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Starbucks: Location closures and elimination of roles

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Re: Starbucks: Location closures and elimination of roles

#101

Post by burnt-resistor »

ecshafer wrote: post #36
DarkNova6 wrote: post #19

I never understood Starbucks. I live in Europe, we have good coffee places everywhere. They are cheaper and serve significantly better coffee. I can't think of anything I ordered from Starbucks that didn't taste artificial.

In the US specialty coffee shops may be just as expensive or more expensive than Starbucks. Starbucks doesn't make good coffee, however they're main competitors in the US are basically Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds, or various regional/local chains. So they are often better than the competitors, since Dunkin Donuts is not as consistent of quality, and McDonalds isn't really a cafe (despite being one of the largest coffee…

> In the US specialty coffee shops may be just as expensive or more expensive than Starbucks.

Coffee of, for, and by hipsters. ;O) More power to people who want to take 3 hours to make a cup of coffee like it's a Japanese tea ceremony.

Re: Starbucks: Location closures and elimination of roles

#102

Post by PNWcossack »

tetris11 wrote: post #87
rdtsc wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I never understood Starbucks It's the McDonalds of coffee. There are lot of better restaurants than McDonalads for sure but a random restaurant could also be worse. So McDonalds provides some low common denominator consistency. Same with Starbucks, coffee may not be the best and sandwiches are so so, but you know what you're getting there. I find myself there when I travel to another city and need to grab something…

Off topic, but McDonalds actually serves better and cheaper coffee..

I agree, the last road trip I went on, where I clocked around 1700 miles, I actuality prefer going to a McDonald over SB to get a large coffee. Cheaper and tastes less burnt for a drip.

Re: Starbucks: Location closures and elimination of roles

#103

Post by PNWcossack »

wk_end wrote: post #74
heymijo wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our car culture in the U.S. means drive thrus can capture a significant portion of sales. Starbucks/Dunkin/McDonald’s do that. It’s very rare to find a local coffee shop in the U.S. with a drive-thru.

Depends on where you are in the US. Here in the PNW it’s common - including ones where, oddly, the baristas are all young women in bikinis.

"The baristas are all young women in bikinis"? what coffees shops are you going to in the PNW?

Re: Starbucks: Location closures and elimination of roles

#104

Post by PNWcossack »

bombcar wrote: post #82
paxys wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US Starbucks is almost always the cheapest option in the area for decent coffee.

Upscale gas station coffee has improve tremendously in the last ten years

I agree, I went on a road trip recently and drank a lot of coffee on the road. a lot of it was from McDonalds, but I was pleasantly surprised how all the machines at the gas stations were freshly brewed coffee at the push of a button. I would have never conceived that gas stations would one day have consistently decent coffee 10 years ago.

Re: Starbucks: Location closures and elimination of roles

#105

Post by widowlark »

strongpigeon wrote: post #8

Really surprised about the closing of Starbucks Reserve in Seattle. That place was always bursting at the seams and must have had a major halo effect for the brand. It's hard not to associate the closure with its recent unionization.

Fortunately we have ample local alternatives in Seattle to pick from

Re: Starbucks: Location closures and elimination of roles

#106

Post by abcd_f »

DarkNova6 wrote: post #19

I never understood Starbucks. I live in Europe, we have good coffee places everywhere. They are cheaper and serve significantly better coffee. I can't think of anything I ordered from Starbucks that didn't taste artificial.

Starbucks Reserves are quite impressive though.

I've been to one in Milan, in the old postoffice building right smack in the middle of the city and it has an astounding selection of coffee styles and very cool ambiance [1].

But, yeah, I agree that regular shops are underwhelming and overpriced by local European norms.

[1] https://www.roastery.starbucks.it/

Re: Starbucks: Location closures and elimination of roles

#107

Post by abcd_f »

kellyjprice wrote: post #33
DarkNova6 wrote: post #19

I never understood Starbucks. I live in Europe, we have good coffee places everywhere. They are cheaper and serve significantly better coffee. I can't think of anything I ordered from Starbucks that didn't taste artificial.

Starbucks raised the bar for coffee in the US. In most cities big and small, there's better alternatives now. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-wave_coffee

Starbucks exploded also because there was a void created by anti-smoking campaigns. People needed a healthier vice and something to do on their smoke breaks - et voilà, Starbucks offered just that.

Re: Starbucks: Location closures and elimination of roles

#108

Post by DarkNova6 »

abcd_f wrote: post #106
DarkNova6 wrote: post #19

I never understood Starbucks. I live in Europe, we have good coffee places everywhere. They are cheaper and serve significantly better coffee. I can't think of anything I ordered from Starbucks that didn't taste artificial.

Starbucks Reserves are quite impressive though. I've been to one in Milan, in the old postoffice building right smack in the middle of the city and it has an astounding selection of coffee styles and very cool ambiance [1]. But, yeah, I agree that regular shops are underwhelming and overpriced by local European norms. [1] https://www.roastery.starbucks.it/

Never knew that was a thing, looks nice!

Re: Starbucks: Location closures and elimination of roles

#109

Post by wk_end »

PNWcossack wrote: post #103
wk_end wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on where you are in the US. Here in the PNW it’s common - including ones where, oddly, the baristas are all young women in bikinis.

"The baristas are all young women in bikinis"? what coffees shops are you going to in the PNW?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bikini_barista

Re: Starbucks: Location closures and elimination of roles

#110

Post by bombcar »

PNWcossack wrote: post #104
bombcar wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Upscale gas station coffee has improve tremendously in the last ten years

I agree, I went on a road trip recently and drank a lot of coffee on the road. a lot of it was from McDonalds, but I was pleasantly surprised how all the machines at the gas stations were freshly brewed coffee at the push of a button. I would have never conceived that gas stations would one day have consistently decent coffee 10 years ago.

I think it's a combination of gas stations realizing that they need to "upscale and branch out" because eventually at some point cars won't be going to them as often, and major advancements (e.g., getting cheaper) for robotic machines that can make coffee.

We're a long way from a five gallon jug of coffee that hasn't been cleaned out since 1982.

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