William Crawford
Hazel CastilloStarbucks hits a wall
July 6th 2008 08:38
I’ve been watching the news and following that upstart coffee shop wannabe, Starbucks. They can open more stores, hire more employees and serve more java, but they will never surpass the quirky raw sexiness of the Coffee Quip. Here’s my take on their hapless situation; help yourself to the day old donuts and some fresh coffee while I bloviate for a few minutes.
Starbucks is closing some of it’s none productive stores, about 600 of them, they have about 7,100 store in the US; but, don’t panic, there’ll still be plenty of shops for everyone to visit and patronize on the way to and from anywhere.
So what happened? The cash cow started drying out, but why. In a word: competition.
Mom and pop operations, along with major stores chains, have cut into Starbucks cash streams by opening up competing coffee kiosks which feature quality offerings for less money. That ultimately sent Starbucks back to the drawing board. So, what do you do? The only area that they could improve upon was in the quality of their service; so they opted to close stores for 3 hours for Barista Re-training back in February. I hope the caffeine addicts were able to survive that brutal blow better than the company. Apparently, this bit them in the pocket book.
So, now instead of being the fair haired child of the financial world, they’re under the gun to perform in a radically changed market. Part of the problem is their public image, beyond an icon: whose is the face and persona of Starbucks? It’s the employees, when their zeal slumps and they aren’t rewarded for encouraging sales by engaging customers, the system begins to erode.
Raven
Sources:
Starbucks Closures
Starbucks 3 Barista Re-training
| 73 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog
Comment by Michaelie
Flick Wit
Comment by katyzzz
Photography Tips
MS Paint Art
May I ask where, yes I know it's in Alaska but I've yet to see it deliver on that promise.
Is that a diabetic chocolate eclair there?
I'll have the usual Bombe Alaska for one and a hot chocolate as it's so cold here (there) to-day, Please.
Keep working on that diabetic eclair recipe,
Here's one for coffee,
Spoon out required measure of diabetic coffee, add the diabetic milk and fluff up with the diabetic cream, or if preferred black, simply use diabetic water, straight from the tap but put through the expresso machine, hell, man, anyone can do that. What's wrong wich ya?
Comment by katyzzz
Photography Tips
MS Paint Art
Comment by tlcorbin
Raven
Comment by tlcorbin
Imported diet diabetic water . . . hmmmmm
Raven
Comment by katyzzz
Photography Tips
MS Paint Art
Comment by tlcorbin
Comment by katyzzz
Photography Tips
MS Paint Art
Comment by tlcorbin
Comment by Anonymous
Starbucks is rather pricey, though.
Actually, I think all food/beverage industries are suffering right now. There was another article in today's paper about how bad off people working in tip-industries are doing... and I know it's true, 'cause I work in a restaraunt, for tips (Goddess knows it's not for the hourly pay! - or should I say lack of?), and my income has dropped drastically over the past three months. But that's another subject all together now, isn't it? *smiles*
Always a pleasure to have doffee with you.
Blessings,
W
Comment by tlcorbin