Uhoh.... Starbucks is closing......

[AZKomet]

I was in Bangkok in April...there is a huge modern mall with about 8 floors and 2 Sbux per floor.....seems a bit redundant!!

[Francois_Dumas]

Starbucks is more of a milk place than a coffee place.

 

Yes, and Nina usually doesn't like nor drink coffee..... that's prolly why she liked Starbucks

[RichEdwards]

There's a Starbucks about a mile from my home. I've never been there and I'm sure it's one of the departing 600. Anyone who spends $4 or $5 for a coffee is nuts. I brew mine at home for about 25 cents a cup and drink it whilst I peruse this website.

[Woodie]

..I don't mean to start a dino vs. synth, Pepe's vs. Sally's (you CT. folks will understand that)

I was LOL as soon as I got to "Sally's". I worked in that city for several years.

 

..but Dunkin' Donuts has got it going over Starbucks any day of the week.

Agreed. I'm much happier with my "small, regular" D&D than with my "tall, house blend" at $.40 more.

 

[Bob Palin]

Anyone who spends $4 or $5 for a coffee is nuts. I brew mine at home for about 25 cents a cup and drink it whilst I peruse this website.

Where does anybody pay $4-5 for a regular coffee? I've been to Starbucks occasionally when traveling even though I don't particularly like their coffee, the largest size (whatever that is called!) is about $2. You can add things to it for extra money like a shot of espresso, but then it's more like two coffees.

[VinnyR11]

I'm glad for all the micro brews and coffee beans ready to roast - the other thing I'm glad for is the Czech Pilsner - so most people can taste what Budweiser was tasting like before they water it down.

 

Budweiser always tasted that watered down. You're just now more accustomed to beer with actual flavor. When we were living in Germany we were home on vacation and went to our old local bar. Ordered a couple of Buds and sent them back twice thinking the tap wasn't clean/right/whatever. It turned out we just became accustomed to real beer, and the stuff we used to think was OK tasted like water.

[VinnyR11]

Anyone who spends $4 or $5 for a coffee is nuts. I brew mine at home for about 25 cents a cup and drink it whilst I peruse this website.

Where does anybody pay $4-5 for a regular coffee? I've been to Starbucks occasionally when traveling even though I don't particularly like their coffee, the largest size (whatever that is called!) is about $2.

 

Their terminology drives me nuts as well. I refuse to use the Starbucks "veni, vidi, vici", or whatever the heck they call their sizes. If I'm in there I always order a "large coffee black". They often feign ignorance to the words "coffee" and "large", but eventually they come around.

[Knifemaker]

Their terminology drives me nuts as well. I refuse to use the Starbucks "veni, vidi, vici", or whatever the heck they call their sizes. If I'm in there I always order a "large coffee black". They often feign ignorance to the words "coffee" and "large", but eventually they come around.

 

 

+1

 

Went into Starbucks and and the girl for a large cup of coffee and she said "sir you mean a venti"....I said No, I said a large cup of coffee" so she desided to press the matter and said "Here at Starbucks it's called a venti"....At this point I had enough of this and replied...Young Lady, I am over 50 years old see those paper cups next to you...To me they represent small, medium and large and I said I want the large one and I do not wish to hear and 18 year old kid telling me how I should order a large cup of coffee!!

 

Yea I can be a jerk if pressed.....

[SageRider]

They often feign ignorance to the words "coffee" and "large"

That ignorance isn't feigned....

[Lets_Play_Two]

I wonder if we'll ever go back to coffee just being coffee?

 

Used to be pretty much all coffee was the same.

That's not true at all, it's just that the general public wasn't exposed to good coffee. In better restaurants you always got better coffee, not the swill they have at Dennys, or, dare I say it, Dunkin' Donuts (SWILL I say!)

 

I started drinking coffee by putting a dime in a vending machine on the factory floor and pushing a button. Wasn't too long before they got fancy and gave you a choice of strength and then "brewed" it on demand!!!

[Bob Palin]

Went into Starbucks and and the girl for a large cup of coffee and she said "sir you mean a venti"....I said No, I said a large cup of coffee" so she desided to press the matter and said "Here at Starbucks it's called a venti"....

I like to tell them I don't speak Latin, but half of them don't get it or they think I'm insulting Hispanics. I think I'll learn some Latin and speak it to them (Then they'll think I was in the HBO series Rome with my English accent)

[RichEdwards]

Where does anybody pay $4-5 for a regular coffee? I've been to Starbucks occasionally when traveling even though I don't particularly like their coffee, the largest size (whatever that is called!) is about $2. You can add things to it for extra money like a shot of espresso, but then it's more like two coffees.

