Coffee Culture Does Not Impress Aussies
If you thought that Starbucks was having problems in the United States market only, think again. Apparently, they are having even more serious problems down under. To date, the coffee chain giant has 84 stores in Australia. Of the 84, they are closing 61. The figures may seem minuscule as compared to the 600 stores they are closing in the United States BUT if you take into consideration just how many stores they have in the US (about 12,000), you will see that the percentage of closures is so much higher in Australia.
So what is the problem here? How come Starbucks has not conquered Australia? According to Chris Berg of The Age, it is because of the simple fact that Starbucks is selling the coffee culture and NOT the coffee itself. He writes:
So why has Starbucks worked in the US but largely failed in Australia? The secret of the company’s success in the American market wasn’t that it sold coffee. It sold coffee culture.
But when Starbucks came to Australia to bring coffee and the cafe culture to the masses, it found that we already had it. Particularly in Melbourne, we have better coffee and more relaxing cafes than anything that Starbucks brought with it.
Undeterred, the firm simply dumped what seemed to work in America into this country. When Starbucks opened an outlet in Lygon Street — a store that has since sat empty surrounded by bustling cafes — it became an amazing example of just how comprehensively a company could fail to understand its target market.
I find this perspective to be very interesting as it seems to hold some truth in it. Indeed, more than the coffee itself, Starbucks is associated with hanging out at a cool place. It is associated with meeting with friends over a cup of coffee. The article reminds me of some people I know who NEVER drank coffee until the Starbucks culture became popular.
What do you think, is there truth to Berg’s perspective?
Calorie Counters In Coffee Shops?
Weight conscious coffee shop goes just may have their wishes come true. Well, at least those who reside in Multnomah County. Commissioners of the county are soon to vote on whether or not restaurants and coffee shops in the area will be required to post health facts – including caloric counts – on their menus. If approved, this law will require ALL items on the menu to have the information mentioned above. Drinks will not be exempt, by the way.
Not every mom and pop food place will be affected by the law, if approved, though. The only establishments that would be required are those which have 15 branches or more across the country.
So what will this law do? Basically, I see it as a public information campaign. More often than not, we order food and drink without a thought as to the calories contained in them. With the calories prominently displayed, people will at least know their consumption.
Do you think that this would make a difference as to how and what people order at restaurants and coffee shops? I honestly do not know. Personally, it might change my mind if I see the huge difference between one coffee blend and another. Then again, if I really want a certain drink, I doubt that my mind would change because of the calorie count. But then again, that’s just me – a person who likes her coffee more than her waistline.
How about you? Do you think this kind of practice would change your mind?
Photo courtesy of banoota
In The Interest Of Preserving The Integrity Of Coffee
Now if that isn’t one of the most pompous drivel that I have read for a long time (well, probably since yesterday). This is exactly what was going through my mind as I read about Jeff Simmermon’s experience at the Murky Coffee store in Arlington, VA. So what happened?
Simmermon reportedly ordered a triple shot of espresso dumped over ice. Now you probably know that this is not commonly done but hey, who said you had to drink coffee in a certain way? Well, the management of Murky Coffee says so. Read the barista’s reaction as Simmermon himself described it:
And the guy at the counter looked me in the eye with a straight face and said “I’m sorry, we can’t serve iced espresso here. It’s against our policy.”
This reminded so much of a similar incident that my husband and I experienced at a local Starbucks store. The coffee became lukewarm because we were chatting and smoking. So he went back to the counter to ask for it to be reheated. We know that purists disallow reheating coffee as the heat “ruins” it. Despite my husband’s repeated requests, they wouldn’t heat the coffee!
So what is the deal here? Preserving the integrity of coffee or giving in to a customer’s request? Probably because I am not a purist, I tend to lean towards the latter. We all enjoy our coffee in different ways, give us some leeway here!
Photo courtesy of Aaron Landry
This Police Officer Loves His Coffee
I didn’t think that this kind of thing still happened in the United States. Apparently, a Daytona Lt. Major Garvin has been loading up on free coffee from a local Starbucks store for the past two years. Now, there is nothing wrong here if the management offered to provide free coffee for the police officer, right?
