Starbucks

Maybe i am biased because i manage a Starbucks but, who drinks coffee and moreso who visits a Starbucks. Here in my city there is one in every corner<no joke>. To those that would prefer Seattle's Best i have some sad news, WE OWN THEM. HAHAHAHAHAHHAAH. Starbucks is taking over the world. No but really. What are your views as to Starbucks and the operations they run? Frankly i do not even drink Coffee or anything we sell. What do you drink?

too expensive for me. working there is always good when its hard to get a job elsewhere.

Nah, I don't like coffee.

one your get into management Starbucks has GREAT pay. As a barista you have great options and benefits. You get 401k stock options, paid vacations, freee drinks and blah blah blah....

I actually know a girl who went to a highschool in California sponsored by Starbucks.

Capuccino Mustangs.

i like starbucks. it's a little overpriced, but i can manage..

Isn’t it there policy to saturate a market to the point that there own stores start to loose money, that way they know they have totally coverage….gayness….

i dont drink coffe. plus to me, starbucks seems gay. dont know hwy, it just does.

BOOOOOOOO !

Starbucks burns their beans.

They do to coffee what McDonalds does to burgers;

bring down the quality and set a low standard but

they sell so much that so many people think it's the norm.

For an indy coffee house to survive, like am indy burger joint,

you have to be better than Starbucks (which isn't hard to do).

And the very fact that they bought Seattle's Best has pushed

a huge number of comsumers and wholesalers to go with smaller

independent roasters. Funny that their takeover has actually helped the little guys.

Well I must say the I prefer Seattles best over starbucks. The coffee from Starbucks seems to be bitter. However the girls of starbucks are better.

who gives a fuck if they burn their beans?

id rather work at starbucks and recieve benefits than work at 'al's java mug' and get 6.00 an hour while 'keeping it real'.

real broke that is.

seeks/some things should die, thats just unconcious knowledge...

who gives a fuck if they burn their beans?

The fucking consumers give a shit.

We've been over the benefits of working for them,

I'm just stating that their product isn't as good as what you'll find at 'Al's Java Mug'.

I'm not considering a career in coffee serving so the ONLY thing

that matters to me is the quality of the product I purchase.

word kilo....

Beyond all that, starbucks SUCK...in this country, where everyone still smokes and we're not struck with mass hysteria syndroms...coffee=cigarettes...just like alcohol=cigarettes...i'm sure you all realise that equation even if you dont want to...so, starbucks opens a dozen of shops, bans smoking in them...and what do you get?

a dozen empty coffee shops...great job at globalising

To further extend zestos thought....consumers give a shit

coffee sucks

fucks up your liver

fucks up your heart

tastes like shit

way too expensive

(but beans smell good)

..tea is where its at..

antioxidants, and conveniently, no liver damage..plus it tastes amazingly good

(but fuck buying ANYTHING from starbucks)

some random passages I found in a Google search

"Unfortunately, Starbucks seems to relish in taking really exotic beans and then burning them beyond all recognition. It all tastes the same! I wouldn't mind if it tasted good, but it's freakin' burnt!"

Quality control, a consistent source of beans, and a "less toasty'' (OK, burnt) flavor than Starbucks were the factors that convinced Larry Halkinrude to add half-pound bags of Hood River Coffee beans to the shelves of Elephant Delicatessan in Northwest Portland.

I’ll tolerate it, especially since the decaf version is the only decaf Starbucks that you can buy at Wegmans or Target, those great coffee distributors. It’s got an old, or maybe burnt overtone. The coffee flavor struggles to get through. I pity the flavor, especially since it’s so small.

Starbucks is suing an independent roaster for naming their really dark bean "Charbucks" (yeah, I know the story is old, but I have something to say here). Because, you know, Starbucks doesn't want people who've thus far not become aware of it, to notice how severely burnt their beans are. But it isn't as if a little roaster can really bring down a company with a chain in every frigging strip mall in the US of A.

In addition to their "slightly burnt roast", StarBucks coffee is way more acidic than it needs to be. I don't know about the comparisons of StarBucks' coffee to European coffee - in Portugal, you can't even get drip-brewed coffee a la StarBucks. When you ask for coffee there, you get espresso (and RightlySo?). My other StarBucks peeve is that every time I order espresso to go, they serve it in two stacked 16 ounce paper cups. It looks like a pigeon crapped in a bucket to see this lonely blob of coffee sitting in this huge cup and you lose half of it from having it slosh up the sides.

working aside...I go to my local coffee shop for two reasons...

