Tag: starbucks

And so ends Starbucks’ ‘Race Together.’ But, hey, new gentrification plans!

As the Daily News put it, “That didn’t take long.”  Essentially, it lasted a week; one wonders whether the daily sales numbers were reporting a sudden drop.  Personally, I found the whole thing tedious and silly; but the same article reports that Starbucks – possibly stung by criticism – will be opening more shops in what the News calls ‘disadvantaged urban communities.’ I wonder what the anti-gentrification folks will think about that…

Starbucks to introduce unsolicited racial discussions, reduced market share to menu.

I do not see how this could possibly end badly: “Beginning on Monday, Starbucks baristas will have the option as they serve customers to hand cups on which they’ve handwritten the words “Race Together” and start a discussion about race.”  …And hopefully by Friday Starbucks will discover that roughly one-fourth of its customer base would very much like to respond to a discussion of race with the factual statement of “Gee, Senator Moynihan pretty much called it when he said that breaking up the nuclear family unit was going to blight African-Americans for generations, huh?”  But they won’t, because in this particular case ‘discussion about race’ freely translates to ‘lecture the white person on race.’  That’s fine for the Left; they kind of have a taste for that sort of thing. Continue reading Starbucks to introduce unsolicited racial discussions, reduced market share to menu.

Fast food fanatic binges at chain for one full year.

I’m not exactly sure why…

A Starbucks super fan ate breakfast, lunch and dinner at the coffee chain every day for a whole year as part of a challenge.

Mother-of-two Beautiful Existence splashed out close to $700 (£423) a month dining at the chain every day of 2013.

PhD student Beautiful Existence, of Seattle, Washington, set herself the 365-day challenge at the turn of the year and has documented her daily intake online, which shows her gorging on a variety of treats.

…given that she herself apparently is getting tired of the menu. Just something to do, I gather. Continue reading Fast food fanatic binges at chain for one full year.

“Starbucks Verismo.”

Via email, a reminder of why I don’t drink Starbucks coffee:

Although it’s a little more complicated than that. Essentially, I largely don’t care about the precise makeup/flavor of my coffee: I want it light, sweet, and hot. I can get that anywhere, and usually cheaper than at Starbucks. If I do want an ornate cup of coffee, however, I get the impression that going to a Starbucks to get one when you’re not a regular there is contraindicated.

So there’s not really any real call for me to darken their doors. Unless my wife wants a latte. Then, of course, I get something simple, and wait in good grace until we’re done.

#rsrh Obamacare losing Starbucks?

Oops.  In its way, it’s very much a baby step, but it’s beginning to dawn on Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz that 2014 is getting closer and closer – and with it comes a regulatory regime that includes health care mandates that are going to put “too great” a pressure on small businesses.  This might even be a principled position of Schultz: I assumed at first that he’s worried about how Starbucks franchises would get hammered by increased health care costs, but it turns out that Starbucks doesn’t actually have franchises*.  Which means that Schultz could solve the whole problem personally by having Starbucks apply for a waiver.

I mean, why not?  Everybody else is.

(via @amandacarpenter)

Moe Lane

PS: I still don’t like their coffee, but that’s probably not their fault.

*They admittedly have a franchise system for Seattle’s Best Coffee, but Starbucks is the primary earner here.

Starbucks Trenta violates Evil Overlord Rule #22.

For those poor, poor unfortunates who are not aware of the glory that is “The Top 100 Things I’d Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord” list, it’s just the best darn set of practical advice for would be world despots that you’ll ever see.  #22 is:

No matter how tempted I am with the prospect of unlimited power, I will not consume any energy field bigger than my head.

Of course, Allahpundit was joking: it’s just bigger than the average stomach, or bladder.  Anyway, I got told by my wife that there are Starbucks customers who apparently freaking out over the size of these things; which makes perfect sense to me, actually.  As I told her, the average Starbucks devotee probably doesn’t like to be reminded that he or she is a fanatical slave to a fast food restaurant*: having the coffee equivalent of a Big Gulp wrecks that narrative.

Moe Lane Continue reading Starbucks Trenta violates Evil Overlord Rule #22.

You know, I don’t even *like* Starbucks…

…what?  Sorry: their coffee tastes burnt to me, sorry*.  I’m a philistine Dunkin Donuts coffee-drinker, and I don’t care who knows it.

Nonetheless, Haibane has the right of it: this guy is an ass.  I mean, really: what was the point of actually hurting somebody else in order to test a marketing ploy?

Moe Lane

*Good peppermint hot chocolate in the winter, or whatever it is that that is.