The Starbucks in my area removed all their seating. I would go for the 3rd space aspect but they got rid of it.
Dystopian. You are a cafe!
Isn’t this because they were supporting Israel?
I think it’s just a combination at this stage. Something for everyone to hate about them.
They’re anti-union. They’re meme levels of expensive in an era of strapped cash. People are conscious of “local” business over something they know is a chain. Brand reputationn for low quality for the price has set in. And lastly people are aware of their stagnation. There’s nothing “revolutionary” going on in the coffee industry to draw customers who have been turned off back to them. Even McShungles can draw people back to them with a special sale on something. Starbucks never does that I’m aware of (and if they do they’re doing a shit job of advertising as evidenced by my lack of knowledge)
As much as I wish it was, it’s more likely people are cutting back spending across junk food, see McDs having the same problem.
Maybe it’s because their coffee is garbage, their prices are high, and many people have less disposable income than they used to.
Whee hee! Look! Another signpost for a recession. McDs also are taking a hit bc of pricing and such
Here in the NW, in their own home territory, they’re few and and far between these days. There is way too much good coffee around for them to support being on every street corner like they used to be.
There is way too much good coffee around for them to support being on every street corner like they used to be.
Frankly, I don’t know what they were thinking, the barrier to entry to get a good coffee shop going is a lot lower than say a restaurant or fast food joint. They don’t need kitchens or seating areas or food stuff or even a big enough lot for a parking lot and I’d bet the margins for coffee are a lot bigger. It was never going to be very long before competitors were everywhere lol
I suggest a community owned and operated service where we can offer Starbucks and McDonald’s words of support during these especially difficult times…
But exactly because the times are difficult for them right now, WE CAN CHARGE THEM SURGE PRICING for the supportive messages!!! Let’s also
fireconduct an employment status reassignment activity for 60% of the human message writer workforce and replace them with AI and cheap offshore call centers!!! Also, let’s sell our now collected sadness data on Starbucks and McDonald’s to our third party partners like Kleenex so that they can also charge them surge prices for tissues as we have reliable data to show that they are crying right now!!!Lol reverse enshittification! Can I credit you as this concepts inventor?
I started boycotting Starbucks when I learned they had partnered with Nestle for store-bought products - their Sumatra and Komodo Dragon coffees were pretty good.
I send an email every year or so to let them know, since boycotts aren’t effective if the group being boycotted doesn’t know why, with predictably apathetic responses.
Anyway, if you’re a no-Nestle person then Starbucks is on the list…
Thanks! Did not know about the Nestle connection. We stopped going to Starbucks when it moved to a fast food type experience vs the cafe feel it had at launch here.
Will be verifying they moved the hell away from Nestle before we consider returning.
Awesome. Unfortunately the agreement was made “in perpetuity” so there’s no obvious route to them leaving Nestle.
That’s part of why I actually email them, and in the first email I said that I’m bothering to send anything because I do really like their stuff, and I think their other charitible actions mean I can hope they’ll take customer feedback. As opposed to Nestle which I expect to tell me to gfm.
I’ve steadily leaned away from that belief as the company digs farther in to being every crappy anti-labor chain.
For granted, there’s no shortage of coffee shops in my city. Locally operated and owned, and they have better coffee at better prices. Starbucks isn’t even a reasonable choice with so many better options available.
I’d always choose a smaller spot anyway. More casual and less crowded, but still doing good business.
Good news! It’s the Dacia Sandero.
I want planning to go back to Starbucks but it turns out they didn’t actually sponsor the RNC convention https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2024/jul/24/facebook-posts/starbucks-was-an-official-sponsor-of-the-rnc/
Now I don’t know, coffee bean and tea leaf have a nice Colombian coffee
First McDonald’s and now Starbucks. Cool. Screw em.
Now do Chipotle next!
But only when they don’t have Carne Asada
I stopped eating at Chipotle many years ago when my local Chipotle caused dozens of food poisoning cases. Luckily there are lots of mom-and-pop burrito joints where I live, and their food is almost always better and cheaper than Chipotle.
Starbucks gives me apple fanboy vibe…
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They never will though. Recently, they had “expert tasters” test how long their espresso shots tasted good, and their result was that “Starbucks espresso shots last up to 90 seconds.” This just so happened to take place right as they started introducing a new system on how to sequence drinks while on the espresso and cold beverage bars lol.
(Also, as a footnote, Espresso shots die after 5-10 seconds; the crema just dissipates after then, making the shot taste acidic)
(Also, as a footnote, Espresso shots die after 5-10 seconds; the crema just dissipates after then, making the shot taste acidic)
Espresso shots “dying” within 10 seconds is a myth, apparently started by Starbucks’ training funnily enough. The flavour of a shot definitely dies down as it gets cooler and the crema dissipates, but it’s a matter of minutes rather than seconds before a shot tastes bad.
