STARBUCKS' E-MAIL TO EMPLOYEES
From: Partner Communications
Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2009 2:21 PM
Subject: Breakthrough Product News
Dear Partners,
This afternoon, a number of media outlets have reported that Starbucks will be introducing a new product next week. Here’s what we can tell you:
We are hosting exclusive events next week in New York and other cities where we will unveil the product. We have been working on this project for over 20 years, and have a patent pending on the technology that enables us to absolutely replicate the taste of Starbucks coffee in an instant form. And as Howard has always said, “The proof is in the cup.”
The instant coffee market is a $17 billion global market and it offers us a significant opportunity as we launch this transformational product.
We wanted to share the key points and get primed for next week. Details and samples will be arriving in stores by Wednesday, so that you can discover first-hand what all the excitement is about.
Best,
Vivek Varma
svp, Public Affairs
This is stupid!!! the next thing you know after all the layoffs, barista are being replaced by a computer that you can just order yourself then the machine will make it.. (omg, please don't steal this idea... we don't want to loose our jobs! some already did)
i wonder how this will work..
damn, first thing that happen the worst was the Pike Place, second was the Vivanno,third was the stupid make it fresh Frappuccino(yeah,it is fresh but a lot of STEPS before you make the drink) then, decaf on demand, then this one... the VIA.. WTF!! what's gonna be next, pastry on demand?! we are starting to cut down on pastries... hope that's not the next one.. or maybe the next one is barista on demand... (hope not!)
Posted by: SSAustin | February 14, 2009 at 11:02 PM
sad
Posted by: Rocker | February 15, 2009 at 12:45 AM
SSAustin:
Don't forget all of the non-store stuff: loss of personal days, reduction in labor hours, loss of 401k match(?), changes in vacation hour earnings (at least for newer partners), and the list goes on.
All of these changes that are hurting the partners and customers.
It reminds me of someone constantly poking you with their finger. How long can you take it? In other words, how much more will employees and customers put up with until they can't take it anymore?
Posted by: g | February 15, 2009 at 01:02 AM
I'm kind of torn here.
I hate the idea of instant coffee; I would never drink instant coffee... but the more I think about it the more I realize that if we're firing half of our ASMs in America, making Canada international, cutting labor drastically, maybe those hillbillies that enter my store who "lubbb da taste of coffee but only whens it's real sweet" could go for that. If I had a choice between 50% of our ASMs being let go, and selling some nasty coffee my only response would be "let it steep for 1 minute, stir well and enjoy your cup of InstaStarbucks(tm)!"
Posted by: SPORK | February 15, 2009 at 04:34 AM
Why don't they just sell Clif Bars?
Posted by: snacksound | February 15, 2009 at 08:10 AM
Are you kidding? I will NOT buy any instant coffee. UGH!
Posted by: espressoshots | February 15, 2009 at 01:01 PM
My grandmothers (born in 1900 and 1910) preferred instant coffee to anything else - and they lived long enough to taste Starbucks - because they thought it tasted better and was more "modern" (they also thought breast feeding was primitively old-fashioned too). A lot of people of their generation seemed to feel the same way, I noticed.
So this is Sbux's chance to bring in the centenarians and over-95 crowd!
Posted by: Richard | February 15, 2009 at 03:18 PM
We are having a store meeting next wednesday (not this wed). my manager doesn't know what it is about~ or so he says. maybe it is this instant coffee thing? I know we aren't getting the ax because we are a tier 4 store so we are safe for now.
Posted by: baristame | February 15, 2009 at 05:36 PM
"So this is Sbux's chance to bring in the centenarians and over-95 crowd"...
lol - good one Richard.
Maybe Sbux should bring back the percolator too.
Posted by: cactusmush | February 15, 2009 at 06:00 PM
"Maybe Sbux should bring back the percolator too. "
Actually I liked the design of the Barista Utopia that sold in 2001-2 or so('twas a see-through percolator, rather nifty)
Posted by: TORONTOWYLD | February 15, 2009 at 06:49 PM
I really can't imagine this being served in store.
And yeah, this probably has been in the works for 20 years. If you read "Pour your Heart Into It" (for nostalgia, because its propoganda in that book that now means absolutely nothing) this was talked about. They even opened a starbucks reasearch center where this was the primary product in development and put a very expensive chemist who invented the extraction process on the payroll.
This has actually probably syphoned tens if not hundreds millions of dollars in its development cycle.
