Starbucks Steps Up Their Game

NY Times / Stuart Isett



Retail coffee sales is big business. We all know that. Until recently, Starbucks had a lock on the premier coffee market, then along came strong, local independents, like La Colombe in Philadelphia, and from the other side, big boys Dunkin' Donuts and McDonalds.

If you think Starbucks is going to sit back on their laurels and lose market share without a fight, think again. Starbucks' first interest in green is not the environment (sorry, bad dad analogy).

Today, I read a story of their first response to this competition, and the criticism that their coffee is no longer the best.

Starbucks has purchased a company called the Coffee Equipment Company of Seattle (CECS). CECS makes a coffee brewing machine that brews one cup at a time with freshly ground beans, adjustments can be made according to the kind of coffee. It was being sold to non-Starbucks specialty, coffee-bars at the cost of $11,000. Starbucks is now testing the machine in select Boston, Massachusetts Starbucks stores. They are, according to their CEO, committed to making a better cup of coffee.

The problem Starbucks has is a little more complicated than making a better cup of coffee. They have diffused their business to the point of slightly losing their identity. Their initial appeal, to coffee lovers who will pay for a good cup of coffee was expanded to the casual buyer who wants the flavored coffee drinks and who doesn't care about the finer details of coffee flavor. Starbucks in the last few years has made a fortune off the latter. Add to that music, mugs, t-shirts, machinery, chocolate and lunch and you start to have an identity crisis. If you lose the real coffee-lovers, eventually you lose the others. It's the problem of time, meteoric-style growth, profitability, and a diffused vision.

Starbucks has lost 45% of their market value in the last two years. The Dow gained 10%, the NASDAQ stayed even. That's really bad news for Starbucks. But, they are still very profitable, they are sitting on a billion in cash, and I think, on the offensive again. Honestly, I look to see a Starbucks resurgence.

(Jeromey, still there? Your turn.)

Read more here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/26/dining/26starbucks.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin

Taxi !

I have made no secret of the fact that I have been spending more time in Philly than in Fort Worth. One obvious difference between the two cities is population and traffic density, and wherever you have density, you have taxis, and in Philadelphia, they are everywhere.

Now, I'm fortunate to be able to walk to work. And I walk in the evening. If you walk a lot, you see people waving down a taxi day and night. After a while you group together, in your mind, the more interesting approaches. Here's a short list of the folks I see, and their method:

1. The Business man hail is performed with a slight briefcase rise while looking at the cab and then his watch. It's the least pretentious, most common, and the least enjoyable to watch.
2. The Girls Night Out hail is a fun one. Several ladies stroll out of a club in the evening in their inimitably, giggly-girl way. One is the fun-loving but take charge type who waves down the taxi like waving to a sailor going off to sea. Lots of arm movement with a high pitched "Yoohoooo." No concern for machismo coolness, just bring that sucker to mama.
3. Similarly, there is the Three Guys Strolling out of bar in their, "I think she wanted me kind of way," and all three want to do the hailing. If the first guy hails and fails, he's in trouble. Then guy two steps up and says, "step aside bonehead, let me show you how it's done." If he fails, and the third guy gets the cab, his success makes him top dog until the next competition. We can't help it that's just the way we are.
4. Then there's the tourist, "Is this how you hail a cab?" arm wave. They always look surprised, but especially pleased when one stops.
   
5. There are two annoying approaches. First is the "Girl picks up Guy" hail outside the bar. As the girl drags her prey to the curb, she gives a jerky wave to a taxi after saying, "I'll get the cab." Poor sucker, I think, get out while you can. The other annoying one is the overly stuck on himself guy who hails the cab and gets annoyed when cabs are full and don't respond. I've been tempted to body check his macho ass to the curb as I pass, but I don't. I see a lot of these two.
6. My favorite for observation is the guy with New date hail. The lovebirds step out of a restaurant and guy hails cab like James Bond stepping out of a casino in Monte Carlo. I love to watch this one if the girl responds with "Oh, James" admiration. If the guy doesn't act too much like, "the world responds to my command," but instead acts humbly, and even a little self-deprecating, he scores major points with the girl. I'll often stop walking to finish watching this one.

If you have never hailed a cab on a busy city street, add it to your list of simple pleasures to enjoy before full retirement. My wife and I need a taxi every month or so, and I have to admit that it is a particularly satisfying feeling to step outside one's apartment, raise one's hand in hail fashion and within 10 seconds have a car pull up and a driver who says, "where to?"
"The airport, please" I say, as I open the door for my wife. . . unfortunately, she doesn't seem that impressed.

The Real March Madness . . .