Has this man even been inside a Starbucks recently? They used to be loungy places people could chill, now they're all bland, sparsely decorated, dirty, and uninviting. There is absolutely nothing premium about Starbucks, it's basically a fast-food chain. Once again demonstrating how far removed CEOs are from reality
Burger King is just inedible now. And by that I mean twice now I've eaten there, and then within an hour my stomach upset. Then followed by 12 hours of what can only be described as "VIOLENT DIARRHEA". Yes, all caps, because thats the urgancy that situation called for.
Two different locations too. Plus the first time I went with a friend, and she got it too. The first time I chalked it off to being that particular location. Then, nearly 8 months later, different location, different city. Same result.
After that, Burger King is officially just as banned from my diet as taco bell is. Inedible.
Inedible Now? Your same experience was mine over 15 years ago. I was getting stomach pains and shitting really bad every single time I had BK. He’ll even towards the end I couldn’t even swallow a fry. I had started switching to onion rings cause the fries left a wax taste in my mouth after.
I haven’t had BK since then. 2010 ish. I ended up dropping all fast food after Covid cause the prices just don’t match up with quality anymore.
I heard a single combo meal at McDonalds clocks in near $20 these days. Fuck that noise. Not for a thin, dry “meat” patty that gets microwaved and then thrown between a pair of bread slices. No sir. No thanks. I rather spend that $20 on take out from a real restaurant.
Chipotle is still the king of food poisoning. They have a proven track record in toilet-related war crimes going back many years. Guess I'm adding BK to my no-go list now too.
Whereas I’ve never had food poisoning in the 10ish times I’ve eaten at Chipotle, Cici’s pizza is 3 for 3 for violence out both ends for me. The third time I was practically fooled into it, but I’d rather just starve next time (there won’t be one).
The issue is that you went to a fast food store location in a city. I have never gotten edible food at an urban location of a fast food chain, even in the 90's.
It doesn’t help when a good chunk of their customer base still goes on a regular basis. I often see long lines at drive thrus in my area despite combos costing $10+.
Came here to say this. What ‘premium’ experience is he talking about?
Something tells me that the only Starbucks he actually has used recently is likely a very high-end version for the C titles in HQ, meters away from his office and for employee use only.
They're calling it an experience becuase consumers are indicating they are willing to pay for experiences while pulling back spending on daily expenses.
Consumers mean concerts and vacations and this douche knows he isn't actually offering an experience so he does the mind trick where he says the term over and over to associate in the consumers mind the idea that drive thru coffee is an experience.
Absolutely. It was a clear attempt at adding ‘perceived value’ by using the word ‘experience’ so many times. He knows what type of consumer he’s speaking to.
These interviews are really just PR opportunities for guys like this (in their perception).
He's talking about the Starbucks experience he has. Headquarters will always be the perfect Starbucks, and if he goes to a real shop, it'll be a newly opened one with a new special item. He doesn't go to the actual shops people probably associate with Starbucks.
When I want to lounge at a café, I'm expecting a warm, inviting interior, some plants, bookish decor, smooth jazz, hip staff, and a coffee that could only be produced by coffee geeks with attention to detail at every step of the process...
You walk into a starbucks today, everything is cold and industrial, they've got pop music blaring on the radio, and the staff all look miserable. Oh, and the coffee sucks.
I'm happy to drink a $2 coffee from the gas station (probably a half gallon of it 🙂) and set the remaining $7 aside. Then again, I only get drip coffee and not any of the milkshake-y stuff Starbucks specializes in.
I remember 90's era Starbucks and a bunch were still pretty grungy corners of strip malls. But the point was they were still coffeeshops, despite being a chain that went corporate.
Now they're glorified coffee stands with real estate baggage and little sandwiches. And zero of that 'third place' shit they used to dominate the market.
They should have sent the manager and crew to the thrift store with a corporate CC and a box truck for furniture. Instead it's bland, depressed, "I can't believe it's not cardboard™."
I hate this trend of putting shit at the beginning that I then have to hear again less than 10 seconds later. Like I get it's for grabbing you but the second I start hearing the same thing again I immediately close the video.
It matters a lot more on platforms like TikTok, where there's no title, no thumbnail, all you have is the first two seconds of the video before someone swipes away
Fuck Starbucks. It’s not the first time I mention this, and I’ll keep mentioning it: When Corona hit Germany, the government reduced the VAT to prevent restaurants from going bankrupt in 2020. Starbucks gave every customer the finger and did not lower the prices, keeping the difference for themselves. I was never a regular customer but this made me blacklist them for life.
Wow that guy doesn’t even look human. No wonder he had no issue mandating all employees return to the office while he flew a private jet from California to Seattle every day.
Its also hilarious he has that ear piece in his ear so that his PR team can feed the machine the 'correct' focus-grouped response to every question.
Makes sense. I was assuming he was sitting in his quiet office and using the laptop speakers but I suppose that would create feedback for the microphones
He's the same piece of shit that fired all the corporate Chipotle employees in Denver to move their headquarters to Newport Beach, because that's where his house is.
I love our local coffee place. We bring our dogs. The baristas bring them cups of whipped cream. The place is cozy and they sell art from local artists. And the coffee is actually good and doesn't taste like someone burned it. I usually make my own coffee, but it's nice to go there once a week and just enjoy being there. That is premium.
Whereas I don’t love making coffee every day, it’s a fair sight cheaper and quite a bit faster than even just pulling off into the drive through at my local coffee shop, let alone a Starbucks. It’s boiling water that’s been steeped through ground, roasted beans folks.
This was/is a starbucks thing and it's really fucking bad for the dogs. It can be a huge amount of fat the equates to a human eating multiple big macs.
The coffee sucks, the tables are all filled or dirty and sticky, the outside seating is in a parking lot, baking in the sun, the drive through is backed up to the interstate, the food is re-heated trash that costs a fortune, the atmosphere is boring factory produced trash, and the wifi is so slow it's like it doesn't exist.
People are absolute zombies for it. In the airport, there’s always a line into the concourse for that overpriced burnt shit. There are other coffee and bagel and donut shops mere steps away whose coffee is cheaper and better.
I was in fucking midtown manhattan last week, with amazing coffee shops on every block. Still a line out the door at Starbucks. Like what the fuck, people.
And yet they are still making loads of money.
Mind you I'd kina hope they start to die so I can get one of their machines for home from liquidation auction.
Yeah, Starbucks finally has a few places here in Copenhagen, but that was after a few years of simply not getting a hold anywhere; shops that opened, stayed for less than a year, then closed.
The competition here is Joe and the Juice, a local company, and various small privately owned baristas.
Starbucks has some permanent places right now, but they're still not big. Haven't heard many people say positive things about them.
The original Starbucks was pretty good and even for a while after they started the franchise they were still a bit above average quality. They're crap now, but that was a slow decline over the last decade. So they can coast on the reputation the original built and rely on their current customers either not ever having had good coffee or not noticing the slow incremental decline.
The most over roasted slop around, sure. There's a reason why that place serves pure diabetes, their black coffee is kinda gross.
maybe the coffee is gross so that it can pair with the diabetes. That much sugar needs a very strong flavor to offset it.
Or Starbucks just uses the absolute cheapest beans on the market and then burns them for that truly consistent char flavor, which they then have to turn into diabetes to make palatable.
I have to agree with you, i'm on a special diet, so I only drink black coffee - and if I get an americano from starbucks its so immensely bitter it's almost undrinkable - I think it only makes sense if they are balancing it against the super-sweetness of their sugar/fructose loaded drinks as default.
No one does that though, because Starbucks coffee is terrible. It’s over-roasted charcoal crap. If you order a black coffee, do yourself a favour and get a nice, light-roasted pour over from an independent cafe serving locally roasted, single-origin coffee. Good coffee should smell like a mix of dried fruit, floral perfume, and toasted nuts, not burnt rubber.
Listen man, I get it, you don’t like dark roasts but you don’t have to yuck other peoples yums. Could they get a better one than at Starbucks? Sure. Is there anything wrong with a nice dark roast? No.