They would need to put the instant and fresh brewed side by side and fool my pallet for me to even consider supporting this idea.
I was just offered a job that pays $10K less than I make now... I've been torn over leaving the bucks more so now for the money, not so much the job anymore.... but its this kind of thing that just makes me feel like the final nail is in the coffin.
Even in the grocery channel I can't imagine this doing well because you know it will be expensive. "Premium instant coffee. Look out Sanka!" Instant coffee has always been a gross and cheap thing I've never understood.
An expensive (hopefully not gross) thing I just don't get.
Posted by: coffeeguy | February 15, 2009 at 09:11 PM
We could also offer "Creamora" non-dairy creamer at the condiment bar.
Posted by: Latteguzler | February 12, 2009 at 06:58 PM
SHHHHH. Don't give them any ideas! It's bad enough we only have half and half on the condiment bar after 11.
Although, those flavored creamers you find at the gas station very well may help Pike's Place sales as it would mask the taste.
Posted by: coffeeguy | February 15, 2009 at 09:24 PM
Why don't you just give the product a chance? Why be such negative nay-sayers? If you don't like it, don't buy it...problem solved!
Posted by: SbuxBoy | February 13, 2009 at 06:31 AM
Because I won stock in the company, and thus, they are spending my money on crap like this. That's where the accountability piece is huge in a public company. It's not always their money they are spending. When investors don't like what a company does, we yank our investment. As customers can choose to invest thier money at a competitor. Like Pike's Place Roast. Our competitors thank us for Pike's Place. We are marketing our customers right to their doors.
Posted by: coffeeguy | February 15, 2009 at 09:39 PM
won=own in previous post. Though SBUX stock would be a great prize at its current price!
I really do hope this turns out to be truly amazing and revolutionary in flavor profile. It would be nice to see us finally get on base, and maybe even score, but I think this should be left in the grocery channel and not on the shelves next to the beans I've so proudly and passionately spoken to for 5 years.
Posted by: coffeeguy | February 15, 2009 at 09:57 PM
I agree with howardsend. Please. Leave the company you started with such wonderful grace as you had when you started it. I love you and what you did, Howard. Now, though, after working for you for 13 years, I find it hard to hold my head up high and say that this is really anything close to what our mission statement says. Our mission statement can save us though. Go on air, on every station you can, and say you efft up. Say whatever you feel is right. But during your talk, step down. It is time. We cannot keep doing this to our guests. They could care less about upsells and random new products designed to stimulate the growth of our beloved company! They only want great coffee sold by baristas who care, in a clean environment. That is so easy, we specialize in that! Believe in the Mission statement that you approved, let us go on, and let us be. We will check on you all the time; we love you! You and your legacy are not diminished.
The world needs to learn something, and unfortunately it is learning it while you are in control. We must not always grow. Growing forever will crush our world. Money must be made, but at some point, this point, we must know that enough is enough, and stop trying to make more. That my friend is greed, and it is at the expense of every human being to come after us. If we could buy back all the stock we ever sold, and become a private company, we could provide what our guests and partners need. But we can never do that. Yet it is what you want and need. We need not answer to them, we need to answer to us. And we do not take kindly to what has become of what you created, for we created it too. Save us, please!!!!, Leave us now. I can't believe what has happened as much as you can't believe it, but when you say something and don't follow through, hundreds of thousands of people doubt your every move. Espresso Excellence and getting back to our core. All the products following were not related to our core. That makes YOU a liar, and we just can't trust you. This is the reality of what the stock market and our shareholders have created, along with your judgment. We can never get back what you could have done, and I don't know how, I am just a simple store manager.
But I can say this: Saying things outright, in a truthful manner will get you to where you want to be. A public relations veil is just that.
We know who you are, and we know that you are under pressure. Leave us now, with your integrity less intact than it was 8 years ago, but more intact than it will be if you continue forcing us to force new products on folks that have become used to our easygoing way of doing things. This would needs a change, ,and losing you won't make the world a better place (for sure, I will miss you) but we may be able to survive. You CANNOT be a part of that survival, you are to close.
Open Forum,
Who would really say their name,
A Starbucks Manager
Posted by: Hosaphet | February 16, 2009 at 05:24 PM
I just tasted it....And you know? It's pretty good!
