starbucks bucks offs

[kenny weir]

I feel sorry for the kids who're losing their jobs, but ... good riddance.

Speaking from a thoroughly parochial Melbourne perspective, I feel vindicated that their attempt to invade a city in which Italian sensibilities and coffee culture are so deeply embedded have proven no more successful than their third-rate products.

******************

http://www.theage.com.au/national/hu...0729-3mvb.html

Hundreds of jobs lost as Starbucks shuts 61 shops
Daniella Miletic, Tom Arup and Daniel Emerson

STARBUCKS will close 70% of its Australian stores and slash more than half of its workforce as the once-mighty coffee giant battles an economic downturn in the US, its own rapid expansion and local competition.

Across the country, the company's 84 cafes closed yesterday at 2pm. Employees were summoned to hotel meetings rooms to learn whether their store was one of the 61 "underperforming" to be closed by Sunday or if they were one of the 685 employees to lose their job.

Although the list of the stores to be closed has not been released, it is believed the controversial Starbucks shop in Lygon Street, Carlton, is among them. The 23 remaining stores in Australia will be located in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane CBD areas only.

This is the first mass closure since Starbucks revealed it would close 600 stores and cut up to 12,000 jobs in the US last month.

Starbucks president Howard Schultz ruled out closing other stores internationally and cited "challenges unique to the Australian market".

Retail analyst Barry Urquhart said Starbucks failed in Australia in part "because they didn't understand and respect the unique and differing characteristics of the Australian coffee consumer".

"In America, Starbucks is a state of mind. In Australia, it was simply another player," he said.

An entrenched presence of independent cafes as well as leading local brands such as Hudsons in Melbourne made it difficult for Starbucks to capture the following it needed, he said.

But he said the main reason for its demise was that it sold such a limited range of products outside its coffee range. "We (Australians) just simply didn't spend enough money there because there wasn't enough complementary products to buy," he said.

Management expert Professor John Roberts said Starbucks clashed with a culture heavily influenced by stronger brews brought in by European immigrants.

Starbucks operates more than 16,000 stores around the world, including more than 80 in Australia and 22 in Victoria. In metropolitan Melbourne, there are two stores on Bourke Street, two on Collins Street, one on Queen Street, one on Swanston Street, one on Spencer Street and one in Docklands.

Asia-Pacific president John Culver said stores in "remote" locations were not getting enough foot traffic. He said the closures were based on what was happening in Australia, not on the US economy.

ACTU president Sharan Burrow said Starbucks should pay all redundant workers their entitlements and assist them to find other jobs in the industry.

Mr Culver said staff to lose their jobs would receive payouts ranging from a maximum of 20 weeks' pay to a week's notice pay and a fortnight's severance pay.

Starbucks would also provide a 24-hour employee advice line for redundant employees, and said the company chose to inform employees face to face yesterday before informing the media.

Several former employees, mainly aged in their teens and early 20s, told The Age after a meeting at Little Bourke Street's Mantra Hotel that they were shocked by the suddenness of the announcement.

One former employee of the Lygon Street store said he was upset former employees had been given less than a week's notice despite Starbucks making the decision to close the store two weeks ago.

"All the stores were just cannibalising each other, all the bigger stores were just taking money from the smaller ones," Ilias, 22, said.

John, 18, who has recently moved to Melbourne from rural Victoria, had been working at a Collins Street Starbucks for only a month before yesterday's news.

"I'm a bit pissed off, I haven't been working long, so I'm a bit hurt," John said. "You know, first job in Melbourne with rent to pay and all of that, so it is pretty upsetting."

Those who spoke to The Age refused to reveal their names because management had told them "it will affect your redundancy" if they talked publicly.

[Alastair]

Good news, I'd say.

Two things jump out of that article:

'"In America, Starbucks is a state of mind. In Australia, it was simply another player," he said.'

and

'"All the stores were just cannibalising each other, all the bigger stores were just taking money from the smaller ones," Ilias, 22, said.'

So the famed flooding the area tactics don't work all the time then?

Looking forward to my trip to Melbourne later this year.

[Jesse]

Terrible product.

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Never set foot inside a Starbucks. I think that makes three of us.

[tippy]

I learned about good coffee here. http://www.roasting.com/home.html
I think the owner might have worked at Pasqua in San Francisco before he opened up in SLC in 1981. I still think SLRC is way tops in terms of coffee product. They roasted their beans on the premises. And I had a good in since my best friends worked the counter. Starbucks’ challenges are probably that the demand for their product means they can’t roast to tenderest perfection and that they ship roasted beans to their stores. They probably try to make up for the lack of freshness with the extra dark brew but you can’t fool me. It’s easier to find a good cup of joe in California than New York but I still liked SLRC coffee better than what I found when I lived in San Francisco so in a strange twist all the coffee I’ve had since I left SLC – the land of non-coffee drinkers - has been a compromise. I think Oren’s here might have some good coffees to brew at home. Maybe not sure. In New York I stick with my homemade Chock Full O’ Nuts which I am drinking right now.

