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In March, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz will wipe the flop sweat off his brow and try to forestall doom by jumping on the value-meal bandwagon. He's is also firing back at a billboard put up by McDonald's in Seattle which reads, "Four bucks is dumb," referring to Starbucks's reputation as the home of the $4 cup of coffee. Baristas will now be doing double duty as brewers of corporate propaganda, instructed to inform customers that the average price of a Starbucks beverage is less than $3, and that 90% of Starbucks drinks cost under $4.
"There have been others that have been propagating the myth of the $4 latte, and that is not true," Starbucks marketing exec Michelle Gass tells the Wall Street Journal, adding that the average price of a Starbucks latte is $3.25. "We have got to correct the misperceptions that are out there." Thing is, the reporter whose perceptions she tried to correct knows full well that the cost of a 16 oz. latte in New York is actually $4.06, including tax.
But it is true that some sizes and varieties of Starbucks are actually cheaper than Dunkin' Donuts coffee, once size differences are factored in. And the gap between Starbucks prices and that of its competitors, including McDonald's, has narrowed since 2007, when the retailer's death spiral began. With profits continuing to drop—sales fell 10 percent overall at Starbucks nationwide—Schultz is banking on the value meals, which will include a tall brewed coffee with a breakfast sandwich for $3.95. The AP has more on the upcoming discounts.
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STRAIGHT INTO THE GROUND(S)
Everybody likes to dump all over Starbucks...personally, I go there most everyday. Everytime I've bought a coffee from DD it's burnt. I do believe it's time for SB to do a major overhaul, though. Get rid of the sandwiches, cold drinks and other crap and get back into the business of good coffee with maybe a few offerings of sweets. They could probably use a new store design, too.
I never drink Starbucks, but don't they have a reputation for burning their coffee?
They have a reputation of lacing their coffee beans with additional caffeine.
People who are used to drinking very light roast watery coffee are the ones constantly claiming dark roast coffee is "burnt." Personally, I much prefer a bold, dark roast.
Dunkin is better than Starbucks in almost every city other than New York. The franchisees here are terrible. In Boston, the DnD's blow away Starbucks.
And besides the point, why would anyone in this city have a gag-inducing Starbucks breakfast sandwich when you can get bacon, egg, and cheese on a city bagel and a large coffee for $3 and change at any deli?
Agreed, DD's NYC franchisees are extremely inconsistent...there are a couple of consistently good ones, but many have no understanding of how people like to drink coffee...often the employees are recent immigrants who have little command of English and likely never drank coffee in their home country. It is true that some Starbucks baristas make better drinks than others, but the differences are not nearly as bad as at DD.
DD franchisees are also allowed to set their own prices, which means two DD's within a few blocks of each other might have vastly different prices for certain items, whereas nearly all Starbucks shops are company-owned and they all have identical prices in a particular geographic area.
A year ago McD's "McCafe" program trying to compete with Starbucks looked like a joke...franchisees complained about the expense and they had a long history of mediocre coffee to overcome. Today McD's has amazing profits due in part to their new coffee products, and it would seem even after the economy turns around, consumers will be more cost-conscious and turn toward cheaper options than SBUX.
Starbucks is sewer water. Fuck them and their innovative ideas
Starbucks is swill.
Thank you home roaster, Rocky and Miss Silvia.
Starbucks gives part timers health benefits.
Starbucks > McDonalds and Dunkin.
Fuck Dunkin.
Dunkin Donuts coffee does taste way better than Starbucks coffee, which DOES taste burned.
People use Starbucks as a place to work on their computer, unlike dunking donuts or McDonald's with their back spasm inducing plastic benches with no lumbar support to get you to hurry up and leave to bring in the next customers.
McDonald's isn't that cheap either: $7 for a big mac meal. And their bathrooms are pretty nasty similar to gas station bathrooms.
starbucks is like the only place that lets you take a leak in the bathroom without having to buy something first. unless there are plans to replace them with (relatively) clean public toilets, i'd rather not see starbucks go
Starbucks = Burnt Dirt
Four Buck Muck.
Or you can go to Carve and get a really decent coffee with 2 eggs and cheese on a bun for only $3!
ugh. I hate seeing things like this on the news because I know I will have to go into work and be cheery, smile about it, and endlessly offer offer offer it. "Why sir, did you know you could get a breakfast sandwich with that grande coffee for about a dollar more?" "Add a breakfast sandwich and get two dollars off!" ARGH
On the other hand, I still have a job, so hooray for that.
Good or bad, I find it hilllllaaaaarious that NYC's upwardly mobile, bleeding heart, gentry lemmings may have to endure the effrontery of waiting on line with their blue collar underlings and hired help.
How many douches in a pair of Seven jeans, a sport coat, and AV club glasses will look at the Trini nanny in front of him and the Chicano day laborer behind him and think with a sniff: "Wasn't this why I swore never to go to Dunkin's!".