it was change from a different perspective: instead of growing, you were scaling back.
Why did you leave your last job at Starbucks after only eight months?Starbucks was going through a tremendous amount of change – although that was something I was used to. But at the time, I had a small daughter, and sometimes it just takes one or two things – and it can be very little things – that have you stop and pause and wonder, “Is this the place?” or, “Do I think I’m the right person to continue this?” or, “Is now the right time to consider trying something different?” And there were just a couple things that made me stop and reflect about, “What is really important to me on the next leg of my journey?” and, “Is this the time for me to say goodbye?”
How did you hear about 1-800-Got-Junk?When I left, I had a peer at Starbucks who called me and said, “Hey, I had a mentor relationship with somebody who worked at 1-800-Got-Junk, and I have heard that they’re looking to hire a president. I just think you’d be the right person to help take it to the next level.” And at the time, I had not even heard of 1-800-Got-Junk.
Junk removal seems a bit less glamorous than espressos. What attracted you to the job?My initial reaction was the same. I didn’t know anything about it at all. I relate back to coffee. When I joined Starbucks, the response was: “A coffee shop? What’s a coffee shop?” So I’ll contend that coffee wasn’t all that glamorous 15 years ago. But what I realized going through this transition is that I wanted to be part of a company that really was passionate about people. I always feel that one of the best ways to get results is through people and your leadership of people. I did a lot of research on 1-800-Got-Junk and found that it was really aspiring to be that.The second thing was I was really looking for a smaller company where I could be a part of the growth story. Because that’s what I loved doing at Starbucks. I was able to be part of the team that helped craft what the company was going to look like and feel like. So I wanted to go back and be part of a smaller company to do that again.What kind of differences have you noticed so far?A couple of differences are in just sheer size. In Starbucks there were close to 800 district managers in the U.S., and I realized I would likely not even meet half of them, and, of the half I would meet, I would only know the top 20 per cent with any level of comfort. And I realized I missed knowing people a little bit better.What are the big challenges for 1-800-Got-Junk now?I think that the thing to overcome is how to take it to the next level and do it through a much more systematic, strategic approach. I think in young, smaller companies – there’s certainly vision, don’t get me wrong – but when you get to a certain level, you need to have a certain structure around process and approach and discipline, and ask, “What’s the strategy? What’s the plan?” They have a lot of the things in place; it’s just how you actually leverage that to take it to the next level.Can we expect to see a big push for growth in the near future?Yeah, without a doubt. I think one of the reasons I’ve come in is to take it to the next level of growth. I think that in the next couple of years, you’ll see growth in North America, and you’ll see us look at more international possibilities.