 

I'm not a Starbucks customer, but when I visited my cousin in Seattle, we went to a Starbucks and he ordered a "MoccaFrappaCrappa" something or other and it cost $4.85. My regular coffee was $1.95 and very ordinary.

I tasted his drink...it was like a warm coffee-flavored ice cream soda.

[Bob Palin]

[i'm not a Starbucks customer, but when I visited my cousin in Seattle, we went to a Starbucks and he ordered a "MoccaFrappaCrappa" something or other and it cost $4.85. My regular coffee was $1.95 and very ordinary.

I tasted his drink...it was like a warm coffee-flavored ice cream soda.

I quite like their specialty drinks though I rarely have them, the prices are comparable to a fancy shake.

[stubble!]

Anyone who spends $4 or $5 for a coffee is nuts. I brew mine at home for about 25 cents a cup and drink it whilst I peruse this website.

Where does anybody pay $4-5 for a regular coffee? I've been to Starbucks occasionally when traveling even though I don't particularly like their coffee, the largest size (whatever that is called!) is about $2. You can add things to it for extra money like a shot of espresso, but then it's more like two coffees.

 

Aye, the distinction between coffee and espresso needs to be made. They're two different things, comparing the price is invalid. From an overhead standpoint, there's more cost incurred in producing good espresso drinks (equipment, skill, materials) than coffee. Beyond that, sure, 'specialty' pricing applies.

 

I have a soft spot for a fresh cup of Denny's coffee. But I'll happily pay $4.50 for a good espresso drink. Two different things. Note that I haven't found that Starbucks sells any of either

 

FWIW, my normal coffee routine involves a french press. I'm no connoisseur, but the press is quick, convenient, and makes a DAMN good cup of coffee with little investment.

 

[Francois_Dumas]

WoW !! I haven't had this much information coming back with any of my posts !

 

Let's see, what could my next one be....... 'The taste of Coke is going to change....', or wait, perhaps '.... McDonalds extends its lead in China.....' ??

 

I wouldn't dream of starting a thread about gearbox oil or - gasp - Harleys, of course.

[russell_bynum]

Starbucks brought "good" coffee* into the mass-market consciousness. The genius of Starbucks was to associate coffee with an upscale image - the cozy stores with places to sit and relax and savor your "gourmet" coffee drink, the fancy pastries, the pseudo-European name on your fancy drink. Plus the coffee itself was different from the swill that people were used to and a little bit difficult and adventurous. Starbucks combined social climbing and coffee.

 

Right, that was my take on it as well. Marketing brilliance. Put some snot-nosed kid with an attitude behind the counter and give them a fancy title, change the names of everything so you feel like you're "in the club" if you know how to order a cup of coffee using the "correct" terminology. Yuppies eat that sh*t up.

 

 

[bakerzdosen]

Right, that was my take on it as well. Marketing brilliance. Put some snot-nosed kid with an attitude behind the counter and give them a fancy title, change the names of everything so you feel like you're "in the club" if you know how to order a cup of coffee using the "correct" terminology. Yuppies eat that sh*t up.

Well, don't forget... you've gotta tip your "Baristas" at Starbucks as well. The one guy at work who drinks coffee likes the B&N Starbucks for just that reason - they don't allow tipping.

[marcopolo]

Starbucks is more of a milk place than a coffee place.

 

In one book on the subject I read, the author suggested that the reason Starbucks roasts its beans until they're almost burnt is so that customers can taste the coffee through the milk. Many of the drinks they sell are largely milk based, and this author contended that Starbucks was a purveyor of milk, much more so than coffee. He had some numbers on how much milk the chain consumed and it was staggering. From my experience in various Starbucks stores, the percentage of people who come in and buy just a regular ole coffee is pretty small.

[marcopolo]

Their terminology drives me nuts as well. I refuse to use the Starbucks "veni, vidi, vici", or whatever the heck they call their sizes. If I'm in there I always order a "large coffee black". They often feign ignorance to the words "coffee" and "large", but eventually they come around.

 

 

+1

 

Went into Starbucks and and the girl for a large cup of coffee and she said "sir you mean a venti"....I said No, I said a large cup of coffee" so she desided to press the matter and said "Here at Starbucks it's called a venti"....At this point I had enough of this and replied...Young Lady, I am over 50 years old see those paper cups next to you...To me they represent small, medium and large and I said I want the large one and I do not wish to hear and 18 year old kid telling me how I should order a large cup of coffee!!

 

Yea I can be a jerk if pressed.....

 

Ah, don't be such a grumpy old man.

[Bob Palin]

Right, that was my take on it as well. Marketing brilliance. Put some snot-nosed kid with an attitude behind the counter and give them a fancy title, change the names of everything so you feel like you're "in the club" if you know how to order a cup of coffee using the "correct" terminology. Yuppies eat that sh*t up.

