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Permalink Reply by M on February 15, 2009 at 10:10pm

i really don't know how to broach this.

so what's next, is sanka making a comeback too?

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Permalink Reply by Alun Evans on February 16, 2009 at 5:08am

Look, most of us are looking at this from a coffee proffesional point of view...while I think Starbucks reasons are purely in the bottom line. Most of the developing world, which is Starbucks new frontier, drink instants. China, Indonesia and India...well over half the worlds population drink Nescafe or cheap alternative forms of instant coffee. Most households in Indonesia for example, drink Nescafe, IndoCafe, Torabika, Ayam Merak or some other form of granulated instant coffee. You have 230 million potential consumers here who are super brand concious, not so understanding of quality. The New emerging middleclass here and in China would for sure snap up Starbucks instant product.

I think it is becoming increasingly obvious that Starbucks are doing a McDonalds and reinventing themselves...off shore.

It may not be coffee as we know it Jim... but I think it makes very smart business sense.

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Permalink Reply by Ryan Knapp on February 16, 2009 at 6:23am

I think that you make a great point Alun. When Starbucks initially came on the scene and actually for quite sometime, they were serving one of the better cups of coffee in most parts of the country. Now that other places are not only catching up to them, but rather passing them up with a much much better product Starbucks needs to rethink there game plan. For Starbucks to try to provide the best cup of coffee, is no longer attainable with their size and against their competition. So providing an affordable alternative is a way that Starbucks can stay in the game. They obviously cannot keep up with the specialty roasters that are popping up, but the specialty roasters and shops most likely can't serve a $1 coffee. So in a way, maybe this is a good move for Starbucks :-/
:-

Alun Evans said:

Look, most of us are looking at this from a coffee proffesional point of view...while I think Starbucks reasons are purely in the bottom line. Most of the developing world, which is Starbucks new frontier, drink instants. China, Indonesia and India...well over half the worlds population drink Nescafe or cheap alternative forms of instant coffee. Most households in Indonesia for example, drink Nescafe, IndoCafe, Torabika, Ayam Merak or some other form of granulated instant coffee. You have 230 million potential consumers here who are super brand concious, not so understanding of quality. The New emerging middleclass here and in China would for sure snap up Starbucks instant product.

I think it is becoming increasingly obvious that Starbucks are doing a McDonalds and reinventing themselves...off shore.

It may not be coffee as we know it Jim... but I think it makes very smart business sense.

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Permalink Reply by Terika on February 16, 2009 at 7:56am

I am speechless as well. I thought that they were going to start heading in a better direction when they took on Clovers, but this seems to be the opposite direction. Hmm...

I did hear of a coffee tasting taking place among some coffee industry professionals, it was a test of sorts. They had to evaluate each coffee and say what was wrong with it or something. An instant coffee was thrown in there, and some people were not able to catch it and realize it was instant.

I'm just afraid that this is going to make our job of reeducating customers even harder...Starbucks already caused us to have to explain what a macchiato is...

This shall be interesting if nothing else.

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Permalink Reply by Cedric on February 16, 2009 at 8:32am

I have to agree with Alun with this. If they're trying to sell this to mainly developing countries, good move on them. Asia drinks this stuff up. If you go to any asian food stores, you'll see that there are several types of instant coffees. Some already have cream and sugar in them. Majority of these countries are super brand name conscious and is all about impressing people. They'll go to Sbux just to take their napkins and put it in their cars...just to impress someone. I really hope that it doesn't catch on over here. I'd hate to walk down the coffee isle at the grociery store and see an instant caramel macchiato.

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Permalink Reply by nick on February 16, 2009 at 9:07am

Here, Here, Sarah! I'm so tired of trying, (often in vain), to explain to my customers, (Whom the mermaid trained), the differences between she and I! If I have to explain the fundamental problem(s), (negligence?), with anything called a "Venti Machiatto", I'm going to puke. I'm oddly troubled by the clover element in all of this. What are those folks up to? Will they have all three, (bad), espresso, clover AND instant? three different price points? will they somehow molest the clover into producing instant? Less cleanup that way! Or will they retain current behind-the-counter practices and create a "do it your own damn self" Clover-Kiosk, whereby you insert the newly designed freshness-lock "Clover-pod".

Kudos also to Chris, the end of my purchasing SB came with the fully automatic machines.

Sarah said:

I heard this story on the radio yesterday and I was overcome with excitement! We don't have to work as hard to differentiate ourselves from the mermaid -- she's doing some of the work for us! One of the most common questions I get is "What makes you so different from Starbucks?" Now the list is even longer :)

There is a place in the market for Starbucks, but that place is getting further and further away from ours. In these tough times its important for people to know that where they spend their hard-earned money makes a difference, that they can change the world by simply changing where and how they shop. Thank you Starbucks for making my job easier and more important than ever!

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Permalink Reply by Joseph Robertson on February 16, 2009 at 12:21pm

Nick, I like your take on this trend. In a perfect coffee world what would you like to see come of *$'s coffee chain. Grant it there is no perfect coffee world but what would benefit us all including *$'s owners.
Personally, I would like them to break up like MaBell did but instead just sell off the stores to those staff that would like to have their own shop. A mass Morphing of sorts. A a great way to retire a landmark. I was raised on *$'s so I have a high regard for bringing pretty "good coffee" to the masses. Please don't flame me. Pretty Good still means, Pretty good burnt coffee.
Just some Monday morning fantasy's.
Joe

--
Ambassador for Specialty Coffee and palate reform.



nick said:

Here, Here, Sarah! I'm so tired of trying, (often in vain), to explain to my customers, (Whom the mermaid trained), the differences between she and I! If I have to explain the fundamental problem(s), (negligence?), with anything called a "Venti Machiatto", I'm going to puke. I'm oddly troubled by the clover element in all of this. What are those folks up to? Will they have all three, (bad), espresso, clover AND instant? three different price points? will they somehow molest the clover into producing instant? Less cleanup that way! Or will they retain current behind-the-counter practices and create a "do it your own damn self" Clover-Kiosk, whereby you insert the newly designed freshness-lock "Clover-pod".

Kudos also to Chris, the end of my purchasing SB came with the fully automatic machines.

Sarah said:

I heard this story on the radio yesterday and I was overcome with excitement! We don't have to work as hard to differentiate ourselves from the mermaid -- she's doing some of the work for us! One of the most common questions I get is "What makes you so different from Starbucks?" Now the list is even longer :)

There is a place in the market for Starbucks, but that place is getting further and further away from ours. In these tough times its important for people to know that where they spend their hard-earned money makes a difference, that they can change the world by simply changing where and how they shop. Thank you Starbucks for making my job easier and more important than ever!

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Permalink Reply by Jason Dominy on February 16, 2009 at 12:48pm

I think it's great. Let them keep watering down the brand. We will be there to show them what real quality coffee is.

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Permalink Reply by nik orosi on February 16, 2009 at 1:04pm

i was waiting for your comment my friend....what is starbucks anyway?

Jason Dominy said:

I think it's great. Let them keep watering down the brand. We will be there to show them what real quality coffee is.

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