I buy dark roasts from a local coffee roaster in my city. They don’t have any fruit or floral notes, but they taste like dark chocolate, not burnt rubber. They’re good dark roasts. Starbucks is still crap. It only tastes good in a giant cup of milk and sugar and caramel sauce.
That wasn't about dark roasts, that was about Starbucks' coffee and roast. There's a big difference. Starbucks goes darker than most specialty roasters' dark roasts.
Also, "burnt rubber" notes often come from robusta coffee. Robusta is cheap, easy to grow, and has a long shelf life. The darker it's roasted, the less it tastes like burnt rubber[^1]. But Starbucks claims that they use 100% arabica. If true, then it's almost impressive that they made it taste like that.
[^1]: There are some amazing, exceptional robustas, but you won't find them in commodity coffee or Starbucks
If you pay 9$ for that it will just make you sad. Let them pour some sugar milk foam in it so at least you don't know that you are drinking burnt mediocre coffee.
you're talkin to a guy who dumps instant coffee into cold water. starbucks cold brew black is at least vaguely ok. plus its way less expensive to get it without all the fixins. and yes, still infinitely more expensive than brewing your bean water yourself
Starbucks doesn't franchise FYI. They have places that sell coffee "Proudly Serve Starbucks Coffee" as well as licensed stores, but those are typically mega corps like Safeway, Target and HMS host.
End of the day it is on us to actually use the tools of haters and trolls to fight back against any of this stuff. But we police ourselves. They trained us to police ourselves away from the tools.
We created the internet. We learned we can use it to shape culture and push back against these rich interests but they also learned it at the same time. So they covertly used bot accounts to push us away from ways to shape our world and instead trained us to use this stuff to post about beans and "its morbing time"
I work an a facility next to a few fast food joints, a Japanese restaurant, an Indian restaurant, and a Chipotle. Pretty much the only restaurant we don't order from is Chipotle.
... Chipotle is real restaurant prices for a fastfood experience.
Friendly reminder that during 9/11, Starbucks in NYC charged firefighter $5 for tap water.
Now, I realize $5 today doesn't sound like much, but to put it in comparison, at the time a bottle of 20oz water ranged between $0.50, and $1.25 at grocery stores.
So here's these men, saving lives, risking their own, covered in asbestos and other soot, desprate for a drink to keep saving lives, and the manager of that starbucks decides thats a good time to gouge them for tap water. BITCH THAT SHIT SHOULD BE FREE!!! Especially for these guys! Many of whom died when the towers collapsed. Their last drink for some of them was a price gouged starbucks tap water.
Edit: I just thought of another way to put it in perspective. I remember in 2000 my dad would give me $5 occasionally to get dinner from McDonalds so he didn't have to cook. It was at the time enough for a medium size double quarter pounder meal. Large or super size would have taken me over the $5 mark, but the medium would just barely cover it.
So now next time you're at McDonalds, look at the price of what that is today, and imagine being asked to pay that for a plastic cup with tap water.
Look at the wording- 'premium experience'. He's not selling coffee, he's thinking big picture of the whole experience from the moment you walk in the store. He's not even wrong here. This is good business management- that he's taking charge of everything about the store from the decor, the furniture, the colors, how the employee talks to you, etc. That's all part of the experience.
What's wrong is that people keep going. Most people don't give a fuck about the experience, they just want a tasty coffee. Our economy is based on competition and free choice. If he makes his coffee cost $8 or $9 or $15 or $50 that's his right and his company's right. Just as it is your right to go elsewhere, which you should be doing anyway.
The thing is- IMHO, Starbucks coffee isn't worth anywhere near $9. Here's a challenge- go to Starbucks and order a double espresso shot. Now find a local artisan coffee place, like the type with a chalkboard that says where the beans they're brewing today were grown. And get a double espresso from them also. Compare the two.
What you'll notice about Starbucks is that it's burnt. And that's because it's literally burnt- the typical Starbucks bean is roasted MUCH darker than average, so the resulting coffee flavor is dominated by a burned smoky bitter-ish flavor.
Compare that to your local artisan coffee place- you'll notice it's NOT burnt, the flavor is NOT dominated by smokiness, but you have a lot more layers of flavor. Then order whatever drink you want- better coffee in means better drink out.
Keep in mind also most of what Starbucks sells isn't really coffee, it's milky sugary drinks that incorporate a few drips of espresso. So you're paying $9 for a sugary calorie bomb made from overly roasted coffee that just makes you fat.
Also- if you usually order the same thing at Starbucks- just learn to make it. Even if you throw $1000 at a nice fully automatic espresso machine, taking the per-coffee cost from $9 to $1 means you'll break even on the machine in 125 coffees. For most people that's less than a year. And you can do it yourself- next time you order, watch what the barista does. They are not wizards and nothing behind the counter is magic. An espresso machine and a blender will make like 95% of the menu. Here's a guide
I'd throw a couple more bucks at the grinder, but I've had moka pot coffee and it's surprisingly good. Granted I'm only a low-level coffee snob but I've always been of the opinion do what works for you and screw the haters.
And while someone might make fun of your setup, from where I sit you are getting a cup of coffee you like better than Starbucks for less than €1 per cup. Sounds like a win to me!
If you have decent coffee, you get the grind dialed in, and a half decent sub 300€ expresso machine, you can get very very good coffee.
I have owned a small resto in Spain, so I kind of know a bit about expresso.
The coffee experience is 100% subjective, anyway.
Some like light roasts, dark, some Arabica, some robusta, some espresso, pour over, some percolated (I just barfed a little in my mouth here).
There is a lot of bullshit being peddled by coffee influencers who every week have to make a video about the same subject to keep making money, anyway.
Yeah the problem with espresso is once you have good espresso you really can't go back to drip coffee. It just tastes like bitter colored water :(
But you also make a good point, Starbucks sells a ton of different drinks but the shot that goes into them is always the same. If you put in a little time to experiment and dial in it's easy to find something that fits your taste even better.
I'm in India, and when I was in college, first Starbucks in the city was opened and a few of my friends including me wanted to try it. We all spent 500-600 INR ($4-5) which was a lot. After taking the first sip, we all came to the conclusion that the coffee sold at the college canteen for ₹20 was better than this overpriced slop.
I make coffee at my home for less than a dollar and I love the taste and I love the experience.
We WANT this to be Worth Your While so we're Paying our Baristas enough to Make It Worth Your While!Buying only the BEST Coffee Beans!Creating NEW Techniques to make your Coffee even MORE Enjoyable!Investing in our Stores so there COMFORTABLE! Giving me, the CEO, a Private Jet!
I don't give a fuck how much they charge for coffee. I don't know why anyone would. You buy it, or you don't. It's not fucking insulin. No one needs to buy their shitty products.
The only reason I would care is to compare it to how much the baristas are getting paid. How many cups of coffee can a barista afford from a single shift, purely from wages? Can a barista even afford a single cup of coffee per hour with their hourly wage? And no, don’t start with the “but it’s a tipped position” stuff. How much does the company pay the barista?
I use this comparison because the McDonalds in my area starts pay at ~$10 per hour before tax, while a Big Mac Meal (arguably the most iconic and popular item on the menu) costs $11.25 before tax. In an eight hour shift, after taxes are factored in, the McDonalds worker can barely afford to buy five meals from the place they’re working at. But how many meals does that worker prepare and serve in a single eight hour shift? Definitely more than five. Probably by several orders of magnitude. So how much profit has the worker brought in, compared to how little they were paid?
To bring it back to the original point, how many $9 drinks does a barista prepare in a single shift? How much profit is made per drink? And how many can the barista afford? This is a video of a man who infamously “commutes” to work across the country via a private company jet, because he refuses to move closer to where their corporate HQ is located. How much company profit does this man consume, simply by traveling to and from work? How much profit from $9 cups of coffee could have gone towards higher barista pay, instead of paying for this man’s commute?
starbucks has a tendancy to shut down coffee shops if they even hear a word of unionization being mentioned. i noticed like 2 of them near my work that were suddenly closed not coincidentally when unionization in another state was being mentioned. and this was a starbucks that was in a pretty high traffic area, tech conferences center is nearby , i always see it packed.