The thing is, the story is not quite like that. Recently, the store changed management and Lt. Garvin was denied his usual free coffee. You want to know what his reaction was?
“If something happens, either we can respond really fast or we could respond really slow. I’ve been coming here for years and I’ve been getting whatever I want. I’m the difference between you getting a two-minute response time, if you needed a little help, or a 15 minutes response time.”
Oooh…talk about police bullying! Unfortunately for Lt. Garvin, the people at that Starbucks store were not sissies. A complaint was filed, the police officer took a polygraph test (he denied the accusations and agreed to the test and then failed), and was fired.
I was just thinking, this police officer really loves his coffee doesn’t he? I think he loves getting freebies even more, though. Maybe this is why Starbucks is losing money? Lt. Garvin is only one person but what if there is one Lt. Garvin in every other town in the United States? No wonder Starbucks is having to close a lot of its branches.
Seriously, though. This kind of guy makes it look bad for other hardworking honest police officers out there.
Coffee After A Workout?
I am not that much of a fan of exercise, are you? I do have my moments but in general, I would rather sit in front of a computer or read a book while sipping a cup of joe. Then again, exercise is good for you, right? BUT the pain that I feel during and after working out just makes me cringe! Just thinking about makes me NOT want to get up from my chair right now…
Anyhow, I got to thinking about working out and exercising after reading a news item on how coffee can help people feel better if they drink some after exercising. WMTW reports:
Downing some strong coffee or an energy drink after a workout — along with a carbohydrate, such as pasta — can help people feel better more quickly, researchers said.
A team of Australian researchers said that people who recover with caffeine had 66 percent more glycogen in their muscles four hours after exercise. That means there is more energy for the next day’s training or performance, said senior author John A. Hawley.
Glycogen is the primary fuel for muscle during exercise, they said in a news release, which also said that caffeine had previously been shown to improve other areas of athletic performance.
I suppose that it should not be much of a surprise since we know that caffeine is an upper. Come to think of it, after a long day of walking around at the mall, I feel so much better after sitting down at a coffee shop and relaxing over a cup of coffee. Oh, you can add a doughnut or two in there!
Photo courtesy of cheetah100
Coffee Prices Set To Increase
The price of everything else is increasing, why not coffee? Brazil is one of the largest suppliers of good coffee to the rest of the world and it seems that they are all set to increase their prices as well. Before we all get upset about this, though, it would be good to realize that they are not doing this on a whim.
A report by Reuters states:
The rising cost of fertilizer and farm labor is squeezing profits from coffee in leading global grower Brazil but tight supplies should strengthen growers’ hands when haggling at the farm gate.
Fertilizer prices have as much as doubled in less than a year for some producers, depending on their region’s soil quality, and labor costs have been climbing amid a sustained commodity-driven economic boom.Farmers say the final blow has been the constant appreciation of the local currency, eroding income for growers as it strengthens against the U.S. dollar in which arabica is traded on the futures market.
As consumers, we don’t normally take news of price increases on a positive note. Still, there are certain things that we cannot control. As much as we do not want some things to happen, we really cannot do anything about them. As for this impending price increase for coffee, maybe I will stock up on whole beans for now. Or alternatively, look for other sources of coffee beans that do not come from Brazil.
Photo courtesy of Refracted Moments
Coffee And Atrial Fibrillation
I was not familiar with the term atrial fibrillation before I read an entry in the Atrial Fibrillation Blog. This condition is described as:
Atrial fibrillation (AF or afib) is a cardiac arrhythmia (abnormal heart rhythm) that involves the two upper chambers (atria) of the heart. It can often be identified by taking a pulse and observing that the heartbeats don’t occur at regular intervals, but a conclusive indication of AF is the absence of P waves on an electrocardiogram (ECG).
In simple terms, it is a condition wherein your heart beat is not regular. So what does this condition have to do with coffee? Apparently, coffee has been pinpointed to be bad for those who have AF. I remember when I was a child – the adults would say that coffee will cause irregular heart beat or palpitations. I suppose this was their version of the relationship between coffee and AF.
