I don't buy the comparison of Starbuck's to McDonalds. Starbucks sets much higher standard in coffee than McDonalds does in burgers. And prior to Starbucks nationwide roll out, McDonald's weak coffee in a styrofoam cup set the standard. Yuck<p>I remember the time before Starbucks. American coffee was some watered down beans with 5% non-coffee filler that had been sitting in an open air carafe on an electric heating plate for the past 3 hours. Yuck<p>I love my local coffee houses, but 30 years ago there were almost none. You had to live downtown in a major city or in a university town to easily find good coffee. Yes, I am sad when I visit Seattle or the Bay Area and see how many local places have gone away, but out here in rural Colorado I think Starbucks helped grow demand for good coffee and local shops.
Interesting theory to explain why Starbucks' stock price is up, but I'm not sure I believe it. Friends in Seattle tell me that to "coffee snobs" Starbucks coffee is basically on par with McDonald' burgers, and that some locations serve coffee without any Starbucks related branding or nomenclature to avoid driving away the people who feel that way.
They may be increasing the quality of the bean they source.<p>But their beans are stale by the time they get to the store (once you roast the bean, the clock starts).<p>And they notoriously over-roast their beans, giving it that distinctive burnt taste.<p>I'll continue going to my shop that roasts their beans daily... and doesn't think that a flat white can come in three sizes.
> Starbucks prides itself on its care for “partners,” the noun it prefers to employees. It pays higher wages, offers health insurance even to part-time workers and pays college tuition for thousands of eligible employees. Starbucks employee turnover is relatively low, yielding benefits in efficiency and morale.<p>On a related note, Starbucks also has very LGBT-friendly policies at every level; they're well ahead of the curve in terms of non-discrimination policies and trans-inclusive health benefits. It's widely known within the LGBT community, and <i>especially</i> the trans community, that if you're LGBT and looking for a retail job, Starbucks is the number one place to look.<p>They do an amazing job at treating their employees well.
Boutique coffee is all about nuance- it's like Scotch, or bourbon, or tobacco. You get <i>this</i> particular sack of beans from this tiny coffee producer in the middle of nowhere and you've roasted 5lbs of it just <i>so</i> and you then grind it just <i>so</i> and you then prepare it just <i>so</i> with an exacting process and carefully controlling your variables of time of extraction and water temp.<p>Starbucks cannot and does possess the ability to harness that subtlety because they operate on a huge scale. They roast their beans to burnt in order to drive <i>out</i> the differences between beans sourced at different plantations because they have to offer a homogenized product across all of their stores and all of their retail offerings. Every cup of coffee at every Starbucks across the entire world has to taste exactly the same because that's what customers expect[0].<p>If I want nuance I go to a local coffee roaster and ask the owner what's good that day. If I just want a caffeine fix I can go to Starbucks or, better yet, just drink the crappy stuff at work that's free and load up on the sugar and cream.<p>I don't go to a college rager and expect to find Springbank (fancy single-source Scotch); I go and expect to find Natty Light and Yuengling and, in fact, I <i>expect</i> those offerings because I'm not going to stand around and compare tasting notes, I'm going to get drunk and have a good time. Similarly, I go to Starbucks as a mid-morning break at work so I can have an excuse to get up and walk around and get something caffeinated I can sip at my desk while doing other things; I'm not expecting the <i>coffee experience</i> nor do I want it, I just want to get my buzz on and go about my day.<p>Additionally I think this move by Starbucks is putting even more pressure on small boutique coffee shops and potentially marginalizing them even further because now casual consumers can just go to Starbucks and get what they think is a "boutique experience" when, in fact, their money and their time would be better spent going to the actual boutique coffee shop (Edit- amyjess pointed out that this is NOT the case! <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/hey_wait_a_minute/2007/12/dont_fear_starbucks.single.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/hey_wait_a_m...</a>). Not to mention a potential ripple effect in coffee pricing where Starbucks could be able to strong-arm the market and drive small specialty coffee growers out of business like Wal-Mart and the enormous pickle jar[1].<p>[0]<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Coffee/comments/119vnt/question_regarding_consistency/" rel="nofollow">https://www.reddit.com/r/Coffee/comments/119vnt/question_reg...</a>
[1]<a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/47593/wal-mart-you-dont-know" rel="nofollow">http://www.fastcompany.com/47593/wal-mart-you-dont-know</a>
Waiting for the day Starbucks carries Kopi Luwak[1]. /sarcasm<p>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak</a>