Prioritizing "experience" over coffee itself is not new for Starbucks. Even before the $9 price tag, their prices far exceeded their (low quality) coffee because they're selling the experience.
Coffee roasters sometimes refer to them as "Charbucks."
A bag of locally roasted coffee is $12 and lasts me two weeks. It used to be $9, before the orange shithead but let's ignore that. A pot of coffee takes about as long as it takes for water to boil. I'm clearly not the target demographic, but still. Nine fucking dollars for a cup?
It's not like it's a unique offering at this point either. Everyone and their dog has complicated syrupy coffee/tea drinks on their menu.
I don't know, maybe the busy-but-nicer-than-McDonalds ambiance is worth it to some people. If it's anything like Tim Hortons, lots of people just buy out of pure habit as well. Either way, that's their business, not the person selling it.
or go to any other coffee store. phillz, peets(maybe), theres some that are specific to our city that also seells the product to stores. of course make your own, french press or carefe.
The average coffee drinker doesn’t buy coffee to get a great seat and have a moment with a barista lol. They want to get their coffee as fast as possible and be out of there as quick as possible. Just like the average office worker doesn’t take a private jet to get to work. I guess that’s where his logic is coming from. He spends the fuel and CO2 not for the commute, but for the great legroom and moment with the stewardess.
I got an espresso machine a few years ago and learned to make a proper latte with it. At this point, a $9 cup of charry sugar water made by a teenager in a fast food restaurant doesn’t really appeal to me.
I mean, I am relatively ok paid, but $9 would be about 1-1.5 hours of my wage before tax. If I want to live in a both economy and ecology wise manner, I had calculated it to a cup of $4 coffee every two weeks, IF I don’t eat out and instead use frozen home made lunch boxes every work day.
If I can skip a coffee a week and instead donate to a charity or local homeless person of my choice. Or save my money for the LGTBQ+ scouts. That’s way better.
Haven’t had Starbucks in over a year, maybe three, the coffee wasn’t worthwhile of the wait or money and the last time the barista gave me oat milk instead of almond. No faults to the barista, I think the chain stresses them out.
My coffee experience is fine thank you. Every morning I boil the kettle, hand crank the grinder while it’s heating. Combine in the French press, wait a minute, stir, wait 4-5 more, press and pour into my mug.
It’s a great morning routine, less than 10 minutes, cheap and results in a great cup. I have no interest in the coffee flavored milkshakes they serve so why would I ever set foot in a coffee shop?
Labeling Starbucks coffee as a premium experience is a bold statement. Did he never drank real coffee? "Oh but it's premium because our coffee tastes so bad, we just add a lot of sugar and flavors to it so you won't notice."
I would actually pay $9 for the premium experience of seeing this CEO getting a cup of boiling hot coffee in his face.
The coffee is not the experience. Everything around that coffee is. The mug, the barista with a smile, the friendly words, the lighting, the music there, the seats, the flower pots, …
Starbucks coffee is shite. The main reason many people go there is because of the image of status symbol, especially in many parts of the world. The chain also ruffled feathers here in Ireland for setting up shop everywhere, driving down prices of their coffee to force local cafés to close. Then, when local competitions are gone, Starbucks raise prices to extortionate level. For these reasons, I boycott Starbucks. Thankfully, what Starbucks did in Ireland was nipped in the bud, locals prefer their local cafés.
Besides, countries with older café culture rail stronger on the overgrowth of big coffee chains like Starbucks. For example, the coffee chain in Australia never became popular enough. Because Australians see cafe culture as being more community based, where they chat to neighbours and baristas, a habit picked up from Greek immigrants to Australia long before coffee chains took the world by storm.
It's worse than that. Obviously he's not talking about the coffee. He doesn't even paint it as good-quality coffee. He's saying people go for the experience of enjoying the coffee in a pleasant environment. He actually believes people go to Starbucks because they like being at Starbucks.
That used to be their whole shtick, the third place experience. They wanted people to treat Starbucks as where they go when they want to relax or meet with friends, a place outside of their home and work, where the baristas knew their names and would chat and make them feel welcome. Especially a lot of older folks liked that, and would make it part of their routine. Starbucks threw that all away when they went to prioritising drive thru and mobile order/pay systems. It's a shareholder business and this is capitalism. It's either neverending growth or death.
Not actually Starbucks related but the other day I wanted a coffee so I bought a $5 48oz bottle of cold brew at the grocery store and helped myself to a courtesy cup, lid, ice and straw so I could drink it right away. So for the same price as probably a 16oz cold brew I got that and the remaining ~3/4 of the bottle to take home.
He looks like someone that would make me cross the street if he was on the same side as me while I'm walking my fur baby. Rex don't need to smell that shit.
I drink black coffee only and their black coffee tastes like shit. Always burned. No wonder why people fill it up with all kinds of sugars and creamers. That shit is fucking gross, and they charge like $3 for a small cup of it. Went a couple of times there because I had to and just never going back there.
I'll go to my local coffee shop if I want a good coffee experience. Starschmucks is a last effort if I am traveling and I really need coffee (think in the airport terminal), otherwise, I go without until I can get something affordable like a gas station with decent drip coffee or a coffee machine. These CEOs are so out of touch it isn't even funny.
It's seen as a premium or at least different experience by some people here because you generally gotta sit on a boat for 16 hours to get to Starbucks (or now I think you can also get it on the boat to Stockholm or Helsinki, at some point you actually had to go to Stockholm). But also the people who see it as a premium experience normally just drink coffee at home, or from a crappy machine at work, or grab one from a gas station (which is already better than what most people make at home. I mean average people, not coffee fans. Coffee is just a tool for most). Not at a nice cafe here in Estonia. Anyone who does that probably doesn't see Tarbrush as a premium place.
Idiots keep going there. They get what they get. Go to mom and pop coffee places that are cheaper. Shit even Dunkin half the price, tastes better anyway.
Who goes to Starbucks anyway? That place would not know what a coffee bean looked like if it rained beans.
I'm lucky to live in a place where there are the most coffee shops in the world; over 9000 independent coffee shops with some amazing beans.
Hm… Well, I for one did go to Starbucks. A LOT. For 20 years of my life. And I’m done with them.
Now I’m not going to pretend that the CEO cares at all about me. I’m also not going to pretend that their coffee was bad or that things are going to change because I don’t buy their product or that I’m some great moralist for quitting Starbucks. I just don’t like Brian Niccol and I don’t want him to have any fraction of my money. Dude’s a piece of work and the market of other options for coffee is more saturated than the caffeine content of my bloodstream.
You are 1 of 3 people I see in this 50+ comment thread saying you were going to Starbucks prior to this statement. The rest of the thread is the type that says movies are dead because theaters charge too much for candy, as if they're forced to buy candy to watch a movie.
Yeah, and I mean Starbucks used to be a staple for me; I’m not gonna deny that. Back when the original customer loyalty/gold card program existed, the entire chain was setup to be a daily experience, not a premium experience, and I was there daily. Plus, I swear I remember the coffee tasting better back then. But the movies aren’t dead because of candy sales and Starbucks won’t die for adapting their business model to the times. I suppose I’ve just been around long enough to mourn how things used to be.
Yes, and I appreciate that you have relevant input. I didn't like Starbucks coffee all that much before, but I figured that's just the flavor they choose. I guess that's the charred flavor. I don't choose it, but if it's the only feasible option, I hope they have cold brew because while also unique, it tastes fine.
I'm just tired of the boring rhetoric on display here about how it's "not real coffee" and "everything is a dairy sugar hijink". No one is being forced to buy a triple whip frappe soy milk unicorn latte. It has 4 shots of espresso. The market continues to buy it. Plus, I swear, there's a constant underlying masculinity thing berating women for buying what they want.
Side note, for movie theaters and mourning what's lost. I enjoyed the drop in crowd size at first in the post-covid slump, but damn, I miss the parasocial community feeling. The buzz as everyone walks up, the chatter as everyone leaves. Plus, I know dwindling crowd size means dwindling theater options and amenities.
The labor for serving the cup alone is worth $5 alone then the labor to cut the beens is another $5 then the labor to run the factory that's another $5 then the labor to drive the truck that's another $5 that's a $20 cup if we weren't using slave labor.
