[ HAWAII AT WORK ]

---

KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM

---

Manager
flexes
creativity

Gretchen Turner helps
develop and promote products
for Starbucks and Jamba Juice

---

I am the marketing and merchandising manager for Starbucks Hawaii and Jamba Juice Hawaii. Our Honolulu Support Center works with 37 Starbucks and 14 Jamba Juice locations, which keeps me pretty busy.

Prior to moving to Hawaii in 1997, I lived in Oregon and worked at a Starbucks store there throughout college. When I first moved here, I acquired the position of assistant manager and worked at the Ward and Kahala Starbucks locations. In 1998, I moved to the North Shore to open a new store in Pupukea. I managed the Pupukea and Mililani locations, then, in 1999, I started my current marketing position.

I develop and promote in-store marketing campaigns, beverages and retail products for Starbucks Coffee. A great example of what I do is our current campaign: the Mocha Macadamia Nut Frappuccino. The product development team -- which is senior vice president of operations Scott McPhail, marketing assistant Deann Fujimoto and me -- worked together to create this new Starbucks beverage and promote it in our stores. We began the process back in February, and our first step was to decide on a new flavor of frappuccino that would be enticing to our Hawaii customers. Our team spent many hours testing out new recipes and flavor combinations. We wanted to create something cool and creamy for summer, combining popular flavors of the islands. The icy combination of coffee, chocolate and macadamia nut flavoring topped with whipped cream and candy sprinkles got an overwhelmingly positive response from our test group.

Upon approval from our international marketing team in Seattle, we special-ordered the beverage components for a July launch. We then scheduled a photo shoot of the beverage and put together the creative pieces for the in-store signage. I put together information and tools for our store managers and baristas to order, prepare and promote the beverage at the store level. That the Mocha Macadamia Nut Frappuccino has been extremely well-received gives us all a tremendous amount of satisfaction.

I get to combine my creative energy with my base knowledge of operations. I always try to think about how our marketing campaigns will affect store operations and try to provide as much necessary information and tools as possible so our stores can roll out a new beverage or product with ease and success.

---

Hawaii At Work features tells what people do for a living in their own words. Send submissions to: business@starbulletin.com