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Bye Bye Starbucks

kyser_soze said:
Tasty. I've had hot coke before. I was in Oz and had left a bottle out for about 2 hours, it was practically boiling*, had completely de-fizzed but was pretty damn tasty!
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It is better than Starbucks.

They don't seem to spend much on advertising compared to Macd, BK or KFC but I guess their rents are pretty high given the locations.
It is a totally shite product though as Nick H days. Only time I remember anything half decent about their stuff was when they were launching frappacinnos (sp?) and giving them away free backstage at a festival in the DC area. We started using them as bombs and frap pistols though. Starbucks were not happy. Neither were the stewards. Nor Missy Elliott's hangers-on.
 
lenny101 said:
There toilets are nicer than Macdonalds which is good if your are in town and need a piss.
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Not the ones on Tottenham Court Road or Borders off Charing Cross.

There's always a fucking giant log when I go in there. Or some weirdo hanging around the cubicles.

At least with Macdonalds or KFC there's security.
So you get an uninterrupted shit.
 
If I'm in town I go to a decent café, like the one in the Photographers Gallery by Oxford Circus. Much nicer coffee, cheaper prices, lovely fresh rolls and proper home made cake. Oh, and several clean loos too.
 
editor said:
I would have expected to find more in lower Manhattan which is surely far more densely populated with workers, no?
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friend came over for the states (not manhattan mind) and couldnt believe how many strabucks there were (we were sightseeing in town). he found it upsetting.

to add to the criticisms, theyre pumped full of sugar and the place is usually a mess.

i still cant get over how the two nearest macdonalds to me have shut down, and one is now a gym!:cool:
 
ska invita said:
friend came over for the states (not manhattan mind) and couldnt believe how many strabucks there were (we were sightseeing in town). he found it upsetting.

to add to the criticisms, theyre pumped full of sugar and the place is usually a mess.

i still cant get over how the two nearest macdonalds to me have shut down, and one is now a gym!:cool:
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The times they are changin' - Bob Dylan.
(hopefully)
 
their coffee is truly horrible stuff, can't figure out why people can't taste how bad it is.. i'd take a mcdonalds coffee over starbucks
 
diabolus said:
their coffee is truly horrible stuff, can't figure out why people can't taste how bad it is.. i'd take a mcdonalds coffee over starbucks
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I made the error of buying their ground coffee in a supermarket.
More expensive than the others placed alongside them.

It didn't taste of anything.

Certainly not what i understand as coffee.

It was just nondescript.
 
editor said:
I would have expected to find more in lower Manhattan which is surely far more densely populated with workers, no?
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The cost of retail space is obviously a huge factor. Plus the geography is vastly diff; you can't get 1/2 of a mile from Lower Manhatten in three directions without getting very wet.
 
London_Calling said:
The cost of retail space is obviously a huge factor. Plus the geography is vastly diff; you can't get 1/2 of a mile from Lower Manhatten in three directions without getting very wet.
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Sure. But Manhattan goes a very lonoooog way up!

Thrown in for fun:

Manhattan:
Population
- Total 1,634,795
- Density 71,201/sq mi (27,490.9/km2)

City of London
Population (mid-2007 est)
- Total 8,000
- Density 7,143/sq mi (2,759/km2)

Incidentally, there used to be a Starbucks inside the office I worked for in NYC - a trend that's now come to London (e.g. there's a private Starbucks inside the Sothebys Institute of Art.)
 
I reluctantly went to Starbucks for the first time ever about three months ago. It was a hot day so I ordered a "Frapuccino"...which was just coffee with some milk and full of cracked ice cubes. I think my boyfriend (he invited) paid 2 quid for that (I'm only estimating). I couldn't stomach so much ice! so I threw it away. That was the last time I ever set foot in Starbucks.
 
