http://video.msn.com/v/us/v.htm?g...a3&f=06/64&fg=copy
Good morning, Starbucks!

sounds a bit (almost exactly) like the mess the record companies are in now....with the lack of caring about the customer on the corporate level. the difference is schultz has seen and admitted all this publicly...possibly before its too late....whereas the record execs are still in denial.

The reporter noted that Starbucks' stock price did not drop as a reaction to the leak "because most of what Schultz wrote was already obvious." Starbucks has followed the McDonald's growth model, with all the same attention to process, image, marketing, and predictability. *shrug*

PS: CG's Starbucks' Chairman admits to brand's failings on "the experience" discusses the memo at length.

omg did you see those soap bubbles in that video

HIDEOUS....that is the real reason why starbucks is going down

Here is a link to a Washington Post article about how Starbucks has lost its soul:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-...2007030301100.html

The article mentions a few problems with Starbucks that are driving people who are passionate about coffee to other cafes:

(1) Flavor locked packaging that hides the aroma of coffee in the store.
(2) The romance and theater of making espresso (since Starbucks uses all super-auto machines)
(3) Paper cups
(4) A unique atmosphere (all Starbucks are virtually indistinguishable)

It's about time Starbucks recognized that it's all about experience - you can't charge people (at least people who know anything about coffee) a premium and give them a McDonald's experience. Duh!

Cheers,
Ken

gtrman wrote:sounds a bit (almost exactly) like the mess the record companies are in now....with the lack of caring about the customer on the corporate level.

...and then went out and bought a label-ready Beatle to make things better. yeha, sure. Starbucks is doomed to be the Mickey-dees of coffee, and the 'mom & pops' that Chuck refers to had better be ready to take the slack, or they, too, will fall under the rolling wheel of mediocrity.
Corporate America has opted to trade profit for soul in almost everything that is produced, with results like tainted vegetables, tainted petfood, and soggy espresso. It isn't going to be getting better any time soon, either, and I'm kinda surprised that there is so much fuss being made about Starbucks following the model of damned near every major corporation on the face of North America, i.e., suck all the profit out of a product, replacing anything with a cheaper anything, until you have a product of almost no substance that costs nearly nothing to manufacture (since most of the labor is being supplied by small, third world children, including american teens) and stick the customer for every dime you can pull out of him.
America is doomed, and Americans are pretty much buying it as fast as we can. Anyone that shops at Walmart and such is falling into the trap of having steak every night while failing to realize that they are working at a dairy farm. Shoot, terrorists are just folks who don't like what we're doing but lack the patience to wait for us to degenerate into the third world that we exploit.
Yeah, there are probably exceptions to this that post here, but unfortunately they're in such a minority that it won't make a noticeable difference in the decline of this 'empire'.

Psyd wrote: ...
Corporate America has opted to trade profit for soul in almost everything that is produced, with results like tainted vegetables, tainted petfood, and soggy espresso ...

That's pretty strong for someone whose great granddad was probably digging ditches and who would have welcomed real calories from whatever source, however fake.

The simple fact is that these products are dirt cheap when measured against the median income, and sort of look and taste like approximations of the real thing. We can't all be experts on everything. We can either be yuppies, pretending to be experts on everything, and buying the expensive fakes from Bloomingdales, rather than the cheap ones from Walmart, or we can use the money we save there, to pay for the real stuff in the matters we care about.

Beats digging ditches any day. But perhaps your great granddad was part of the 1% for whom the ditches were being dug?

keno wrote:The article mentions a few problems with Starbucks that are driving people who are passionate about coffee to other cafes...

I don't worry for Starbuck's future. My report on It's a Grind is a template for the majority of the cafes in our area, and yet I've never heard an outcry for better coffee except from "espresso nuts." It doesn't bother me that the majority are happy with what I judge subpar, it's that they're paying premium prices and don't know they could have something much better.

I've said it before: Advancements in super-automatics are the public's only hope.

Dan,

Should I trade in the La Marzocco FB-70 Hybrid? As for the Fetco Brewer we did trade that in for a water tower. French Pressing is a lot easier with a handy water tower!

As for SB, I think Howard is trying the head the execs off at the pass from becoming McD's. The leases they are signing now are including clauses on food now. I don't think Howie wanted to turn the place into a sandwich shop.

I spent some time talking and emailing the owner of a new and growing cafe in Pittsburgh discussing the business. During the course of discussion I enquired about their lunch menu and lack of a breakfast and dinner selection especially considering how good their offerings are. Her response, "We thought about expanding the hours to include a limited offering for dinner. However our business focus is a Cafe, not a restaurant. We did not want to lose our focus and business direction."

I think those are wise words. Too many businesses try to be too many things and lose focus on the business objective. Shortcuts are taken and product quality drops in the name of diversification and bottom line. Starbucks is a prime example. Once upon a time they were one of the best (or should I say only) cafe's in America and largely responsible for bringing specialty coffee to the masses. Over time, their focus had wandered and the quality degraded as evident by the dismissal of 'barista training' and acceptance of the super auto espresso machine.

Now they are turning into a fast food restaurant. So the question becomes, is McDonalds trying to take away Starbucks market share with the specialty coffee and McCafe business, or is Starbucks trying to take away McDonalds market share by offering fast food?

Working in the 'McDonalds system' I have seen lots of ideas come and go, some good, many bad. However I must say that having tried some espresso based drinks from a super auto equipped pilot store, the McDonalds espresso offerings are no worse than those offered by Starbucks. Should Schultz be worried, heck yes! McD's is an 800 pound gorilla with the customer base, distribution network and deep pockets to slug it out with the green mermaid, and turn her into a pressed and processed fish patty.

Geoff, I will give you $100 for that LM, and a case of quarter meat.