Results tagged “starbucks”

Remember "15th Ave Coffee & Tea", Starbucks' new Saturn division? Well, they're doing it again, but this time they've got their sights set on the north end of Broadway. They're plunking a "Roy Street Coffee & Tea" into the first-floor retail of the 700 Broadway building, creating the world's first FedExKinkosStarbucks, which if you think about it has been a brand synchronicity far too long in coming. CHS has the fully story, with a response from Joe Bar's owner and resident really nice guy Wylie Bush. But what about the cost to this local coffee purveyor just a few blocks down?

SPD Blotter with more info on this morning's hit and run at Sixth & Cherry: "They now believe that a light-colored bus with a dark stripe or dark tinted windows, is possibly involved."

              

Having had a peek inside, it's obvious that criticisms that the new "15th Ave Coffee & Tea," as the signage puts it, has ripped off its next-door neighbor Smith aren't going away any time soon. Woodblock print-style logo? Check. Long table of rough reclaimed wood? Check. Vaguely Western and/or rustic, farm-themed? Check.

Starbucks' third quarter earnings beat market expectations, sending its stock up 8 percent. Don't assume this is because their new "we're not Starbucks" campaign or other gimmicks are working, though--most of the improved earnings is due to cutbacks, layoffs, and store closures.

Turns out the stripped-down, de-logo-fied Starbucks up on 15th isn't quite the oh-so-original take on a neighborhood cafe that Starbucks intended. Linda Derschang, the owner of Smith, right next door, has sent an enraged letter over to the Stranger.

   

MIT's SENSEable City Laboratory is conducting experiments on garbage in Seattle through a program called "Trash Track." Utilizing "smart tag" technology, the team has created a device around the size of a matchbook with its own SIM card. The tag is placed inside a piece of garbage or recycling, then every 15 minutes pings the cell system to locate itself. This allows researchers at MIT to track the course of waste from the time its expelled by the user until it eventually winds up somewhere.

Wired is having a contest to see who can make the coolest stuff from Starbucks packaging, and leading by example is Wired photographer Dan Winters who created the Tie Fighter below from a coffee box and some cup holders. It is something to behold.

According to the , the 15th Avenue Starbucks, up on Capitol Hill, is part of an ambitious makeover project the company's exploring that will leave the store stripped of the Starbucks name altogether (if you read CHS, you heard about the makeover in the comments a month ago). The store will be renamed for the neighborhood, lose the traditional Starbucks branding, and will even start serving wine and beer. The remodeled store will be re-opening next week.

Dr. David Kessler, pediatrician and former head of the FDA, has written a book (official publication date Friday) titled The End of Overeating, which argues that obesity is not the result of character flaws but of chemical dependency on the junk in food. And not just junk food, either. Everyone from cereal companies to restaurant chains (from quesadillas at Chili's to Frappuccinos at Starbucks) does it, manipulating our tastebuds and appetite centers for maximum profit. Along with the new film Food, Inc. (playing at the Egyptian), the book is sure fuel the flames of food industry regulation, though not before our Fourth of July hotdog roast.

Norman Ollestad will be reading from his book, Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival, at Elliott Bay Book Company on June 15, at 7:30 p.m. Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival, is both a chilling account of survival and a heartwarming coming-of-age story based around Norman Ollestad and his relationship with his father, the late Norman Ollestad.

During Memorial Day weekend, if you ended up at Starbucks craving caffeine and ordered your regular fix plus the much-needed double shot of espresso, you may have been one of the millions accidentally double-charged. The "settlement processing error" happened at 7,000 stores across the U.S., when people who paid with a debit or credit card saw double-dipping charges show up on their statements. The Starbucks talking heads said, "All of our customers saw resolution." But if you double-check your accounts and still find yourself double-charged, call Starbucks' customer service to clear-up this caffeinated mess.

From the Daily Show last night. Starbucks mating with Morning Joe starts at 1:15. Is this what's going on at Q13?

