What happens when you have to make the choice; food or gas?
It seems that coffee hungry Californians have made of their minds – much to the chagrin of coffee giant Starbucks
Java junkies looking for that last legal rap on the cortex are counting pennies by sipping less expensive coffee drinks, home-brewing or eschewing the brown elixir entirely. The turning tide is effecting everyone from the mom-and-pop java joints all the way up to Starbucks, which reported Wednesday that it expected lower second-quarter profit and full-year earnings. The economy not its prices appear to be the culprit.
Faced with deciding between a 99 cent of black coffee from the 7-11 and a 4 dollar latte from the Green Machine has never been easier – or so it would appear.
Starbucks is also facing down the Ronald McDonald brand of gourmet Joe which threatens to shake up the specialty market entirely.
Unconfirmed reports have Starbucks C.E.O. Howard Shultz uttering: “Cannot sleep… Clowns might kill me…”
Now I know what he means.
“The current economic climate is the weakest in our company’s history,” said Howard Schultz, Starbucks Corp.‘s chief executive. The company said it was being hit especially hard in California and Florida, which make up nearly one-third of its U.S. retail revenue.
No surprise considering that California and Florida residents would give up coffee, their spouse or certain vestigial appendages before getting out of their SUV’s.
There are exceptions mind you. I will take my coffee before the car thank you very much. I mean, I cannot drive if I am asleep.
I am running pretty lean anyway. I brew specialty coffee in my lab at the University that I work at. I bake all my own muffins from scratch… so my monthly treat budget is pretty low.
So. To those with this tough choice to make, I salute you… by raise a steaming hot mug of Organic Ethiopian Sidamo brewed at exactly 196 degrees (F) into a thermal glass carafe! Cheers!
Thanks to Jeanie Sepin for the inspiration and research that went into this blog