185 Comments
protist@retrofed.com · 236 pts · 94d
Has this man even been inside a Starbucks recently? They used to be loungy places people could chill, now they're all bland, sparsely decorated, dirty, and uninviting. There is absolutely nothing premium about Starbucks, it's basically a fast-food chain. Once again demonstrating how far removed CEOs are from reality
CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de · 105 pts · 94d
Fast food is expensive too. And it’s hurting their sales, and they can’t figure out that they need to slice profits, not the product.
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world · 48 pts · 94d
Burger King is just inedible now. And by that I mean twice now I've eaten there, and then within an hour my stomach upset. Then followed by 12 hours of what can only be described as "VIOLENT DIARRHEA". Yes, all caps, because thats the urgancy that situation called for.
Two different locations too. Plus the first time I went with a friend, and she got it too. The first time I chalked it off to being that particular location. Then, nearly 8 months later, different location, different city. Same result.
After that, Burger King is officially just as banned from my diet as taco bell is. Inedible.
zewm@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 94d
Inedible Now? Your same experience was mine over 15 years ago. I was getting stomach pains and shitting really bad every single time I had BK. He’ll even towards the end I couldn’t even swallow a fry. I had started switching to onion rings cause the fries left a wax taste in my mouth after.
I haven’t had BK since then. 2010 ish. I ended up dropping all fast food after Covid cause the prices just don’t match up with quality anymore.
I heard a single combo meal at McDonalds clocks in near $20 these days. Fuck that noise. Not for a thin, dry “meat” patty that gets microwaved and then thrown between a pair of bread slices. No sir. No thanks. I rather spend that $20 on take out from a real restaurant.
njordomir@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 94d
Chipotle is still the king of food poisoning. They have a proven track record in toilet-related war crimes going back many years. Guess I'm adding BK to my no-go list now too.
Teh@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 94d
Whereas I’ve never had food poisoning in the 10ish times I’ve eaten at Chipotle, Cici’s pizza is 3 for 3 for violence out both ends for me. The third time I was practically fooled into it, but I’d rather just starve next time (there won’t be one).
TAG@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 93d
The issue is that you went to a fast food store location in a city. I have never gotten edible food at an urban location of a fast food chain, even in the 90's.
foggy@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 94d
Hey buddy, those yachts aren't gonna buy themselves. What do you expect them to do, live on less?
NutinButNet@hilariouschaos.com · 5 pts · 94d
It doesn’t help when a good chunk of their customer base still goes on a regular basis. I often see long lines at drive thrus in my area despite combos costing $10+.
hanke@feddit.nu · 4 pts · 93d
The profit is the product
notwhoyouthink@lemmy.zip · 47 pts · 94d
Came here to say this. What ‘premium’ experience is he talking about?
Something tells me that the only Starbucks he actually has used recently is likely a very high-end version for the C titles in HQ, meters away from his office and for employee use only.
Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 43 pts · 94d
They're calling it an experience becuase consumers are indicating they are willing to pay for experiences while pulling back spending on daily expenses.
Consumers mean concerts and vacations and this douche knows he isn't actually offering an experience so he does the mind trick where he says the term over and over to associate in the consumers mind the idea that drive thru coffee is an experience.
notwhoyouthink@lemmy.zip · 20 pts · 94d
Absolutely. It was a clear attempt at adding ‘perceived value’ by using the word ‘experience’ so many times. He knows what type of consumer he’s speaking to.
These interviews are really just PR opportunities for guys like this (in their perception).
nieceandtows@programming.dev · 7 pts · 94d
The interviewer should have pushed back and asked what made it premium.
ZoteTheMighty@lemmy.zip · 9 pts · 94d
He's talking about the Starbucks experience he has. Headquarters will always be the perfect Starbucks, and if he goes to a real shop, it'll be a newly opened one with a new special item. He doesn't go to the actual shops people probably associate with Starbucks.
notoftenthat@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 93d
Aren't they all just like this? /s
https://www.starbucksreserve.com/locations/chicago-roastery
I was able to walk through that premium experience for free. I'm not sufficiently bougie to appreciate investor grade coffee, tho.
Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz · 1 pts · 94d
The ones in asia are well decorated. People go there to take video calls.
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 16 pts · 94d
When I want to lounge at a café, I'm expecting a warm, inviting interior, some plants, bookish decor, smooth jazz, hip staff, and a coffee that could only be produced by coffee geeks with attention to detail at every step of the process...
You walk into a starbucks today, everything is cold and industrial, they've got pop music blaring on the radio, and the staff all look miserable. Oh, and the coffee sucks.
Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 6 pts · 93d
Look at the clip without sound. It's like a rubber doll, no emotions what so ever.
njordomir@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 94d
I'm happy to drink a $2 coffee from the gas station (probably a half gallon of it 🙂) and set the remaining $7 aside. Then again, I only get drip coffee and not any of the milkshake-y stuff Starbucks specializes in.
ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 93d
I remember 90's era Starbucks and a bunch were still pretty grungy corners of strip malls. But the point was they were still coffeeshops, despite being a chain that went corporate.
Now they're glorified coffee stands with real estate baggage and little sandwiches. And zero of that 'third place' shit they used to dominate the market.
Strider@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 93d
Why should he go to a place for the rabble?
njordomir@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 93d
They should have sent the manager and crew to the thrift store with a corporate CC and a box truck for furniture. Instead it's bland, depressed, "I can't believe it's not cardboard™."
Trev625@sopuli.xyz · 98 pts · 94d
I hate this trend of putting shit at the beginning that I then have to hear again less than 10 seconds later. Like I get it's for grabbing you but the second I start hearing the same thing again I immediately close the video.
javasux@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 94d
It matters a lot more on platforms like TikTok, where there's no title, no thumbnail, all you have is the first two seconds of the video before someone swipes away
abbadon420@sh.itjust.works · 31 pts · 94d
So, the problem isn't the video, but the fact that places like tiktok exist. Even worse is that they're spreading
abcd@feddit.org · 77 pts · 94d
Fuck Starbucks. It’s not the first time I mention this, and I’ll keep mentioning it: When Corona hit Germany, the government reduced the VAT to prevent restaurants from going bankrupt in 2020. Starbucks gave every customer the finger and did not lower the prices, keeping the difference for themselves. I was never a regular customer but this made me blacklist them for life.
Pepperidge Farm remembers
neidu3@sh.itjust.works · 13 pts · 94d
Pfeffergrat erinnert?
Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 93d
The taste of their coffee is what made me blacklist them.
tccpdi@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 93d
Prime example of: "capitalism breeds innovation"
Comet79@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 93d
starlinguk@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 93d
The petrol stations are currently doing the same.
crank0271@lemmy.world · 73 pts · 94d
The interviewer's inability to hide his reaction is priceless
CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works · 70 pts · 94d
Wow that guy doesn’t even look human. No wonder he had no issue mandating all employees return to the office while he flew a private jet from California to Seattle every day.
Its also hilarious he has that ear piece in his ear so that his PR team can feed the machine the 'correct' focus-grouped response to every question.
capuccino@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 94d
He doesn't even look to the camera. He's looking to some script that is behind.
MrFappy@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 94d
I’m pretty sure the earpiece is so he can hear the interviewer.
CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 94d
Makes sense. I was assuming he was sitting in his quiet office and using the laptop speakers but I suppose that would create feedback for the microphones
jballs@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 93d
He's the same piece of shit that fired all the corporate Chipotle employees in Denver to move their headquarters to Newport Beach, because that's where his house is.
TheGiantKorean@lemmy.today · 59 pts · 94d
Premium my ass.
I love our local coffee place. We bring our dogs. The baristas bring them cups of whipped cream. The place is cozy and they sell art from local artists. And the coffee is actually good and doesn't taste like someone burned it. I usually make my own coffee, but it's nice to go there once a week and just enjoy being there. That is premium.
sleepdrifter@startrek.website · 6 pts · 94d
I love making my own coffee, but I also love going to a local shop every now and then (at home and when I'm on the road)
Teh@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 94d
Whereas I don’t love making coffee every day, it’s a fair sight cheaper and quite a bit faster than even just pulling off into the drive through at my local coffee shop, let alone a Starbucks. It’s boiling water that’s been steeped through ground, roasted beans folks.
Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 93d
Be careful with the whipped cream cups.
This was/is a starbucks thing and it's really fucking bad for the dogs. It can be a huge amount of fat the equates to a human eating multiple big macs.
TheGiantKorean@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 93d
Good tip, thank you. We do keep an eye on our dogs' diets and weights, generally.
Late2TheParty@lemmy.world · 50 pts · 94d
Let's just pretend Starbucks coffee didn't taste like cheap, crusty asshole for a second... Fuck you, Brian!
robocall@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 94d
I think most of their "coffees" are caramel flavored milks
Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 93d
It's crazy how they can make their coffee taste like they simultaneously undercooked and also burned their coffee beans.
SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 46 pts · 94d
thedeadwalking4242@lemmy.world · 45 pts · 93d
The coffee sucks, the tables are all filled or dirty and sticky, the outside seating is in a parking lot, baking in the sun, the drive through is backed up to the interstate, the food is re-heated trash that costs a fortune, the atmosphere is boring factory produced trash, and the wifi is so slow it's like it doesn't exist.
Why. Why on earth would I go to starbucks
baggachipz@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 93d
People are absolute zombies for it. In the airport, there’s always a line into the concourse for that overpriced burnt shit. There are other coffee and bagel and donut shops mere steps away whose coffee is cheaper and better.
I was in fucking midtown manhattan last week, with amazing coffee shops on every block. Still a line out the door at Starbucks. Like what the fuck, people.
Mpatch@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 93d
And yet they are still making loads of money. Mind you I'd kina hope they start to die so I can get one of their machines for home from liquidation auction.
ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 93d
They're making so much money that they're still opening Starbuckses across the street from Startbuckses. Make it make sense.
BackgrndNoize@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 93d
The line must go up
Redtrax@lemmy.ml · 44 pts · 93d
It's sad to think there are people in the world that think Starbucks coffee is nice.
SpaceCadet@feddit.nl · 10 pts · 93d
It's "coffee" for people who don't really like coffee and want to drink something warm with cream, sugary syrup and artificial flavoring.
Tattorack@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 93d
Yeah, Starbucks finally has a few places here in Copenhagen, but that was after a few years of simply not getting a hold anywhere; shops that opened, stayed for less than a year, then closed.
The competition here is Joe and the Juice, a local company, and various small privately owned baristas.
Starbucks has some permanent places right now, but they're still not big. Haven't heard many people say positive things about them.
baggachipz@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 93d
I just want to say your city is awesome. That is all.
JcbAzPx@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 93d
The original Starbucks was pretty good and even for a while after they started the franchise they were still a bit above average quality. They're crap now, but that was a slow decline over the last decade. So they can coast on the reputation the original built and rely on their current customers either not ever having had good coffee or not noticing the slow incremental decline.
BackgrndNoize@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 93d
These people mostly like star bucks sugar syrup and pretend it's coffee that they are after
pelespirit@sh.itjust.works · 39 pts · 94d
"Starbucks CEO, easily replaced by AI. Here, we'll show you why that's the case."
Doug@piefed.social · 6 pts · 94d
I mean the sterility of his appearance could’ve fooled me.
bazinga@discuss.tchncs.de · 37 pts · 94d
Calling the stuff you buy at Starbucks coffee? What they sell is all sorts of sugar in a cup. This is not a coffee place, it is a diabetes hole.
naught@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 94d
you are allowed to get a black coffee
chaogomu@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 94d
The most over roasted slop around, sure. There's a reason why that place serves pure diabetes, their black coffee is kinda gross.
maybe the coffee is gross so that it can pair with the diabetes. That much sugar needs a very strong flavor to offset it.
Or Starbucks just uses the absolute cheapest beans on the market and then burns them for that truly consistent char flavor, which they then have to turn into diabetes to make palatable.
Either way, it's just not good.
jet@hackertalks.com · 1 pts · 81d
I have to agree with you, i'm on a special diet, so I only drink black coffee - and if I get an americano from starbucks its so immensely bitter it's almost undrinkable - I think it only makes sense if they are balancing it against the super-sweetness of their sugar/fructose loaded drinks as default.
chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 94d
No one does that though, because Starbucks coffee is terrible. It’s over-roasted charcoal crap. If you order a black coffee, do yourself a favour and get a nice, light-roasted pour over from an independent cafe serving locally roasted, single-origin coffee. Good coffee should smell like a mix of dried fruit, floral perfume, and toasted nuts, not burnt rubber.
ChokingHazard@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 94d
Listen man, I get it, you don’t like dark roasts but you don’t have to yuck other peoples yums. Could they get a better one than at Starbucks? Sure. Is there anything wrong with a nice dark roast? No.
chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 94d
I buy dark roasts from a local coffee roaster in my city. They don’t have any fruit or floral notes, but they taste like dark chocolate, not burnt rubber. They’re good dark roasts. Starbucks is still crap. It only tastes good in a giant cup of milk and sugar and caramel sauce.
percent@infosec.pub · 4 pts · 93d
That wasn't about dark roasts, that was about Starbucks' coffee and roast. There's a big difference. Starbucks goes darker than most specialty roasters' dark roasts.
Also, "burnt rubber" notes often come from robusta coffee. Robusta is cheap, easy to grow, and has a long shelf life. The darker it's roasted, the less it tastes like burnt rubber[^1]. But Starbucks claims that they use 100% arabica. If true, then it's almost impressive that they made it taste like that.
[^1]: There are some amazing, exceptional robustas, but you won't find them in commodity coffee or Starbucks
Vorticity@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 93d
They do have light and medium roasts, too. I'm not saying their coffee is great, but it's not all burnt either.
percent@infosec.pub · 1 pts · 93d
Yes, and all of their roast levels are darker than what you'd get from most specialty roasters
CoffeeSoldier@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 94d
If you pay 9$ for that it will just make you sad. Let them pour some sugar milk foam in it so at least you don't know that you are drinking burnt mediocre coffee.
BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 94d
I don't know, mediocre is a stretch.
naught@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 93d
you're talkin to a guy who dumps instant coffee into cold water. starbucks cold brew black is at least vaguely ok. plus its way less expensive to get it without all the fixins. and yes, still infinitely more expensive than brewing your bean water yourself
BackgrndNoize@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 93d
Which statistically is likely the least selling menu item at a Starbucks and probably also tastes like shit
01189998819991197253@infosec.pub · 33 pts · 94d
I had a Starbucks franchise owner tell me that Starbucks doesn't sell coffee; [they] sell an experience.
Then improve the experience, I told him. I seriously have no idea how they're still around.
Raiderkev@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 94d
Starbucks doesn't franchise FYI. They have places that sell coffee "Proudly Serve Starbucks Coffee" as well as licensed stores, but those are typically mega corps like Safeway, Target and HMS host.
https://www.tastingtable.com/1633136/we-proudly-serve-starbucks-explained/
01189998819991197253@infosec.pub · 2 pts · 93d
Oh, interesting! I didn't know that!
Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 93d
End of the day it is on us to actually use the tools of haters and trolls to fight back against any of this stuff. But we police ourselves. They trained us to police ourselves away from the tools.
We created the internet. We learned we can use it to shape culture and push back against these rich interests but they also learned it at the same time. So they covertly used bot accounts to push us away from ways to shape our world and instead trained us to use this stuff to post about beans and "its morbing time"
Otakulad@lemmy.world · 31 pts · 93d
They need some way to pay for the year he commuted to Seattle by private jet.
Also, he is the asshole who said to keep raising the prices at Chipotle.
Fuck him. I will drink Folgers (and I do) before I'll drink your shit.
BygoneNeutrino@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 93d
I work an a facility next to a few fast food joints, a Japanese restaurant, an Indian restaurant, and a Chipotle. Pretty much the only restaurant we don't order from is Chipotle.
... Chipotle is real restaurant prices for a fastfood experience.
mojofrododojo@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 93d
yeah, it's hardly worth the price, and honestly, I haven't liked their roast since the 90s. nothing worth this bullshit.