Seattle's (formerly cool) coffee giant, Starbucks loves them some California Court of Appeals, who reversed the $86 million decision to repay baristas who had to share their tips with shift supervisors. Who ever thought the little barista tip jar would cause nearly five years' worth of headaches and legal rulings? The California courts final ruling said that shift supervisors "essentially perform the same job as baristas," so they are eligible for their slice of the crumble cake pie, too. Starbucks, obviously happy with the outcome, reiterated that the ruling "validates our long-standing tip policy."

CHS's seadevi notes the Vita/Theo collaboration--"You got coffee in my chocolate! You got chocolate in my coffee!"--has hit the New York Times style blog. Howard, you might want to sit down for the first sentence: "From Seattle, the birthplace of Starbucks, comes a cooler coffee company." (Why do people have to make invidious comparisons? Why?!) The verdict: one bar is a "tasty rush," while the other is a "milder, milkier affair."

In the beginning, the word was carved on tablets. Eventually, gospels were inscribed on parchment, then newsprint, then pixellated onto the screens of iPhones. Now the medium is the gunney sack and Starbucks is firing back.

Starbucks might be seeing hard times, but Tully's is expanding--by selling half of the company to Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and focusing on retail nationwide. In effect, the sale means the Tully's brand will have a greater presence on the East Coast, and we'll probably see Green Mountain coffee on more shelves here in the Northwest. The deal saves Tully's from a path headed straight towards bankruptcy, thought it does mean reduced operations at the old Rainier Brewery.

One thing that's been bugging us about Howard Schultz's rah-rah at the Starbucks annual meeting yesterday is his attack on the "myth" of the $4 coffee. Why? Stop, stop, you've winkled it out of us! Look, you can't deal with a perception by defining it out of existence: "Half of the beverages we sell are under $3," says Schultz, knowing he's misrepresenting the issue. People think a latte at Starbucks will cost them, with tax and tip, closer to $4 than $3.

(H/t to Metblogs for finding SBX_IronChef.) Howard Schultz is rallying the troops this morning, and we've been eavesdropping via Twitter: "Great companies will evolve their strategies while retaining their core customer....We are the largest buyer of high grade arabica coffee that is Fair Trade in the world...We will be communicating this...Half of the beverages we sell are under $3, 1/3 under $2, and brewed coffee is a fantastic value...[on sales of Starbucks gift card at Costco] 2 weeks in, Costco ran out. It became the the #1 product in EVERY Costco location. (draws applause). 5 mill sold!"

We're mentioning this mainly so you don't try driving hurriedly around McCaw Hall this morningas many: the city says "as 7,600 people are expected" to show up for the Starbucks 2009 Annual Shareholders Meeting, which starts in half an hour, at 10 a.m. It lets out at noon, so you might want to give Seattle Center a miss over lunchtime, too.

Got sent a jar of Baconnaise from the Bacon Salt guys (after Seattlest kept complaining about their crappy products) and, in same mail, a box of madeleines from Donsuemor that are now being sold at Nordy's and Albertson's. Went to Starbucks to get one of their new $3.95 pairings (latte & pastry or brewed coffee & sandwich). Alas. Took home half a dry, inedible Black Forest ham & egg English muffin, picked up mail (see above). Reheated Starbucks muffin in toaster oven, slathered it with baconnaise. Synergy? Must be. Now semi-delicious. Dipped madeleine into the cup of Pike Place coffee, brought back memories of better coffee, better madeleines. What? Just because the economy's in the toilet doesn't mean we have to drop our standards, does it?

Though a lot of reviewers are using a "buck a cup" formulation for Starbucks' instant coffee VIA, we note Starbucks isn't so down-market as all that--the VIA experience comes in packs of three, so you end up dropping a latte's worth of coin on the counter anyway. We're sure this is somehow related to SBUX shares being worth a little less than three VIA themselves.