The odd taste of Starbucks is explained by the habits of yer average American consumer. Before Starbucks exploded 22 years ago the American middle classes who'd never been to Italy or France and tasted real coffee (i.e. 99.99% of them) thought that instant Folgers was posh. It's their equivalent of Gold Blend. It's vile. But the septics had grown up with it, so Starbucks had to ape it.

It's odd that they didn't introduce a more continental menu when they came to Europe. The filth we get here is the same muck you get in the first branch in Seattle.
 
Before Starbucks exploded 22 years ago the American middle classes who'd never been to Italy or France and tasted real coffee (i.e. 99.99% of them) thought that instant Folgers was posh
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Fixed for you. Having just come back from an Italy/France holiday, I can honestly say the French experience was not good in any way in comparison with Italy!
 
Pat24 said:
I reluctantly went to Starbucks for the first time ever about three months ago. It was a hot day so I ordered a "Frapuccino"...which was just coffee with some milk and full of cracked ice cubes. I think my boyfriend (he invited) paid 2 quid for that (I'm only estimating). I couldn't stomach so much ice! so I threw it away. That was the last time I ever set foot in Starbucks.
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probably more like 3 quids.
 
editor said:
Sure. But Manhattan goes a very lonoooog way up!

Thrown in for fun:

Manhattan:
Population
- Total 1,634,795
- Density 71,201/sq mi (27,490.9/km2)

City of London
Population (mid-2007 est)
- Total 8,000
- Density 7,143/sq mi (2,759/km2)

Incidentally, there used to be a Starbucks inside the office I worked for in NYC - a trend that's now come to London (e.g. there's a private Starbucks inside the Sothebys Institute of Art.)
Click to expand...

My bf has Starbucks at his work at price waterhous cooper. Theirs a starbuck in the building.
 
quimcunx said:
Oh, okay. Well most of my point is still applicable.


where is kabbes? There's gonna be riots soon if he doesn't shift his arse.

:(
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In Manhattan, funnily enough. I'm just grabbing a moment to catch up whilst the kabbess is in the shower. Hello!

I won't be back until Thursday though, so you're just going to have do Do The Math, as they say in these parts, without me.

Have a Nice Day.
 
A lot of Starbucks in the US are quite shabby affairs - more like knackered old Wimpy bars than a 'third place coffee solution' (or whatever they describe themselves as).
 
I can never get a seat in the NY ones because the tables are always full of people sat round tapping away on their laptops and barely drinking any coffee. It doesn't seem to be a very profitable way to run the business.

To my knowledge the demise of Starbucks has been going on a lot longer in the States though. It was inevitable that our stores in London were going to be scaled down eventually as people fall out of favour with them and the recession hits.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8026026.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7721166.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7534270.stm
 
quimcunx said:
It's a franchise, isn't it? Starbucks don't care if individual premises are profitable or not, as the franchisee takes most of the risk, surely. It carpetbombs an area taking business from independents. Then some starbucks might shut but they're still getting a good income from the area overall.

Maybe London is at peak while Lower Manhattan has passed its peak?
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McDonalds had the same issue a few years ago - with their franchisees taking hits every time a new one opened. It was (along with the McLibel 2) one of the main causes of their first corporate loss ever.
 
It's not a franchise, it's that their business model is based on a quite simple process. Open a shitload of Starbuckses in an area. Cross-subsidise them so it doesn't matter if they're unprofitable. Kill off local competition. Then close down enough of them so that the remaining ones are profitable again, as there's nowhere else to get coffee any more so everybody has to go to you. Supermarkets do very similar things.
 
FridgeMagnet said:
It's not a franchise, it's that their business model is based on a quite simple process. Open a shitload of Starbuckses in an area. Cross-subsidise them so it doesn't matter if they're unprofitable. Kill off local competition. Then close down enough of them so that the remaining ones are profitable again, as there's nowhere else to get coffee any more so everybody has to go to you. Supermarkets do very similar things.
Click to expand...


That's not worked in London - there always still loads of coffee shop around a Starbucks.
 
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