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world · 29 pts · 94d
Friendly reminder that during 9/11, Starbucks in NYC charged firefighter $5 for tap water.
Now, I realize $5 today doesn't sound like much, but to put it in comparison, at the time a bottle of 20oz water ranged between $0.50, and $1.25 at grocery stores.
So here's these men, saving lives, risking their own, covered in asbestos and other soot, desprate for a drink to keep saving lives, and the manager of that starbucks decides thats a good time to gouge them for tap water. BITCH THAT SHIT SHOULD BE FREE!!! Especially for these guys! Many of whom died when the towers collapsed. Their last drink for some of them was a price gouged starbucks tap water.
Edit: I just thought of another way to put it in perspective. I remember in 2000 my dad would give me $5 occasionally to get dinner from McDonalds so he didn't have to cook. It was at the time enough for a medium size double quarter pounder meal. Large or super size would have taken me over the $5 mark, but the medium would just barely cover it.
So now next time you're at McDonalds, look at the price of what that is today, and imagine being asked to pay that for a plastic cup with tap water.
FudgyMcTubbs@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 94d
oh_@lemmy.world · 23 pts · 94d
Yes. Starbucks. The McDonald’s of coffee shops. High class. Premium.
Frenchgeek@lemmy.ml · 9 pts · 94d
Do they still over-roast their beans to hide the low quality?
Buckshot@programming.dev · 5 pts · 94d
Yes
Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 93d
Ooooh, is that why they do this?!
softwarist@programming.dev · 5 pts · 94d
To be fair, McDonald's also does coffee, but you can get any size there for a dollar in the morning which is hard to beat for a shitty cup of coffee.
SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today · 21 pts · 93d
Look at the wording- 'premium experience'. He's not selling coffee, he's thinking big picture of the whole experience from the moment you walk in the store. He's not even wrong here. This is good business management- that he's taking charge of everything about the store from the decor, the furniture, the colors, how the employee talks to you, etc. That's all part of the experience.
What's wrong is that people keep going. Most people don't give a fuck about the experience, they just want a tasty coffee. Our economy is based on competition and free choice. If he makes his coffee cost $8 or $9 or $15 or $50 that's his right and his company's right. Just as it is your right to go elsewhere, which you should be doing anyway.
The thing is- IMHO, Starbucks coffee isn't worth anywhere near $9. Here's a challenge- go to Starbucks and order a double espresso shot. Now find a local artisan coffee place, like the type with a chalkboard that says where the beans they're brewing today were grown. And get a double espresso from them also. Compare the two.
What you'll notice about Starbucks is that it's burnt. And that's because it's literally burnt- the typical Starbucks bean is roasted MUCH darker than average, so the resulting coffee flavor is dominated by a burned smoky bitter-ish flavor.
Compare that to your local artisan coffee place- you'll notice it's NOT burnt, the flavor is NOT dominated by smokiness, but you have a lot more layers of flavor. Then order whatever drink you want- better coffee in means better drink out.
Keep in mind also most of what Starbucks sells isn't really coffee, it's milky sugary drinks that incorporate a few drips of espresso. So you're paying $9 for a sugary calorie bomb made from overly roasted coffee that just makes you fat.
Also- if you usually order the same thing at Starbucks- just learn to make it. Even if you throw $1000 at a nice fully automatic espresso machine, taking the per-coffee cost from $9 to $1 means you'll break even on the machine in 125 coffees. For most people that's less than a year. And you can do it yourself- next time you order, watch what the barista does. They are not wizards and nothing behind the counter is magic. An espresso machine and a blender will make like 95% of the menu. Here's a guide
robador51@lemmy.ml · 9 pts · 93d
Even on a shoestring budget you can get far. My equipment:
10 euro 'grinder' 30 euro moka pot (bialetti) Decent beans (segafredo, lavazza) about 10 euro per kilo (on offer), lasts my family about a month.
I like late macchiato, which in my case is about 2 thirds milk heated in the micro, 1 third coffee.
I know the above will horrify real coffee enthusiasts, but I can tell you it's a lot better than starbucks, and a lot cheaper too.
SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 93d
I'd throw a couple more bucks at the grinder, but I've had moka pot coffee and it's surprisingly good. Granted I'm only a low-level coffee snob but I've always been of the opinion do what works for you and screw the haters. And while someone might make fun of your setup, from where I sit you are getting a cup of coffee you like better than Starbucks for less than €1 per cup. Sounds like a win to me!
elucubra@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 93d
If you have decent coffee, you get the grind dialed in, and a half decent sub 300€ expresso machine, you can get very very good coffee.
I have owned a small resto in Spain, so I kind of know a bit about expresso.
The coffee experience is 100% subjective, anyway.
Some like light roasts, dark, some Arabica, some robusta, some espresso, pour over, some percolated (I just barfed a little in my mouth here).
There is a lot of bullshit being peddled by coffee influencers who every week have to make a video about the same subject to keep making money, anyway.
SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 93d
Yeah the problem with espresso is once you have good espresso you really can't go back to drip coffee. It just tastes like bitter colored water :(
But you also make a good point, Starbucks sells a ton of different drinks but the shot that goes into them is always the same. If you put in a little time to experiment and dial in it's easy to find something that fits your taste even better.
nutbutter@discuss.tchncs.de · 21 pts · 93d
I'm in India, and when I was in college, first Starbucks in the city was opened and a few of my friends including me wanted to try it. We all spent 500-600 INR ($4-5) which was a lot. After taking the first sip, we all came to the conclusion that the coffee sold at the college canteen for ₹20 was better than this overpriced slop.
I make coffee at my home for less than a dollar and I love the taste and I love the experience.
BigMacHole@thelemmy.club · 19 pts · 94d
We WANT this to be Worth Your While so we're
Paying our Baristas enough to Make It Worth Your While!Buying only the BEST Coffee Beans!Creating NEW Techniques to make your Coffee even MORE Enjoyable!Investing in our Stores so there COMFORTABLE!Giving me, the CEO, a Private Jet!pelespirit@sh.itjust.works · 18 pts · 94d
Yep, he commutes by private jet to Seattle from LA every week.
Sanctus@anarchist.nexus · 19 pts · 94d
YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today · 19 pts · 94d
Absolutely zero light behind those eyes. These people really are just biological robots.
Generica@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 93d
A $96-million dollar douche defends a $9 cup of coffee
fishy@lemmy.today · 10 pts · 93d
This guy is delusional, saying a $9 cup of coffee is affordable has "it's one banana, Michael" energy.
Evotech@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 93d
He’s not saying it’s affordable though. He just said that it’s 9 bucks and we have to make that be worth it
Eric@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 93d
A barista would need to serve like 2 coffees an hour to cover their wage
DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 93d
I don't give a fuck how much they charge for coffee. I don't know why anyone would. You buy it, or you don't. It's not fucking insulin. No one needs to buy their shitty products.
mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 14 pts · 93d
The only reason I would care is to compare it to how much the baristas are getting paid. How many cups of coffee can a barista afford from a single shift, purely from wages? Can a barista even afford a single cup of coffee per hour with their hourly wage? And no, don’t start with the “but it’s a tipped position” stuff. How much does the company pay the barista?
I use this comparison because the McDonalds in my area starts pay at ~$10 per hour before tax, while a Big Mac Meal (arguably the most iconic and popular item on the menu) costs $11.25 before tax. In an eight hour shift, after taxes are factored in, the McDonalds worker can barely afford to buy five meals from the place they’re working at. But how many meals does that worker prepare and serve in a single eight hour shift? Definitely more than five. Probably by several orders of magnitude. So how much profit has the worker brought in, compared to how little they were paid?
To bring it back to the original point, how many $9 drinks does a barista prepare in a single shift? How much profit is made per drink? And how many can the barista afford? This is a video of a man who infamously “commutes” to work across the country via a private company jet, because he refuses to move closer to where their corporate HQ is located. How much company profit does this man consume, simply by traveling to and from work? How much profit from $9 cups of coffee could have gone towards higher barista pay, instead of paying for this man’s commute?