[tippy]

http://www.roasting.com/brewing101.html

[clinthopson]

We have two Starbucks within a 1/4 mile of each other. The one on the busy corner does a land office business. I don't expect the other one to survive much longer.

Do you know that you can still get a cup of coffee at Phillipe's for nine cents?

[Gary Sisco]

Clint -- That's at least a fair price considering the almost nothing paid to the people who pick the coffee beans. I did it once. It's hard labor that also requires a lot of attention (if you break a stem or branch on a coffee bush, it won't grow back), dark to dark.

[John L]

"Terrible product" seems like a pretty big exaggeration to me. American coffee used to be terrible product until Peets, Starbucks, and others revolutionized the market by fostering a taste in the US for premium brew. Of course, Europeans have long had their special country-specific preferences for good coffee. But it was often quite difficult to find a decent cup of coffee in America in the 60s, and even the 70s.

On the other hand, particularly given the ease of market entry and competition in the coffee market, it has always been a mystery to me how Starbucks could profitably run so many stores. In Washington DC, there is a frickin' Starbucks in almost every other block of the city. You can sit in a Starbucks and have a view of another Starbucks. Thus, what is happening now does not surprise me.

[clinthopson]

Starbucks doesn't sell coffee. They sell milk.

I think the only times I've ever bought coffee at a Starbucks was at airports. I will say that some of the tastiest croissants I've ever tasted were from a Starbucks at New Oxford and Tottenham Court Road.

[Gary Sisco]

Good one, Clint! That's stealable material.

I went to one once, walking to the Village with Josh H who wanted a cuppa.

If I'm going to drop four bucks on a beverage, it's going to a glass of good whiskey.

[Jon Abbey]

"Terrible product" seems like a pretty big exaggeration to me. American coffee used to be terrible product until Peets, Starbucks, and others revolutionized the market by fostering a taste in the US for premium brew. Of course, Europeans have long had their special country-specific preferences for good coffee. But it was often quite difficult to find a decent cup of coffee in America in the 60s, and even the 70s.

their coffee is pretty awful in 2008, not sure what the 60s and 70s have to do with anything. I like some of their cakes, I buy slices of the lemon cake at the new one near us pretty often.

[tippy]

I agree with what John L said. Basically, Starbucks has elicited a demand for premium-let's call it "style" coffees resulting in greater choice at least for us Americans. As I said before, I think Starbucks as mega-chain cannot produce a fresh roasted coffee so it masks the staleness of shipped roasted beans by being extra dark.

[Sergio Zamora]

On the other hand, particularly given the ease of market entry and competition in the coffee market, it has always been a mystery to me how Starbucks could profitably run so many stores.

Meg Swan: We met at Starbucks. Not at the same Starbucks but we saw each other at different Starbucks across the street from each other.
...
Meg Swan: [Meg and Hamilton are talking about how they met at Starbucks] One day Hamilton gathered his courage and approached me...
Hamilton Swan: I remember, I was drinking a grande espresso.
Meg Swan: I know, and I remember I thought that was really sexy. I was drinking capuccinos... then I switched over to lattes... now it's double espresso macchiato...
Hamilton Swan: These days I'm a big chai tea/soymilk kind of guy.
Meg Swan: [gravely] Because of the lactose. You're lactose-intolerant now.

[jesus marion joseph]

There are worse things than Starbucks coffee, that's for sure, but I do think they're way overpriced. When I was in Texas for my sister's wedding I almost wept with joy at the sight of a Starbuck's after having to endure three days of tepid brews, alleged to have been coffee, in the hinterlands outside of Austin. Unbelievably bad stuff.

[Mike Schwartz]

In the states, besides all the store closures, I saw a report early this week that they're laying off 1,000 non-store employees.

I'm not a fan of the coffee products, but have enjoyed the 'culture' at some of the busy stores. There's one near my office that really seems to rock day in & day out. Really friendly, attentive, seemingly hard working emplyees.....all of my best friend's kids worked Starbucks gigs through high school. They paid better than other places and seemed to treat them all well.

I'll make a run with coworkers for the office, where it's a soy chai latte for me ( I couldn't fathom a drink like that before moving to Cali)!

[Gary Sisco]

I went back to drinking Chock Full O' Nuts again this year, as I used to pre all the various "new" coffees. I haven't minded it, at all, at less than half the cost. But coffee for me is something to wake up with. That's all.

[clinthopson]

We've been buying all our coffee at Trader Joes' and our current favorite is a Bolivian Fair Trade bean.

[Alastair]

Starbucks doesn't sell coffee. They sell milk.

