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Starbucks layoffs - beginning of the end?

...For the brew-your-own types, Peet's is just wonderful. Try the New Guinea and Major Dickason's.
That product isn't too bad. We drank it for a while also. I think that Peets has some commitment regarding the freshness of their product, but I don't recall the specifics.
 
The big question is, how is the global economic enema affecting the independent coffee house?

My regular independent haunt here in Oakville, the Green Bean is still busy but running with slighty reduced winter hours.
My local independent is doing just fine, as is the local Peets. Even tho I do not drink Starbucks coffee I am saddened by the fact that they are not doing as well as they once were.

Personally, I never found their beans to be that fresh*, sadly the shelf life on Starbucks beans is one month, after which they toss it. In comparison, Peets shelf life is one week, and at my local roaster it is 2-3 days.

*YMMV, of course.
 
I've always read that McDonald's is not in the restaurant business, rather they are in the real estate business. You can say the same of SBUX - they are not in the coffee business, they are in the lifestyle business. And when people don't have the discretionary income to support that lifestyle image, their business will naturally contract. I've often wondered that given the rent per square foot in Manhattan (I work at Park and 40th and there are 3 SBUX within one block), how much lattes you had to sell each day to even break even on the rent, salaries, and other overhead.

The west coast palate prefers that way-overroasted coffee, but as a Middle Atlantic guy my tastes run much more to Dunkin Donuts and the lighter roasts. The perception that darker roast = better coffee has infected other chains also, to the point where in terminal C at Newark Airport I'd rather forego coffee than deal with that crappy Seattle's Best - I think they use half the water they should in making their coffee, it's just nasty. I don't patronize SBUX at all but wish them well, but it seems to me that some correction in their business model was long overdue.

Buy some Eight O'Clock Bokar beans at the store, grind your own at home, and realize what good coffee really tastes like! Or roast your own beans...
 
I live about an hour from Seattle and love to go bum around the city when I have the chance. Walking around downtown and running across a Starbucks every 50 feet starts off ridiculous, then becomes ridiculously funny, then just gets vaguely depressing after passing the 15th shop or so. Maybe it's because Seattle is such an amazing city with a one-of-a-kind music and art scene and all this area is known for is Starbucks and rain.
 
they over saturated the market. even in my corner of the world their are multiple starbucks within 5 minutes of each other.

This is the biggest problem. When I lived in Washington state I lived exactly 5 miles from the main gate of the base. Every morning I got a laugh out of the 9 Starbucks (on the same road) in that short 5 mile span.
 
While I am sorry for the welfare of the folks whose livelihood depended on Starbucks, I personally will not miss them if they entirely leave the planet. I find their coffee to rate somewhere between awful and horrible. The folks that load it up with various syrups may not notice but the coffee is less than average by any standard. If I need coffee that I do not fix myself, I would rather drink McDonalds coffee than Starbucks. ...not that I have any strong opinions on the subject or anything.
 
I just had the Starbucks "mild" blend coffee, meeting up with my friend. It was first time in almost two years. As I was reading up on coffee stuff lately, I try to drink it black just to get to know how coffee really tastes like. It was sick! What a turn off! That stuff was gross!

I am sorry if I offended anyone. I apologize. It was truly aweful and shocking to drink it plain. I am really curious how their "mild" blend compares to the coffee the people on the coffee forum drinks. If it is anything remotely close, I am stunned. It definitely is an aquired taste.

But then I drink 08 sheng puerh with great joy. I guess that's just about the same as drinking Starbucks black.
 
I remember when Starbucks came to the Baltimore market about 10 years ago ... back then, there were only 3 stores in the suburbs, and it was someplace you had to WANT to go, instead of finding it everywhere you happen to be.

Having a Starbucks on every corner is not necessarily the best business model. It takes a lot of time, effort, and money to maintain such a large chain. Perhaps slimming down their operation will make the remaining stores better.

Of all the Starbucks I've been in, my favorites are the ones that are built into existing buildings, rather than designed and built from scratch. These seem to have more character, more ambience, more flair. Although the coffee is the same, these older buildings have more personal identity, as opposed to the "cookie cutter" experience I find in the new locations.
 
I've noticed the poor service too. And one in Marina Del Rey was even closed at 7:00pm last saturday becasue of barista shortage. I didnt put together that it was because of layoffs until just now.

I like their bold roasts... and Starbucks really did make other chains step up their coffee offerings which I enjoy. Theres something reassuring in knowing that I can get a cup of Starbucks almost anywhere I travel.

That being said I enjoy Peets much more as a chain, (founded by the same person who founded Starbucks) and enjoy making my own coffee even more.

(Leaves to find some coffee...)

Peets was not founded by the same person that founded Starbucks. I worked for Starbucks for nine years, I would know. Originally, Peets was Starbucks supplier of raw coffee beans.
 
Peets was not founded by the same person that founded Starbucks. I worked for Starbucks for nine years, I would know. Originally, Peets was Starbucks supplier of raw coffee beans.

And, before the Starbucks was a Howard Schulz venture capital exercise, the founders were former employees of Alfred Peet in Berkeley.

Years ago, my wife did a college research paper on Starbucks labor policies. Health care for entry level workers seemed a pretty good way to treat the working poor. I don't know what their policies are now, and especially to what extent they look out for working conditions for their foreign suppliers, but I always respected them as a company.

Castlebar's wild generalizations about "the West Coast palate" sounded asinine at first...but I find I agree. What he said about coffee that was meant to be bad I find good and what he said as good I found bad. Also, there are tons of local roasters out here, and most roast considerably lighter than Peets or Starbucks. We just don't let those beans go east :biggrin:

It seems in many things, like good beer, good coffee, and higher-quality food that the West Coast opens up the eyes of the rest of the nation on how good things can be when they break away from the processed food conglomerates like Kraft, Budweiser, Folgers, and Hersheys (who recently bought out and closed the excellent Scharffenberger chocolates of Berkeley). And then the rest of the nation lashes back at the West Coast as soon as they've created their own higher quality products that suit their tastes better or re-learned to value the regional specialties they've had all along. It's all good...

Roger
 
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