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 9 pts · 93d
starbucks has a tendancy to shut down coffee shops if they even hear a word of unionization being mentioned. i noticed like 2 of them near my work that were suddenly closed not coincidentally when unionization in another state was being mentioned. and this was a starbucks that was in a pretty high traffic area, tech conferences center is nearby , i always see it packed.
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 93d
This is really all that needs to be said. Nobody needs Starbucks coffee, so either pay the price or don't go.
whotookkarl@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 13 pts · 93d
Anti union piece of shit
Also interview only included CEO, no labor representation
GreenBeanMachine@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 93d
percent@infosec.pub · 12 pts · 93d
Prioritizing "experience" over coffee itself is not new for Starbucks. Even before the $9 price tag, their prices far exceeded their (low quality) coffee because they're selling the experience.
Coffee roasters sometimes refer to them as "Charbucks."
CultLeader4Hire@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 93d
They know climate change is about to destroy the coffee industry so they’re getting ready to pivot
groucho@retrolemmy.com · 11 pts · 94d
A bag of locally roasted coffee is $12 and lasts me two weeks. It used to be $9, before the orange shithead but let's ignore that. A pot of coffee takes about as long as it takes for water to boil. I'm clearly not the target demographic, but still. Nine fucking dollars for a cup?
HexesofVexes@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 94d
I'm surprised he didn't mention the "sense of pride and accomplishment" buying a $9 coffee would bring -_-
bob@feddit.uk · 11 pts · 93d
Hahaha. Good one. Literally a great reason to buy independent.
CanadaPlus@futurology.today · 11 pts · 94d
TBF the only people that have to answer for it are the ones still buying them.
Like, he may literally have been thinking "because you dumb bitches will pay that", but obviously couldn't say it.
Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe · 3 pts · 94d
Bingo.
I haven't had Starbucks in 14 years, even then I would get one on occasion only because that was the coffee shop on my work campus.
CanadaPlus@futurology.today · 3 pts · 94d
It's not like it's a unique offering at this point either. Everyone and their dog has complicated syrupy coffee/tea drinks on their menu.
I don't know, maybe the busy-but-nicer-than-McDonalds ambiance is worth it to some people. If it's anything like Tim Hortons, lots of people just buy out of pure habit as well. Either way, that's their business, not the person selling it.
kboos1@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 94d
Haven't willing gone to a Starbucks in years. There is nothing premium about Starbucks.
AlecSadler@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 11 pts · 93d
I have friends who are super into roasting their own beans and curated coffee experiences...
Starbucks is far and away from being premium or even...good. They're all marketing and accessibility, not quality.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 4 pts · 93d
or go to any other coffee store. phillz, peets(maybe), theres some that are specific to our city that also seells the product to stores. of course make your own, french press or carefe.
Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works · 10 pts · 93d
I mean, let's be real, how much does a banana even cost Michael? Twelve dollars?
scytale@piefed.zip · 9 pts · 94d
The average coffee drinker doesn’t buy coffee to get a great seat and have a moment with a barista lol. They want to get their coffee as fast as possible and be out of there as quick as possible. Just like the average office worker doesn’t take a private jet to get to work. I guess that’s where his logic is coming from. He spends the fuel and CO2 not for the commute, but for the great legroom and moment with the stewardess.
GreenKnight23@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 93d
this has the McDonald's CEO eating vibes all over again.
melfie@lemmy.zip · 9 pts · 93d
I got an espresso machine a few years ago and learned to make a proper latte with it. At this point, a $9 cup of charry sugar water made by a teenager in a fast food restaurant doesn’t really appeal to me.
Regna@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 94d
I mean, I am relatively ok paid, but $9 would be about 1-1.5 hours of my wage before tax. If I want to live in a both economy and ecology wise manner, I had calculated it to a cup of $4 coffee every two weeks, IF I don’t eat out and instead use frozen home made lunch boxes every work day.
If I can skip a coffee a week and instead donate to a charity or local homeless person of my choice. Or save my money for the LGTBQ+ scouts. That’s way better.
Haven’t had Starbucks in over a year, maybe three, the coffee wasn’t worthwhile of the wait or money and the last time the barista gave me oat milk instead of almond. No faults to the barista, I think the chain stresses them out.
Reyali@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 94d
I’m struggling with your math here… $9 is 1–1.5 hours before tax—so you’re paid between $6–9 per hour? Did you mean after tax?
Either way, that doesn’t sound like you’re paid “relatively ok.”
Regna@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 93d
You’re right, my math was way off. I shouldn’t reply to posts while on migraine.
With that said, not ever drinking from Starbucks ever again.
Reyali@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 92d
Oof, I can relate to struggling with writing a migraine. I hope you are feeling better!
4grams@awful.systems · 9 pts · 93d
My coffee experience is fine thank you. Every morning I boil the kettle, hand crank the grinder while it’s heating. Combine in the French press, wait a minute, stir, wait 4-5 more, press and pour into my mug.
It’s a great morning routine, less than 10 minutes, cheap and results in a great cup. I have no interest in the coffee flavored milkshakes they serve so why would I ever set foot in a coffee shop?
TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 9 pts · 93d
Labeling Starbucks coffee as a premium experience is a bold statement. Did he never drank real coffee? "Oh but it's premium because our coffee tastes so bad, we just add a lot of sugar and flavors to it so you won't notice."
I would actually pay $9 for the premium experience of seeing this CEO getting a cup of boiling hot coffee in his face.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 7 pts · 93d
probably not, hes probably like mcdonald ceo, he likes this "product"
B0rax@feddit.org · 1 pts · 93d
The coffee is not the experience. Everything around that coffee is. The mug, the barista with a smile, the friendly words, the lighting, the music there, the seats, the flower pots, …
ivanafterall@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 93d
Labeling all of that a premium experience is a bold statement when talking Starbucks.
froh42@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 93d
Ok, I can get that at every single other cafe bar in town, but with a genuine smile instead of an American one.
B0rax@feddit.org · 1 pts · 93d
Sure. But that is what they mean with the experience. It is not about the coffee itself.
froh42@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 92d
That's what I don't want to understand. The experience is not premium, it's like any fast food joint. Standardized, quick, efficient.
You'll get a better experience at almost any small café next door.
Timecircleline@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 94d
I'm surprised they let him in front of a camera again after the Chipotle backlash.
mechoman444@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 94d
It's not even good coffee...
SeeMarkFly@lemmy.ml · 7 pts · 94d
But how much is the avocado toast? A low toast cost would offset a high coffee price.
frustrated_phagocytosis@fedia.io · 7 pts · 94d
Damn I haven't had Starbucks in like 10 years because the hit or miss quality wasn't worth <$5, people are paying that much now?
Captain_Buddha@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 94d
I think you meant the greater than symbol... Though, I suppose you could argue their coffee IS worth less than $5.
Agrivar@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 94d
Perhaps they meant to use the ~ symbol instead, to indicate approximately?
Captain_Buddha@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 94d
Perhaps! (...But then I couldn't be pedantic.)
TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 93d
Starbucks coffee is shite. The main reason many people go there is because of the image of status symbol, especially in many parts of the world. The chain also ruffled feathers here in Ireland for setting up shop everywhere, driving down prices of their coffee to force local cafés to close. Then, when local competitions are gone, Starbucks raise prices to extortionate level. For these reasons, I boycott Starbucks. Thankfully, what Starbucks did in Ireland was nipped in the bud, locals prefer their local cafés.
Besides, countries with older café culture rail stronger on the overgrowth of big coffee chains like Starbucks. For example, the coffee chain in Australia never became popular enough. Because Australians see cafe culture as being more community based, where they chat to neighbours and baristas, a habit picked up from Greek immigrants to Australia long before coffee chains took the world by storm.
Pistachio@lemmy.zip · 7 pts · 93d
Income cohort...
modus@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 93d
It's worse than that. Obviously he's not talking about the coffee. He doesn't even paint it as good-quality coffee. He's saying people go for the experience of enjoying the coffee in a pleasant environment. He actually believes people go to Starbucks because they like being at Starbucks.