So does coffee play an important role in AF cases? According to the blog entry that I read:
Clinical trials have not found coffee or caffeine intake equivalent to 5-6 cups/d to increase the frequency or severity of cardiac arrhythmias in healthy people or people with CHD. A large prospective study in the US that followed more than 128,000 people for 7 years found no association between coffee consumption and sudden cardiac death. More recently, two prospective studies in Scandinavia found no association between coffee consumption and the risk of developing atrial fibrillation, a common supraventricular arrhythmia.
There you go – coffee does not really affect AF directly. Good news for those who have the condition!
Starbucks Under The Weather
A couple of posts ago, I talked about how people in the United States are spending less and less money on coffee. At that point, I was only focused on the consumers. These past few days, however, I have been reading a lot of news how the coffee chain giant, Starbucks, is feeling a bit under the weather. Could it be that they are actually feeling the effects of consumers spending less on coffee?
The Detroit Free Press reported last week:
Starbucks Corp. said Tuesday it will close 600 company-operated stores in the next year, up dramatically from its previous plan for 100 closures, a sign the coffee shop operator is still feeling the pain from the faltering U.S. economy.
Starbucks said in a statement that 70% of the stores to be closed were opened after the start of 2006. The locations set to close include ones that “were not profitable and not projected to provide acceptable returns in the foreseeable future,” it said.
About 12,000 workers will be affected by the closings, which are expected to take place over the next year, according to Valerie O’Neill, a spokeswoman for the company. O’Neill said most of the employees will be moved to nearby stores, but she did not know exactly how many jobs will be lost.
As you can imagine, this bit of news has stirred up a lot of controversy. Starbucks is perhaps the most popular – if not the most loved – coffee chain in the whole of the United States. It employs thousands and thousands of employees and with these impending closures, countless people will be affected.
What are your thoughts on the current situation Starbucks is facing?
Full Throttle Coffee
I would have thought several forays into higher caffeine drinks for cola companies would have taught them to stick with the classic formulas – the tried and tested ones. Apparently, I do not know anything because the soft drink giant Coca-Cola is coming up with a coffee beverage.
Thomson Financial News reports:
Coca-Cola Co. said Friday it plans to launch its coffee and energy beverage, Full Throttle Coffee, in the United States in August.
The drink is made with Colombian Arabica coffee and Full Throttle’s energy and vitamin blend, Atlanta-based Coca-Cola said. It will be rolled out in the Pacific Northwest and Southeast regions of the United States.
Full Throttle Coffee is part of the Full Throttle energy drink family, which includes Full Throttle Original, Full Throttle Unleaded, Full Throttle Blue Demon and Full Throttle Fury, the company said.
At least they’re using good quality coffee beans, aren’t they? I just don’t know if I would spend hard earned money on a product like this one. I mean, as much as I like coffee, I can’t think of a reason to buy Full Throttle Coffee as an energy drink. I’ll buy regular Coke when I feel like drinking a refreshing soft drink. I’ll buy myself a cup of coffee – either hot or frappe – when I feel like drinking some coffee.
Am I alone in thinking this way or are you guys just as befuddled?
People Spending Less On Coffee
Tell me something that I do not already know! For the past month or so, I have noticed that people at my office did not go to Starbucks as often as they used to do – myself included. It used to be that we would go almost everyday, especially if we had a particularly long meeting. We definitely needed grandes during those times. Today, though, it is either we brew our own pot at the office – we’re lucky to have a drip coffee machine, we just take turns buying the beans – or we buy cheaper coffee at a local store.
It seems that the rest of the United States is doing the same thing. Based on Kelly Blue Book’s monthly survey:
The June 2008 study results reveal that 28 percent of new-car shoppers have stopped going to Starbucks or other coffee houses entirely, and 21 percent indicate they are going less often due to skyrocketing gas prices.
Though the study focused on new-car shoppers, I would not be surprised to hear the same trend happening with other groups of people. Imagine spending $2 on Starbucks a day. Do a little math – this adds up to $40 a month (5-day week) and $480 a year! What if you used that money for gas instead? You’d be able to buy 120 gallons of gas at $4 per gallon.
Not a surprising result then, huh? It’s perfectly normal when hard economic times hit, the non-essentials are first to go…
How often do you still go to Starbucks or any other coffee shop for that matter?
