Toadfish Monastery

Quote from: beagle on December 18, 2007, 08:10:12 PM
Do sales work with coffee? I'd have thought you either want a drink or not, and by the time you're close enough to see the price you've made up your mind.

Mind you, my knowledge of coffee is a bit limited. Where the youngsters'  order of coffee consists of one noun and thirty-eight adjectives I only know the types "black" or "white".

  me too- black, white or sweet black, sweet white----

but Starbucks is a great place to people watch!

Yup! I do it all the time.

tea Fiendicus? Seen one of 'em?

Damn it.
I read Salon, among other things, and I just saw an ad for us there.
I am displeased.

For a split second I thought it was a Toadfish Monastery ad. 

I doubt WE could afford such a thing.
I doubt we need one.

I have multiple 'us's--us here at the TM, us at work, us in my biological family.
Sorry for the confusion.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Hope you're not badly affected by the changes.

Quote from: Sibling Chatty on December 16, 2007, 12:25:17 AM
Nope! No mall!

what's a 'mall'? 

Quote from: goat starer on January 08, 2008, 01:28:29 PM

Quote from: Sibling Chatty on December 16, 2007, 12:25:17 AM
Nope! No mall!

what's a 'mall'? 

Quote from: goat starer on January 08, 2008, 01:28:29 PM

Quote from: Sibling Chatty on December 16, 2007, 12:25:17 AM
Nope! No mall!

what's a 'mall'? 

Sorry darlin'...I'm not responsible for your lack of current common vernacular. That's the sort of comment one would expect from a culturally insensitive elitist!

A mall is a duck that refuses to work 'ard enough.

Dumb questions.

I should get into the stock program NOW, before share prices go back up.

Quote from: Scriblerus the Philosophe on January 09, 2008, 05:59:09 AM
I should get into the stock program NOW, before share prices go back up.

At the new job, we have a GREAT RRSP program which I've been waiting on to grab stock (3 mo probation first) - they match contributions up to 8% of my annual income.  OTOH, the stock was at rock-bottom when I started, and is up over 20% in the last monthandabit. 

Oh, and SBUX already went back up yesterday (8%+).   

I'm a little nervous of the American market in general over the next year(s).  Hard to say if Starbucks will turn it around or not.  Could be worth it if they have a good stock program, but McDick's is going to put the pressure on:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/jan/07/fooddrinks.mcdonalds

QuoteMindful of its many blue-collar customers, McDonald's is keen to make premium coffee as accessible as possible. Sizes will be called small, medium and large - rather than Italian terms such as grande, massimo and venti favoured by chains such as Starbucks and Costa Coffee.

In advertisements running in test markets around Kansas City, McDonald's assures customers that they will not get a "condescending look" if they mispronounce the size of the drink they want.

I found out recently that Starbucks is about the only place that makes coffee the way I like, but I have a snit on for not being able to just order a danged large coffee (which is how I order one anyways on the rare Starbucks run).

Quote from: Sibling Chatty on December 16, 2007, 01:08:37 AM
Thursday while we were in Houston, we went through the intersection in the Galleria that used to have a Starbuck's on 3 out of four corners.

You used to be able to stand at the main crossroads in my parents' town and see five Tim Hortons.  There are fewer in sight now, but not because any went out of business... some just switched locations so they could get drive-throughs.  It had ~ 6 or 7 in town total; the town had a population of less than 60,000 at the time.

Quote from: Scriblerus the Philosophe on December 18, 2007, 08:35:13 PM
Really, unless you're already in the market for a pot or something, why would you buy one? They ain't cheap, even at 20% off, ($100-->$80) and who really needs a fancy grinder?
Beans are a little easier. Why not splurge a little on some kick-ass coffee?

Does Starbucks even carry any Fair Trade coffee?  I haven't seen it locally.  Personally, I'll drink what's available when I'm out and need a cup of coffee, but if I'm buying beans in bulk, I won't buy anything that's not Fair Trade.

As for grinders, I have a hand-driven Czech grain mill that I use to crack malt for beer; I've pressed it into service for coffee.   

Quote from: Agujjim on January 09, 2008, 01:58:16 PM
I'm a little nervous of the American market in general over the next year(s).  Hard to say if Starbucks will turn it around or not.

I worry about companies like Starbucks; it strikes me that regardless of how well the company is run in future, they're selling a discretionary product that's probably quite sensitive to how the economy is doing.  Even if people keep buying coffee, people might switch to Dunkin' Donuts or the like (or McDonald's) if they've got less money to spend.

We have Fair Trade coffee. I wish we had more of it, but the two or three blends we carry that are are a start.

I tend to think the terms we use are silly, and the only time I even think condescending thoughts is when people mispronounce 'latte' ('latte,' not 'la-teh'). We'll repeat it back to you in the correct format, but that's because we're supposed to use the right terms. And I won't lie, I think in 'venti' terms anyway, but then I've been drinking the stuff since I was a kid.

Agji, Shultz made the company what it is, so I think he may be able to pull it away from the edge. I like some of his ideas (I think the licensing to every little divey motel was a bad idea, since they have no idea how to actually make a decent cup of coffee, which hurts the brand image) and I think having him back maybe a very good idea.

And I think you're right about how sensitive we are the economy--the novelty has worn off, and it isn't perhaps the status symbol that it once was anymore.

http://www.illwillpress.com/vault.html

Small, Medium, Large... in lower right hand corner.

NOT safe for work, or in the presence of children, Starbucks execs or coffee-dependent personalities.