Mea Cuppa, Mea Maxima Cuppa

"I humbly recognize and share both your concern and your disappointment in how the company has performed and how that has affected your investment in Starbucks," Schultz told investors. "I promise you this will not stand."

So spake Howard Schultz at the annual shareholder meeting. Then he announced the solution: Starbucks is buying Clover, a Ballard company that makes coffee machines. And they'll maybe start serving energy drinks.

Not enough. Schultz--like Bush--doesn't seem to understand that he has squandered his goodwill, that no amount of fair-trade, shade-grown coffee is going to bring harmony to the espresso battlefield, no amount of shiny new hardware is going to win back the loyalty of stockholders.

And did you have to sell the Sonics out from under us?

Schultz--like Bush--seems to suffer from hubris, from a sense of entitlement that victory should be his because he has the best narrative. So what happened?

"You have an economy that is really in a tailspin," Schultz admits.

But the small pleasures of a latte were supposed to be the antidote to hard times; Starbucks was supposed to be recession-proof. A shame, a real shame that the green Starbucks dot, like Gatsby's green light, is tarnished, now forever out of reach.

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By Ronald in Food on March 20, 2008 1:30 PM

Comments [rss]

ronaldholden

Swag, you ignorant slut. The "Mea Cuppa" headline was a pun on "Mea Culpa." (Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. Mea Culpa, it's my fault.) The opening quote was Howard The Schultz confessing his sins. Sorry if it went over your head.

swag

I used to say that any non-Englishman who says "cuppa" should be slapped silly. Now I say that any human who says "cuppa" should be summarily shot in the head.

Troy Morris

I think that we here in Seattle spend so much time in our anti-homegrown-empire bubble that we forget certain essential facts.

Starbucks stocks fell, but most stocks have fallen. 45% is a lot, but it is far from the end of days for the Jolly Green Giant.

Schultz, perhaps, has realized that the gravy train has ended. Starbucks grew and grew and grew until it could grow no more. Now, in this age of recession, growth alone is not enough to garnish the loyalty of stock holders.

There was a day where Starbucks, or any large company, could gain in stock price by expansion alone. The promise of expansion was enough to have investors clamoring for a piece of the pie.

Now, investors are weary wary. They want to see hard numbers and are looking at the near future and not some far off, sky-held dream. Some could argue that they should have been concerned with that the entire time, that their wishful, blind investing were the cause of the very problems that now haunt their homes. Those arguments would be hit back with the fact that this is the nature of the stock market and has been like this for at least 50 years.

By going back to the basics, possibly closing some stores, and getting costumers to come back into the stores they have and turn a profit, the Green Giant of the Emerald City has a chance to regain some of their lost Wall Street footings.