Shultz is Back on the Billionaire Track

News from Forbes.

That's why a Double Shot Soy Latte costs €6 (or something).

(Image by Getty Images)

Funny SBux-Church Vid

Starbucks New Logo

Better

SB Sumatra Clip

Starbucks Antwerp Build Up

I have to admit this first Starbucks bar in Antwerp generates a lot of talking.
They should be opening soon on the right hand side of the main Rail Station entrance.

I passed by this week. Very quiet.
No movements since a while. Problems?

Starbucks goes Synesso and Anfim

Nice little article and photo from Daniel's blog.


Here you see how these newly rebranded Starbuckses look like. I'm curious who delivered them the Synesso and Anfim Super Caimano's. If 49th did this, I'm wondering what's in the grinders. Can't be the regular over roasted SBux stuff.

Starbucks is Coming to Town?

Today online :

Starbucks komt naar Centraal Station Antwerpen

De Amerikaanse koffieketen Starbucks gaat later dit jaar een winkel openen in het Centraal Station van Antwerpen. Het gaat om de eerste winkel buiten de luchthaven van Zaventem.

"Starbucks streeft ernaar op vooraanstaande internationale reizigerskruispunten aanwezig te zijn en het Centraal Station van Antwerpen beantwoordt aan die criteria", luidt het. Ook de NMBS is al geruime tijd bezig stations om te vormen in winkel- en ontmoetingsplaatsen. Momenteel zijn er meer dan 320 winkels in de stations en dat aantal blijft stijgen. (belga/bdr)

New Starbucks Ads

WHAT A LAUGHTER!

Read the other ads here.

Starbucks Belgium Visit

• Before hopping on my flight to Ethiopia I had the opportunity to visit the first Starbucks of our country.
  It's a company I know very well, but it feels strange they are among us now. It's not directly as an invasion, and I think it's more positive than negative, but still I have my questions. The problem with this company is that most of the people in Belgium think this is Coffee Nirvana, but at the end this can be seen as a positive thing as well maybe.
• Anyhow, my visit : It was a bit late for Isabel to drink some caffeine loaded drinks, so I just went in for a solo ride. What should I take? Since I didn't drink a decent milk based drink at Bux in years I decided to go for the brew of the day. Estima, brewed on a filter machine delivered and installed by Limarc. Not a bad word about the machine or supplier. Unfortunately a couple bad words about the coffee.
• First the girls were not well informed about the coffee. One said it was mild and the other girl said it was strong and without cacao taste. I didn't care what they said, but they did. So meanwhile filling my take away cup they kept on discussing the taste the Estima should give. With a smile on my face I tell them I would decide for them about the taste and pay my €2,40 for a small coffee.

Although I know the American way of life and food and drinks, it's still unfamiliar to see how big, I mean huge, a small cup of American coffee can be!

My taste experiences : Burnt, Rubber and Headache came up first. Then I started looking for a garbage can. Bring on the Clover guys ; maybe that's going to help. I said maybe.

Besides of that cup, the experience wasn't unpleasant. The looks and feel of the place was cosy and way better than the Schiphol bars or the bar Java Coffee is running at the Arrivals. And Maya, my friend, Caffenation client for years, and now working for Starbucks, was welcoming me at the entrance. Super girl. Luckily for her she doesn't drink coffee. : )

SBux in Crisis

Starbucks profits dive by 97%

business.timesonline.co.uk
Met de bijbehorende spin van de heer Schultz

The froth comes off Starbucks

www.guardian.co.uk
"Latest figures from the ubiquitous coffee retailer show that people are less willing to part with their well-earned cash as recession looms."

Groot Geld

Winst Starbucks daalt 97%

Zelfs op Mars kan Starbucks niemand meer boeien

Blijkbaar heeft u in deze Moeilijke Economische Tijden geen zin meer om 4 euro voor een kopje koffie te betalen. En dat is niet leuk voor Starbucks; ze houden geen winst meer over.

Starbucks Belgium

It's unbelievable, but it happened.
Starbucks came to Belgium. And not even behind transit zone, but just at the main departure hall at the Brussels airport in Zaventem.
Not that I recommend people to go there for a cup, but it's big new for us.

I wish em all the luck and think all together it's a good thing for the coffee industry in Belgium.