I think the only times I've ever bought coffee at a Starbucks was at airports. I will say that some of the tastiest croissants I've ever tasted were from a Starbucks at New Oxford and Tottenham Court Road.

New Oxford Street, Clint I know which branch you mean and it's always very busy when I walk past. Now I know why

[Mike Schwartz]

Starbucks posts loss; shares up on U.S. store cuts
Wednesday July 30, 5:22 pm ET


LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp (NasdaqGS:SBUX - News) said it would close more U.S. stores than it would open next fiscal year, sending shares up nearly 5 percent even as it posted its first quarterly net loss since it went public in 1992.

The coffee chain said it now expects to have a net decrease of 60 stores in the United States, good news for investors who feel that the company has too many stores.

Starbucks reported a fiscal third-quarter net loss of $6.7 million, or 1 cent per share, compared with a year-earlier net profit of $158.3 million, or 21 cents per share.

Results from the most recent quarter included 17 cents in charges primarily related to store closures and restructuring.

Excluding the charges related to closing U.S. stores, Starbucks had a per-share profit of 16 cents, lagging the 18 cents average Wall Street target, according to Reuters Estimates.

Total revenue rose 9 percent to $2.6 billion from $2.4 billion.

Starbucks shares rose to $15.36 from their Nasdaq close of $14.67. Over the last year, Starbucks shares have lost more than 45 percent of their value.

[Chris D]

A tall Americano is not a bad deal, and it's not bad either.

[Scott Dolan]

We sometimes get some kind of mocha java latte grande or some such fucking nonsense if we go to our local Barns & No Bull during the winter time.

Eh, it's fine. The fuck do I care? I'm not a big coffee guy anyway. I don't know the diference between good and bad coffee, nor do I give a shit.

[jesus marion joseph]

We've been buying all our coffee at Trader Joes' and our current favorite is a Bolivian Fair Trade bean.

I typically buy the Fair Trade organic french roast. Gets my constitution perking in the morning.

[me wag]

I'm not a big fan of coffee but anyplace you can go hangout where you don't have to eat a meal or drink booze is fine by me. I think everybody in the known universe knew that they opened way too many stores. At 635 and MacArthur, which is by where I live, they got one within a block on the north side of 635 and another one within a block of 635 on the south side. In other words, about a block and a half away from each other. I'm guessing one of those has got to bite the dust.

[Monte Smith]

Speaking from a thoroughly parochial Melbourne perspective, I feel vindicated that their attempt to invade a city in which Italian sensibilities and coffee culture are so deeply embedded have proven no more successful than their third-rate products.

Is there a large Italian makeup to Melbourne? Or Australia generally? I ask because my main entry into Aussie culture, the Wiggles, is replete with Italian culture and language (opera, cooking, etc). I wouldn't have predicted it, but I guess it is so?

[MRS]

Fixed.

I'm not a big fan of coffee but anyplace you can go hangout where you don't have to eat a meal and drink booze is fine by me

And I go to Starbucks which are largely out of the way for one reason only: baristas. When I worked for a tailor fresh out of undergrad I used to hit up the Webster Groves Starbucks at least twice a week for an unsweetened iced tea I didn't want. A couple months of exorbitant tips n' friendly smiles and I had this tat'd up redhead in the sack faster than you can say Jack Robinson.

myspace. . .MYPLACE

[john williams]

Is there a large Italian makeup to Melbourne? Or Australia generally? I ask because my main entry into Aussie culture, the Wiggles, is replete with Italian culture and language (opera, cooking, etc). I wouldn't have predicted it, but I guess it is so?

Yes lots of Italians here right across Australia in the state capitals mainly, but Melbourne in particular has a very large Greek population. When Starbucks came to oz I think many people who'd been so used to great coffee from privately owned coffee shops for years wondered who the fuck Starbucks thought they were trying to fool with such bad product. Good riddance and I'm happy enough to see big chains fall on their fat arses. I've had one Starbucks coffee since they came here but never again. The folks who tend to go there are probably those who think the idea of Starbucks is cool.

[Paul B]

Terrible product.

Not compared with most of the coffee available in New York. Out west it's a different matter. Peet's is far superior, and always has been.

[Ron Thorne]

Believe it or not, Anchorage has become a mecca for coffee lovers, baristas and coffee roasters. We have two really excellent local coffee roasters, so I seldom (almost never) patronize Starbucks. I don't appreciate their over-reaching outreach in the past decade or so, or their inflated prices. We have two other roasters in Fairbanks and Ketchikan.

I really dig Peets, and generally prefer their products to Starbucks, but can find equal or better products right here at home, which makes me proud and happy to support them.




Kaladi Brothers Coffee

[clinthopson]

I fondly recall paying a bunch of money for tiny cups of espresso in Italy. The prices put Starbucks to shame.