Howard Schultz says no more layoffs at Starbucks, and if you believe that we'd love to show you our oceanfront property in Oklahoma. Life continues to be unfair: Microsoft's permatemps are protesting a 10 percent pay cut while former president Bush is charging $150,000 per speech but the sun will come out tomorrow next year: Sleepless in Seattle may be adapted for the Broadway stage, exposing a whole new generation to dated stereotypes of this city. Can't wait.

In the beginning, the Lord divided the bean from the water and created Nescafé. For generations, it was the standard of instant coffee, until Prince Howard of the Dark Brew tasted the Nescafé and said it should be made better. His flavor engineers labored mightily for many years, until they perfected a system of microgrinding beans of pure arabica (taking care to buy them only from farmers using sustainable agricultural practices and humane conditions for the workers, because the Dark Prince was highly image-conscious), so that a mere tenth of an ounce of extract would produce a full cup of coffee no less flavorful than the coffee brewed throughout his kingdom of Starbucks.

We can't get enough stimulus, and still we're exhausted. We feel like Richard McIver, who just announced his retirement from Seattle City Council, saying "I want to go home and sit down." Should we ever be up for a walk, West Seattle Blog has info on the plans for Alki Point's sidewalks and Mayor Nickels asks you to volunteer in his State of the City, which is a good thing since few of us still have paying jobs. Maybe we'll find work at Costco or Target, two stores that will stock the soon-to-be wildly popular Starbucks instant coffee-flavored product.

Seattlest looked up at a snow-covered skylight and wondered whether anyone would catch their bus. Sure enough, some are running late. Good thing we went to REI on December 26 and scored some of these.

The plaque to the right is found in an elevator at Starbucks HQ. A Seattlest tipster snapped a photo and sent it along, wondering if maybe this indicates an unusual "reverse psychology" approach to motivational phrases.

Just last week we mentioned a memo that Starbucks layoffs were in the wind, but with the caveat that the cuts were supposed to hit management hardest. Half right. The Wall Street Journal says the carnage is in response to Starbucks earning only $64 million in the first quarter. Apparently the $64 million answer is to close 200 U.S. stores, with another 100 international locations on the chopping block, and to lay off 6,000 store employees, with another 700 culled from Seattle HQ and other field offices. For reaction, we turn to a commenter at Starbucks Gossip: "Holy s**t! It's the damn Titanic!!" CEO Howard Schultz has cut his salary to $10,000 from $1.2 million--the WSJ says, "Once his health-care coverage costs are deducted from his salary, Mr. Schultz will earn less than $4 a month."

SBUX downsizing is in the P-I: A managing director at McAdams Wright Ragen is quoted as saying Starbucks may cut up to 1,000 jobs from its headquarters, and also some district managers and field employees--but not baristas. Over at Starbucks Gossip, the...well, the gossip is that previous layoffs have already affected customer service.

Today marks the debut of the aforementioned new item on the menu at Jamba Juice. But this ain't your grandmother's Starbucks' oatmeal--it's made with slow-cooked organic steel cut oats, made from scratch on-site. Altogether, it takes about 40 minutes to prepare, which is, like, a year in fast food time. The oatmeal comes topped with a brown sugar crumble and your pick of fruit toppings: blueberry-blackberry, apple cinnamon, or fresh bananas. To celebrate the rollout, Jamba Juice is doing the non-profit community a solid by making deliveries to workers at non-profits in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, and Salt Lake City. Here in Seattle, it's the employees of the Downtown YMCA who got a warm 'n' tasty oatmeal breakfast on this chilly morning.

Starbucks may be having difficulties, but the liquor industry is doing just fine, thank you very much. Washington state liquor sales are up five percent this year, a statistic owed (we suspect) in large part to the contributions of all the laid-off Starbucks employees. After all, a latte may wake you up, but a whiskey-laced latte will wake you up to a world much softer than the world in which you fell asleep. Perhaps it's time to stimulate the economy by buying stock in Grey Goose. We would never suggest partaking in illegal activities, but we're certain now would be a lucrative time to get busy making moonshine. You could peddle it right outside Starbucks Corporate! (There are rumors of fast-approaching Microsoft lay-offs, too...supply and demand, people.)