1) they have the best fucking coffee around

2) well, they uh, kinda sponsor me. :huh?:

wahhhhh, wahhhhhhhhhhhh...

so they burn their beans? dont go there, problem solved.

clearly enough people enjoy their coffee to support having one on 'every single corner'.

it's not like ten years ago there was an indy coffee spot every two blocks.

they created their own market.

yeah for them.

cure cancer, not overcooked coffee.

dont go there, problem solved. I dont.

clearly enough people enjoy their coffee to support having one on 'every single corner'.

there's a market for it yes, but McDonals made the market for fast

food burgers. Does that mean that we should overlook the quality

for the convience? Well most people do, hence starbucks being on

'every single corner'. The average joe on the street doesn't know

the difference between good, bad and great coffee. If Starbucks is

his first step up from Maxwell House Instant, then good for him.

Are you going to buy CD's of the Top20 rack at the store just because

it's closer to the door and closer to the cash register?

yeah...

yeah for mcdonalds

yeah for walmart

yeah for starbucks

yeah for microsoft

yeah, for everysingle greedy piece of shit that tops quality over no better option.

are you crazy man!? or you're just trying to argue?

and for the record, you like starbucks coffee?

TULLY'S

MMMmmm... Starbucks.

my problem with starbucks.

its fucking everwhere.

example.

im american. starbucks is everywhere here in boston. more so dunkin donuts, but starbucks is present as well. so i go to england for school. im out in canterbury(yes, as in canterbury tales), seeing the catherderal. after im done, i want to get something to eat before i catch the train back to london. hmmm, lets see, what are my options on a sunday night?

fish and chips?....no

sunday roast?........no

indian food?.....no

donner kebab?......nope

so whats the ONLY place i can get something to eat right now?

fucking startbucks. im thousands of miles away from my home, and all there is to eat is the same fucking place i used to walk by several times a day back home. fucking great.

on a different note, they make really good paninnis at starbucks in the UK, something that would NEVER happen here.

indy coffee shop is better for somethings, while corporate is better for other things.

each business model has their competitive advantages and disadvantages. it might be better working for corporate.

but consuming from corporate might mean bland, mass produced public goods.

example: local fashion store creates exclusive clothing.

example: huge mall-chain creates mass produced non-exclusive clothing.

each business has their respective markets and profits involved, and you the consumer have the choice.

more choice = freedom in traditional conservative economics.

Re: my problem with starbucks.

Originally posted by $360

its fucking everwhere.

 

example.

 

im american. starbucks is everywhere here in boston. more so dunkin donuts, but starbucks is present as well. so i go to england for school. im out in canterbury(yes, as in canterbury tales), seeing the catherderal. after im done, i want to get something to eat before i catch the train back to london. hmmm, lets see, what are my options on a sunday night?

 

 

fish and chips?....no

sunday roast?........no

indian food?.....no

donner kebab?......nope

 

 

so whats the ONLY place i can get something to eat right now?

fucking startbucks. im thousands of miles away from my home, and all there is to eat is the same fucking place i used to walk by several times a day back home. fucking great.

 

You're only right on the title...MY problem with starbucks..cause it trully is your problem...you're in another fuckin country, with a shitload of new options and you choose starbucks over them...you, my friend is the reason why starbucks will never go out of business.

holler for rational thinking.

people that blindly wage a blanket war against 'big corporations' pretty much annoy me.

small indy coffe shops are for sitting around in fluffy chairs with your friends, talking about books and shit.

starbucks is for getting coffee. it's designed to be a 'fast food' coffee outlet, and i cant possibly see what the problem is with that. if you're a 'coffee snob' you wont go there, simple as that.

if you're a person that loves fine wine, you're not gonna get white zinfindale in a box, but that does not mean it shouldnt exist. the people that are lining up for starbucks now, are not the same people that were visiting indy spots ten years ago. this is a completely different market. one that starbucks created for itself.

there will always be a place for small indy spots, especially as companies like starbucks get even larger and more homogonized. their 'mass appeal' will create space for small 'niche filling' businesses.

garbage men are just as important to the survival of society as dr's. there will always be a whole lot of stupdi motherfuckers that need jobs, and places like walmart not only provide them with jobs, but provide them with better, higher paying jobs than they would have gotten at a 'mom and pop' store. yes, obviously home depot will effectively destroy 'jacks hammer shop', but it will also employ 200 more people, giving them decent wages and benefits. who loses out in that scenario? the 'small business owners'. ok, yeah, one family loses their income, but in turn it creates income for a whole community.