Posted by: david c. | February 16, 2009 at 06:38 PM
Rocker:
OMG!!! yeah, personal days are just for the partners that were hired 3-5 years or more ago.. , matching 401K-GONE, stock-sucks, hours we get each week from 35 hours down to 25-27 hours.. Why did they even tried to get that optimal scheduling and giving the full availability where some of my partners, including me have full time availability but still gets part time hours.. i swear, we are close of becoming MCD's because of that warming stuff coming down to Texas(where some cities have it already)
Anyhow, has anybody seen the Taco Bell commercial where the barista calls out the latte and then one of the guys says, "you can use those change for double the meat" then of course the guy grabbed his changed and tell the barista " you just pushed the buttons anyway" UGH!!! again, we are being hit by Taco Bell because of the breakfast sandwiches... WATCH... either MCD or DD will make some commercial that will target Sbux's instant coffee.. just watch.. ugh.. i am sick and tired of this changes.. just stop already..Think like a CEO not like a bum that just realized that he needs money and just thought of things not even thinking through it... THINK BIG not SMALL!!!
Posted by: SSAustin | February 16, 2009 at 08:05 PM
I didn't think it was possible to go from worse to even more worse with something as simple as coffee, but that's exactly what's going to happen if they switch to instant.
Starbucks coffee has always been the world's worst coffee. Their standard practice of burning their beans in the roasting process is to ensure consistency of flavour. Once coffee beans are burnt they lose all of their individual characteristics and revert to the universal flavour; burnt. Consistency, no matter how low or awful, is much more important than good flavour or high quality.
Sometimes there's just no accounting for taste.
Posted by: FeteChef | February 17, 2009 at 09:33 PM
Wow.
You have got to be kidding me.
When will it end?
Why don't they just STOP? It's obviously not working, so just STOP pulling new gimmicks outta your collective bum every two weeks.
Don't they realize that every ridiculous new annoucement/product they roll out just makes us better fodder for media jabs? Not to mention that it smacks of desperation, especially in the midst of all the layoff announcements- any new goofy product ideas tossed at the public are going to seem like a desperate move. I'm baffled by this.
Posted by: buckaroo | February 18, 2009 at 12:55 AM
Why must everything come to us in an instant! Starbucks brewed coffee leaves alot to be desired so I can not imagine how the instant will taste. I am going to stay with small batch roasted Churchill coffee for real flavor.
Posted by: Elizabeth | March 02, 2009 at 02:29 PM
Don't be a old fashion but lower price with quality and flavor products.
Posted by: Oh | March 18, 2009 at 09:01 AM
mmm is coffee better than coke??
or they have the same effect on people?
Posted by: Viagra Online | September 21, 2009 at 10:17 AM
very interesting, but I want to know if coffee has the same effect than coke in people?
Viagra Online
Posted by: kathalina | September 21, 2009 at 10:18 AM
Actually, its pretty darn good. Tried it today, can't wait to take it camping or on my plane trips. The technology behind it sounded legit. Brewed coffee obviously better, but VIA is better than brewed folgers! I'm down with it =) try it first!
Posted by: bryan | September 21, 2009 at 01:32 PM
As a very average Starbucks consumer my first reaction was at first "hmmm, kind of cool and instant can be handy in certain situations". Old purists die hard - what was a slow, involved process when I was 19 years old is sometimes acceptable in instant form now that I am 48 years old, with kids, work, etc. (d.e. inteneded). So my second reaction was "ok, this is palatable. how does it compare to other premium instants in flavor and cost?" I found that the other premium instants were far less expensive and tasted just as good. So is Starbucks actually pushing customers away from its unique brewed product to the very non-unique market of instants where it may lose them?
Posted by: MrAverageConsumer | October 13, 2009 at 08:46 AM
Iam a beginer in selling coffee so send me Pictures,Videos as well as guidelines on how can I make my coffee accepted.
Posted by: Omary | October 22, 2009 at 06:39 AM
Did you know the Starbucks's logo is an image of Melusina - a magical creature that married a human?
I prefer Costa Coffee.
Posted by: personal coffee maker | October 30, 2009 at 08:10 PM
Well they already cornered the coffee shop business, might as well go for the grocery store....Profit, Profit Profit!
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Posted by: cindy | November 21, 2009 at 11:10 PM
Starbucks lost me as a customer over a year ago. I used to go to their stores regularly and also brew their coffee at home. This just adds more fuel to the fire.
I am a devout Dunkin Donuts fan now. They have great tasting coffee.
Posted by: JohnnyW | December 14, 2009 at 02:28 PM