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Java War Report: Schultz Returns to Starbucks
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by Jarrett Martineau | January 8, 2008 at 05:03 pm
666 views | 10 Recommendations | 3 comments
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Since flooding the North American market with more than 10,000 of its cafes, Starbucks appears to have lost sight of the "romance and theater" -- as well as the 'premium' product and profitability -- that once set it apart from its bean-slinging competitors. With the market now being fiercely fought for by McDonalds and others, Schultz will have the unenviable task of eliminating the company's 42% stock drop of last year, "the steepest since the company went
public in 1992."
Let the java battle rage...er...roast on!
By bringing back its visionary leader eight years after he stepped aside as chief executive officer, Starbucks is telling shareholders the challenges run deeper than labor costs or a drop in consumer spending. Schultz, who returns after Starbucks reported its first quarterly drop in U.S. customer visits, called the chain's problems ``self-induced'' and said Starbucks hadn't introduced enough ``exciting'' products.
``I'm here to tell you that just as we created this problem, we will fix it,'' Schultz, 54, said in a conference call yesterday.
Yesterday's shakeup was hinted at in a February memo Schultz wrote to employees. He wrote he was worried about the ``commoditization of our brand.'' He said automated espresso machines and pre-bagged coffee beans made stores more efficient, yet removed the ``romance and theater.''
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Burnaby (Burnaby Heights / Willingdon Heights / West Central Valley), British Columbia, Canada
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Madrid, M, Spain
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Vancouver, Canada
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (3)
at 17:10 on January 9th, 2008
I think this move was directly related to McDonalds announcing it was going to put in a coffee cafe thingy in each of its restaurants and the fact that boutique coffee shops, which are independently owned and have expert barristas (or whatever they're called), are largely successful. Starbucks will continue to be everywhere in the near future but unless it gives people a bigger reason to go it will start to really die off.
at 21:39 on January 10th, 2008
Every morning i used to go to Tully's to get my MOJO i collected the cups for some odd reason, then i got hired at Starbucks and stopped going to Tully's. I still like Tully's better but my money is in Starbucks...Keep it real Howard I'm betting on you.
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at 17:34 on January 15th, 2008
Its a great logo for a great company
M@rcopako has contributed a photo to this story.