who gives a fuck if microsoft has a 'monopoly' on computer software? the software is going to exist, and it will exist on a level on par with society's needs.

is society itself fucked? yeah, but will closing down walmart, and opening up 20 'dime stores' that pay their employees minimum wage and offer no benefits, selling their products for more money fix it? no way.

bottom line is that im both a socialist and a realist. companies like starbucks and walmart, that offer livable wages, profit sharing, 401k's and benefits are the closest thing we will probably ever know to socialism. they take care of their employs when the government obviously is not.

now dont get me wrong, i am not a fan of 'big business' with no checks and balances, im only talking about the 3 specific companies mentioned. all of whome treat their employees 'faifly' (all things considered).

my problem with people who are so 'anti-starbucks' is they have no viable alternative, nor do they have any actual argument that can stand up in the face of reality.

so they offer an inferior product? 9/10th's of the population dont need a 'superior' product to be happy. those that do, will seek it out.

whatever though, hate away... when you're 35 working in a indy video store for 8 dollars an hour, teeth rotting out of your head cause you cant afford to go to the dentist, come and tell me how important it is to 'keep it real'.

Originally posted by seeking

holler for rational thinking.

 

people that blindly wage a blanket war against 'big corporations' pretty much annoy me.

oh man, totally, like i was flipping through an adbusters, and they had an american flag and the stars were replaced wtih logos of corporations that were supposedly doing the world bad, what was strange to me is that both the Adobe and Apple logos were on this flag.

now call me crazy but i'm pretty sure the guys at Adbusters use one or more adobe programs on a regular basis, and i'm pretty sure they or their print shop uses Apple computers. hypocrisy is a bitch isn't it.

I cant disagree to 90% of that seeking, still the whole point of this thread started as to whats wrong with starbucks...and the most obvious was stated...their coffee sucks and they lean on their, almost, monopolistic way of choosing them. On the flipside of your description, only people that are willing to search the city, find a good spot to discuss books or whatever deserve good coffee?...people that drink it on the fly dont have a taste for that shit?

I aint hating on them in the way you mean it, angry teenager style, i just belong in the category of people that would prefer to be known for making great coffee, if a coffeemaker, rather than just being everywhere and eliminating competition that way. I dont believe there werent places to get some coffee fast before starbucks nor that they created that kind of market. What they succeeded is to create that sense of familiarity all big 'chains' rely on. People dont like change, thats the reason they exist...see $360's post for example.

As far as alternatives go, you dont even have to 'keep it real', i've never encountered a crappy sony device or seen mac's software crash every ten seconds and i definatelly have no problem with Wendy's burgers.

You're right about walmarts policies being the closest thing to socialism you'll ever see...you have kids socialising in shopping malls...

If your gonna do coffee, you might as well do coke, it tastes better too.

don't get me wrong, im all for being critical of companies and organizations, but 99.9% of the people that run around bitching about starbucks only do so because they 'know' they're 'supposed' to. that as consumers, we're supposed to hate ourselves for 'consuming'. they know that having a starbucks on every corner says something about our society, they just dont know what. if they want to complain about how we as a whole are fucked and on a collision course with disaster, i'll agree all day long. but to just blindly 'rage against the machine' is throwing stones at false idols. starbucks is not the cause of our problems, its a symptom. if we as a society did not want it, it would not exist. if we wernet so susceptible to mass marketing and cheap gimmicks, it wouldnt be an issue.

but we are, and thats reality.

when i was 16 i worked at pizza hut. they offered me (relatively) affordable medical and dental insurance.

i quit and got a job at 'pizza depot' owned by an italian guy from down the block. i made less money and my only 'benefit' was i could sell weed on my deliveries.

i know im playing heavily into the 'benefit' angle, but its indicitive of more than just itself, it stands as representation of how they are treated as employees. sure, they'll never meet the 'ceo', sure that guy will make 15 million dollars a year, but who gives a shit? if you work at a coffee shop because it's your lifes dream, then you should have really set your sights higher.

90% of the jobs most people work are because they need a job, not because they want the one they have.

if ive got to do something i dont want to, i want to be compensated as well as i can be.

it all comes down to money, theirs and mine.

'superior beans' dont keep my electricity on.

Originally posted by Comp

 

now call me crazy but i'm pretty sure the guys at Adbusters use one or more adobe programs on a regular basis, and i'm pretty sure they or their print shop uses Apple computers. hypocrisy is a bitch isn't it.

Now call me crazy but i'm pretty sure the graffiti guys rack or even buy their paint from walmart just to vandalise their very walls...hypocrisy has a meaning, doesnt it?