 

I bet you're a regular at InNOut though

[russell_bynum]

Right, that was my take on it as well. Marketing brilliance. Put some snot-nosed kid with an attitude behind the counter and give them a fancy title, change the names of everything so you feel like you're "in the club" if you know how to order a cup of coffee using the "correct" terminology. Yuppies eat that sh*t up.

 

I bet you're a regular at InNOut though

 

"Regular" Not really...I probably go once a month or so.

 

I fail to see how that compares in any way, shape, or form anyway. Hamburgers are called Hamburgers, large is large, the people working the drive through are known for being very polite, and prices aren't really out of line with other fast food places. How is that in any way like Starbucks?

[ShovelStrokeEd]

Ah, Starbucks, crap, burnt coffee and they still manage to sell huge amounts of it. I LIKE COFFEE. I don't like their interpretation of it. Therefore, I don't go there. Just trying to do my part in their demise. What is scarier is that Dunkin Donuts sells more coffee than does Starbucks and, if anything, it is worse.

 

 

[Jerry_75_Guy]

Ah, Starbucks, crap, burnt coffee and they still manage to sell huge amounts of it. I LIKE COFFEE. I don't like their interpretation of it. Therefore, I don't go there. Just trying to do my part in their demise. What is scarier is that Dunkin Donuts sells more coffee than does Starbucks and, if anything, it is worse.

 

Cheap (relatively speaking, compared to other chemical addictions), legal, addictive stimulants: the perfect business model.

 

For me, that explains it all.

 

Starschmucks is 'ok' by me; when I buy there, which is rare, I know what I'm getting into.

 

Mostly I make my own, and it's much better (in my opinion )

[Bob Palin]

I fail to see how that compares in any way, shape, or form anyway. Hamburgers are called Hamburgers, large is large, the people working the drive through are known for being very polite, and prices aren't really out of line with other fast food places. How is that in any way like Starbucks?

They have a whole bunch of secret hamburger combinations that you can only get by asking with the secret name. It's considered 'cool' to know the names, so it's really just like Starbucks, except even more so.

[CoarsegoldKid]

Well, that's going to absolutely KILL us here. We've got a grand total of two in our county, and one of those is in Barnes & Noble.

The B & N is most likely an independent, not Starbuck's owned.

 

[CoarsegoldKid]

I wonder if we'll ever go back to coffee just being coffee?

 

Used to be pretty much all coffee was the same...

 

Doesn't really matter to me...I can't stand the stuff.

 

I can take it or leave it. But I do like good coffee. Wife must have her daily fix. I don't drink coffee in a restaurant because I have learned from her that restaurant coffee for the most part is BAD. So yes pretty much all coffee is the same. BAD. She still drinks the stuff.

 

It's hard to believe that Starbuck's bean(great pun) counters thought so many stores close to each other were a good idea and now have changed their mind saying they just cut into another of their stores profits. What a blunder. GO figure. We knew that all along.

 

[russell_bynum]

I fail to see how that compares in any way, shape, or form anyway. Hamburgers are called Hamburgers, large is large, the people working the drive through are known for being very polite, and prices aren't really out of line with other fast food places. How is that in any way like Starbucks?

They have a whole bunch of secret hamburger combinations that you can only get by asking with the secret name. It's considered 'cool' to know the names, so it's really just like Starbucks, except even more so.

 

Ah.

 

That's a little different. That's just names that they've given to special requests. So...rather than having to put in "extra pickles, extra sauce, grilled onions", they just put "animal style".

 

If you order a hamburger and then specify all of the mods necessary to make it "animal style" rather than just saying "Animal style", they're not going to look at you like you just peed on the Mona Lisa like they will in Starbucks if you dare call a large a large.

 

Yes...people have made it like a special thing if you know the secret handshake, but that's idiot's doing, not In-N-Out's. I'm not sure why that is. A McDonald's quarter pounder without cheese is a "Quarter Ham", but not only does nobody care...if you go to the drivethrough and order a "Quarter Ham", their heads explode.

[leikam]

We went by Starbucks on the way home tonight. $8 and change for two blended drinks and I did ask for a "medium" instead of calling it a "grande". The cashier didn't flinch so either she was about to get fired, we ended up at the one location where training has not penetrated or it actually isn't that big a deal.

 

Yeah, some people have taken "starbucks culture" to absurdity, but not everybody does. Good thing that excessive enthusiasm train doesn't run through BMW motorcycling culture...

[russell_bynum]

Good thing that excessive enthusiasm train doesn't run through BMW motorcycling culture...

 

[bakerzdosen]

One could also argue that the In-N-Out lingo is rather similar to "diner speak." If you don't know what "Adam and Eve on a raft" is, you've probably at least heard it. It's just and easier way to communicate common orders.