Aaron@lemmy.nz · 6 pts · 93d
That used to be their whole shtick, the third place experience. They wanted people to treat Starbucks as where they go when they want to relax or meet with friends, a place outside of their home and work, where the baristas knew their names and would chat and make them feel welcome. Especially a lot of older folks liked that, and would make it part of their routine. Starbucks threw that all away when they went to prioritising drive thru and mobile order/pay systems. It's a shareholder business and this is capitalism. It's either neverending growth or death.
Evotech@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 93d
I don’t even think he’s wrong
CannedYeet@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 94d
Not actually Starbucks related but the other day I wanted a coffee so I bought a $5 48oz bottle of cold brew at the grocery store and helped myself to a courtesy cup, lid, ice and straw so I could drink it right away. So for the same price as probably a 16oz cold brew I got that and the remaining ~3/4 of the bottle to take home.
OldChicoAle@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 94d
He looks like someone that would make me cross the street if he was on the same side as me while I'm walking my fur baby. Rex don't need to smell that shit.
RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 94d
https://static0.simpleflyingimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/51908914020_27f6e1e90b_4k.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=500&dpr=2
He gets away with this just fine.
SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 94d
Now defend a decline in sales to your board.
tomkatt@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 94d
LOL, I buy an entire pound of green coffee beans for $9 or less, roast them, and then I've got coffee for like 2 weeks.
CCMan1701A@startrek.website · 2 pts · 94d
I do the 5 lb bags it last like 3 months for me
xxam925@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 93d
Same logic for using drugs.
“I can’t afford anything actually nice but I do have 20 bucks.”
Honestly there is a lot more value in a 20 sack though.
TaeKwonDoh@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 93d
I always price my coffee by weight, so making my shit at home is a no brainer, that way if I'm out with friends I can order out with no guilt.
But even then, Michigan's own Biggby Coffee and other local spots make $tarbucks irrelevant.
tracyspcy@lemmy.ml · 3 pts · 93d
If he loves this "experience", good for him. Who cares...
finallymadeanaccount@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 94d
He can try to defend it, doesn't mean I'm paying for it. I could buy a civet to shit in my cup for $9!
hark@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 93d
Well it's not $10. Hah! You could excuse any price like that, "well it's not $1 more than the currently listed price" What a deal!!!
Almacca@aussie.zone · 3 pts · 93d
We should really stop paying attention to what CEOs and other parasites have to say. They only serve the shareholders.
xorollo@leminal.space · 3 pts · 93d
So they think I want a 9$ premium experience with a Batista who the mselves could likely not afford that experience. Yuck.
DonutsRMeh@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 93d
I drink black coffee only and their black coffee tastes like shit. Always burned. No wonder why people fill it up with all kinds of sugars and creamers. That shit is fucking gross, and they charge like $3 for a small cup of it. Went a couple of times there because I had to and just never going back there.
LavaPlanet@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 94d
Gaslighting. If he says it enough, he hopes we disconnect with reality and believe him.
bassgirl09@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 93d
I'll go to my local coffee shop if I want a good coffee experience. Starschmucks is a last effort if I am traveling and I really need coffee (think in the airport terminal), otherwise, I go without until I can get something affordable like a gas station with decent drip coffee or a coffee machine. These CEOs are so out of touch it isn't even funny.
SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 93d
Thanks for making that a direct file to a video.
blindbunny@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 94d
Wake me up when we drone this guy
froh42@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 93d
What the fuck is premium about Starbucks?
filcuk@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 93d
The price
boonhet@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 93d
It's seen as a premium or at least different experience by some people here because you generally gotta sit on a boat for 16 hours to get to Starbucks (or now I think you can also get it on the boat to Stockholm or Helsinki, at some point you actually had to go to Stockholm). But also the people who see it as a premium experience normally just drink coffee at home, or from a crappy machine at work, or grab one from a gas station (which is already better than what most people make at home. I mean average people, not coffee fans. Coffee is just a tool for most). Not at a nice cafe here in Estonia. Anyone who does that probably doesn't see Tarbrush as a premium place.
Lanske@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 93d
Starbucks is not coffee, its a sugary mess with some coffee involved somewhere
Generica@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 94d
Buck Starfucks!! Upstate NY here. Stewart's 4ever, bitches!!
possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 94d
Starbucks is awful all around
Rhaedas@fedia.io · 2 pts · 94d
Never mind the coffee. I'm not a coffee drinker. But their hot chocolate sucks too. If you're a cafe type store can can't get hot chocolate right...
wasabi_noir@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 47d
Is this the same fuckbag who mega commutes?
Jackusflackus@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 3d
Idiots keep going there. They get what they get. Go to mom and pop coffee places that are cheaper. Shit even Dunkin half the price, tastes better anyway.
zuckey78@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 93d
I am so tired of seeing this guy’s smug face at the top of my feed…and it’s only been like a day.
Astronut@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 94d
redlemace@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 93d
did not know sugar got that expensive
stumu415@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 93d
Who goes to Starbucks anyway? That place would not know what a coffee bean looked like if it rained beans. I'm lucky to live in a place where there are the most coffee shops in the world; over 9000 independent coffee shops with some amazing beans.
colourlessidea@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 93d
Shanghai?
stumu415@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 93d
Indeed.
XeroxCool@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 93d
ITT: people saying they still won't go to Starbucks as if this CEO gives a shit
OK, don't go. You didn't go before you're not going now. Nothing has changed.
TheRiskiestBiscuit@reddthat.com · 4 pts · 93d
Hm… Well, I for one did go to Starbucks. A LOT. For 20 years of my life. And I’m done with them.
Now I’m not going to pretend that the CEO cares at all about me. I’m also not going to pretend that their coffee was bad or that things are going to change because I don’t buy their product or that I’m some great moralist for quitting Starbucks. I just don’t like Brian Niccol and I don’t want him to have any fraction of my money. Dude’s a piece of work and the market of other options for coffee is more saturated than the caffeine content of my bloodstream.
XeroxCool@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 93d
You are 1 of 3 people I see in this 50+ comment thread saying you were going to Starbucks prior to this statement. The rest of the thread is the type that says movies are dead because theaters charge too much for candy, as if they're forced to buy candy to watch a movie.
TheRiskiestBiscuit@reddthat.com · 2 pts · 93d
Yeah, and I mean Starbucks used to be a staple for me; I’m not gonna deny that. Back when the original customer loyalty/gold card program existed, the entire chain was setup to be a daily experience, not a premium experience, and I was there daily. Plus, I swear I remember the coffee tasting better back then. But the movies aren’t dead because of candy sales and Starbucks won’t die for adapting their business model to the times. I suppose I’ve just been around long enough to mourn how things used to be.
XeroxCool@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 93d
Yes, and I appreciate that you have relevant input. I didn't like Starbucks coffee all that much before, but I figured that's just the flavor they choose. I guess that's the charred flavor. I don't choose it, but if it's the only feasible option, I hope they have cold brew because while also unique, it tastes fine.
I'm just tired of the boring rhetoric on display here about how it's "not real coffee" and "everything is a dairy sugar hijink". No one is being forced to buy a triple whip frappe soy milk unicorn latte. It has 4 shots of espresso. The market continues to buy it. Plus, I swear, there's a constant underlying masculinity thing berating women for buying what they want.
Side note, for movie theaters and mourning what's lost. I enjoyed the drop in crowd size at first in the post-covid slump, but damn, I miss the parasocial community feeling. The buzz as everyone walks up, the chatter as everyone leaves. Plus, I know dwindling crowd size means dwindling theater options and amenities.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 93d
there was a stereotype that people go there to act like they are screnwriter or a novel, who stay there for hours.
stupidcasey@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 93d
The labor for serving the cup alone is worth $5 alone then the labor to cut the beens is another $5 then the labor to run the factory that's another $5 then the labor to drive the truck that's another $5 that's a $20 cup if we weren't using slave labor.
LoafedBurrito@lemmy.dbzer0.com · -1 pts · 93d
A cup of coffee is never an experience you dense POS. It's just a beverage and a terrible one at that.
FunStuffIsFun@eviltoast.org · 1 pts · 93d
Oh I beg to differ. It's not a $9 experience, but it is much, much more than just a beverage.