Here's a (dutch spoken) video post from Kanaal Z.:
Klik hier om deze video te bekijken.

It's a Starbucks World

News from the Milk Farmer :
600 stores will be closed down in their home country, the United States of America.
By clicking here you can see this wonderful map of the store evolution around the world, from Portfolio, with attached share map and some other Howard Shultz articles.

And read :

Suddenly Invisible

by David Margolick Jul 3 2008

Very interesting.

Meanwhile I have confirmation from a good source Starbucks in planning to open a new store at the Brussels Airport, for travellers only. This franchise store will be operated by the Italian catering group Autogrill. Seen their struggling on the share market, it looks like an ideal partner for Bux. ;-)
The opening should be happening by the end of this year.
Wait and see. I still doubt ...

(photo from benhanson. Thanks mate)

Clover >< Starbucks

After numberous articles about Starbucks and Clover, this one is probably the most spectacular one and sited on the Clover Equipment website, which could be resulting in entering a Starbucks for a fine cup of Joe :

We are proud to announce that the Starbucks Coffee Company has entered into an agreement to acquire The Coffee Equipment Company. This merger will take our passion for coffee, hardware and innovation to the biggest possible stage. The Clover revolution couldn't have happened without all of our friends—the roasters, the baristas, the cafés, and the growers. The revolution lives on.

We are incredibly grateful to our early adopters for taking a chance on our machine. Through these partnerships, we've been able to elevate the profile of brewed coffee around the world.		We will continue to proudly support all of the deployed Clovers with parts and service.		Starbucks is uniquely positioned to change the way the world thinks about brewed coffee with its coffee heritage and tremendous passion for the industry. Working together profound change is possible.

Crazy Combo

What is the most expensive drink at Starbucks? A New York software engineer, Billy Chasen, decided to find out when he was given a voucher for a free drink of any variety. A venti white mocha is the priciest on the menu. He asked a barista at a Manhattan branch to squeeze as many extra shots and syrups into the cup as possible. The result? A 13-shot venti soy hazelnut vanilla cinnamon white mocha with extra white mocha and caramel. The cost was $13.76 (£6.97). His verdict? "It was very sweet and I'm still shaking a bit," he reported on his blog. "I didn't attempt to drink the entire thing, since I'd like to sleep tonight."

ps : by curiosity i decided to search out who this billy chasen guy is and i was struck by his artistic sense, or how do i describe this. check out his stuff yourself.

Another Starbucks visit

Very long ago i've been visiting a Bux.
For us Belgians it's still something that links with holiday's/citytrips. As so it was this day.

While queuing i had their Christmas Blend in my hands. One month ago i ordered two very promising bags of Starbucks via the internet. Although i went trough all ordering and paypal procedures fluently i never received them. I have to admit i've never been billed either.
So, yes i was willing to take a bag along, until i saw the roasting date on the back of the bag. 24th of August! That's over 4 months old. No way José, i'm not going for stale. By the way : who's roasting their Christmas Blend in August!?
Other coffee bags in the store had no roasting dates on the package. The T-shirts of the staff had "Starbucks Coffee Roaster" printed on the chest. Marketing.

The queuing took almost ten minutes. The ordering was slow and insufficient. The working area was dirty as so was the whole café. Empty cups everywhere, paper, straws on the floor, coffee stains, etc...

The Espresso Macchiato (€1,70) was, as all the drinks, served in a paper cup and not a joy. In Cappuccino's and Macchiato's the marriage of espresso and milk should or could be something like 1+1=3, this drink was 0,5+0,5=0,5. The roast was soooo dark and burned. Way darker then what i remembered from the past. 'Charbucks' indeed. And where it should cut trough the milk well, it killed it. No bonding, no velvety, no lifting up, no nothing. A shame.

Isabel's Decaf Toffee Nut Latte (€3,60) was only worth a sip. Was this a coffee? Never tasted one with this low coffee taste. Nothing, zip. The only thing my taste buds sensed were sugar, a bit of artificial nut and the water they brewed the coffee with. Oh my!
No wonder people all day long compliment us for the quality we serve.

Ok, i'm all set for another two (no-bux) years.

NY Times brings 'Starbucked'

Again the New York Times has a fantastic article to read.
This time it's a part of Tayler Clarck's book 'Starbucked'.
You'll enjoy the article.