[Les is more]

Dave Barry on cup sizes.

[Francois_Dumas]

LOL! It gets better by the day !

[tallman]

Dave Barry on cup sizes.

 

 

Size matters?

[PRC]

You know, one thing that's been left out of this equation is........

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

where the hell is Marty gonna go now???????

[Francois_Dumas]

 

where the hell is Marty gonna go now???????

 

Exactly........ he now needs new stickers: WDMYWC

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Where Does Marty Yap With Coffee)

 

 

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Dave Barry on cup sizes.

 

 

Size matters?

 

Yes, Size Does Matter.

[BULLman]

Dave Barry on cup sizes.

 

I thought it was funny that there was a google ad for Starbucks double shot expresso with that story.

[DaveTheAffable]

I fail to see how that compares in any way, shape, or form anyway. Hamburgers are called Hamburgers, large is large, the people working the drive through are known for being very polite, and prices aren't really out of line with other fast food places. How is that in any way like Starbucks?

They have a whole bunch of secret hamburger combinations that you can only get by asking with the secret name. It's considered 'cool' to know the names, so it's really just like Starbucks, except even more so.

 

Killer... join me in So Cal anytime for an 'Animal' at In and Out.

 

I don't "LOVE" Starbucks, but for $1.80 (compared to $1 to $1.50 elsewhere) the places are clean, neat, polite, the workers speak english to me, and say thank you when they hand me my coffee. Their "success" is much more about customer service and marketing than anything else. McDonalds, Carls, J in B, Burger King, and the rest just don't get it.

[Bob Palin]

I don't "LOVE" Starbucks, but for $1.80 (compared to $1 to $1.50 elsewhere) the places are clean, neat, polite, the workers speak english to me, and say thank you when they hand me my coffee. Their "success" is much more about customer service and marketing than anything else.

They are also reputed to treat their employees very well.

[Francois_Dumas]

Enlighten this pooor old European... I've heard of McDonalds, Starbucks, Burger King,DQ, Citgo even... and 7-Eleven.. but what is In-And-Out ?

[tallman]

http://www.in-n-out.com/default.asp

 

 

Bible verses on containers

http://www.snopes.com/business/alliance/inandout.asp

 

The "secret menu"

http://www.badmouth.net/in-n-outs-secret-menu/

 

Nutrition

http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/foods-from-in-n-out-burger/8238/2

[Francois_Dumas]

Thanks Tim, I must have miss-googled it

 

Ah that explains, they're in a part of the country we haven't visited yet

 

Man, that's an entire cow on that burger !!!

[Bob Palin]

I think In-N-Out was initially a southern California 'thing'. When the first one opened in the San Francisco area it created a huge fuss, everybody, I tell you just everybody dahling, had to go there. There were often over 100 cars in line at the drive in, at all times of the day. That's why I think of In-N-Out as just being another fashionable "cool" establishment like Starbucks and their silly secret menu just adds to that impression.

[FlyingFinn]

When the first one opened in what_ever_area it created a huge fuss, everybody, I tell you just everybody dahling, had to go there. There were often over 100 cars in line at the drive in, at all times of the day.

 

Did you say Krispy Kreme??? I don't think they had any secret menu items but other than that they pretty much copied the same business model. Create huge fuss about some mundane, been around forever, everyday product.

Worked pretty darn good. For a while

 

--

Mikko

[DavidEBSmith]

One could also argue that the In-N-Out lingo is rather similar to "diner speak." If you don't know what "Adam and Eve on a raft" is, you've probably at least heard it. It's just and easier way to communicate common orders.

 

Like the way the cooks at Waffle House keep track of the orders by orienting the plate and the condiments on it?

[bakerzdosen]

MMMMmmm... If you can't get sirloin with a good packet of ketchup, what good is it?

[VinnyR11]

We went by Starbucks on the way home tonight. $8 and change for two blended drinks and I did ask for a "medium" instead of calling it a "grande". The cashier didn't flinch so either she was about to get fired, we ended up at the one location where training has not penetrated or it actually isn't that big a deal.

 

Yeah, some people have taken "starbucks culture" to absurdity, but not everybody does. Good thing that excessive enthusiasm train doesn't run through BMW motorcycling culture...

 

That should be "Good thing that excessive enthusiasm train doesn't run through Beemer culture..."

[Bud]

Micky D's at $0.50 per cup, tax included, for seniors is one reason.

 

Plus, the price of Bucky's coffee will buy at least a gallon of gas for the RT.

[Bud]

For fathers day my son gave me an Aeropress

 

Love it.

[BadAdam]

If they only made some adult beverages at the local starbucks I'd go there more often.

 

Shot's of brandy in the coffee would make it much easier to get through the workday...