Heck it takes more than 10 seconds to get the drink to the clients in every café I’ve worked in. If espresso dies after 10 seconds, I have never served a good espresso. I’ve also apparently never had good espresso at work, because I swear every damn time I pull a shot for myself a client comes right in before I can take a sip :P
When I read that comment the first time, I misunderstood, and thought they were saying espresso was over-extracted after 10s, dead after 90.
I know starbucks isn’t amazing, but 90s extractions would be a whole other ballgame!
So, off topic, but are you saying that I’m to drink a scalding hot, freshly pulled shot within 10 seconds!?
And not supporting the RNC.
How do they support the RNC?
https://content-prod-live.cert.starbucks.com/binary/v2/asset/137-78795.pdf
There was an article during the convention that listed supporters. I’ll look for it.
ETA- my mistake. It was a fake that was shared on Facebook and Twitter. It must have been here too because i don’t have Twitter and my Facebook is only cats and relatives.
Starbucks does not directly support the RNC. But that doesn’t mean that Starbucks’ lobbying money doesn’t primarily support Republicans. Per the PDF you linked, the majority of Starbucks’ contributions to lobbying organizations went to those that donate at least 75% of their lobbying to Republicans.
From your link: National Restaurant Association: 75% of all donations to Republicans; 50% of Starbucks’ donations to this organization went to lobbying Business Roundtable: “75 percent of donations from the median chief executive were directed to Republicans”; 40% of Starbucks’ donations to this organization went to lobbying
Edit: Added the word “lobbying” before “money” in the first paragraph. Should have been in the original.
The coffee is okay, but no where close to the price they’re asking for.
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You’ll always make a better cup of coffee at home for less.
But people pay a little extra for the convenience of not doing it. Starbucks however is banking on their reputation to overcharge, which seems to be finally backfiring.
No not always. I knew this Turkish immigrant who had his own little coffee shop you could not make close to the stuff he made let me tell you. God I miss him.
That’s… not true. I have zero coffee making skills and tools.
A kettle and some instant coffee, better then any coffee I’ve ever had from a shop
The coffee is better at home, sure. But I can’t make what is essentially a specialty milkshake at home without going out and getting the tools and ingredients.
Sometimes I can have little a of Starbucks, as a treat.
I just found a local place that makes a bomb chocolate coffee shake (I mean uhh. A blended mocha) and support them.
The worst part is that I can get Starbucks anywhere but only get my local stuff near home.
In my town one of the two coffee shops closed down but they opened like 4 more Starbucks, we have 4 within a quarter mile on the same street it’s wild
I will never understand people who get drip coffee at Starbucks… back when I got things from there it would just be the occasional over the top milk shake. Starbucks legitimately has the tools to produce ridiculous drinks with far less hassle then it’d take at home.
I don’t like candy bars or milkshakes. If I’m going to a Starbucks its at 3am in an airport, it’s the ONLY option, thus I’m willing to tolerate burnt to fuck drip coffee.
Is their coffee much more than $2? Last I remember, it wasn’t THAT expensive considering it isn’t shit coffee like a Burger King/McDonalds or etc.
Or by drip do you mean their like clover machine fancy coffees? I never bothered with those so idk how much that was.
McDonalds coffee is decent, at least in Canada.
Tim Horton’s terrible.
2.95 for a default size black coffee at the one closest to me right now
Ok but what is the default size? And where-ish are you? In the Starbucks app, it defaults to Grande for me and that is $3.45.
A Tall is $3.25.
A Short is $3.15.
This is in Northern California.
It’s like drinking Bud Light at a bar. The beer isn’t the product, the venue is.
Yeah the only Starbucks in my area I’ll go into is the reserve but that’s because it’s just really cool in there. If I want a busy environment that feels like a steampunk world then it’s the place to be. Coffee there still sucks tho and even with the cool location I’m still only in there maybe a couple times a year
They make desserts using coffee as an ingredient. That’s why their coffee is shit at being coffee.
Vanilla makes a pancake delicious, but you wouldn’t drink it.
but you wouldn’t drink it.
Hey I had to try it at least once!
(Also: at most once)
You should try again
I resent you for the bad taste now in my mouth, but I thank you for giving me an excuse to break from doomscrolling :P
You just didn’t drink enough
Also, good pastries again.
The good cafes next to me all have fresh baked pastries from a local bakery. Not Starbucks. 7-11 has better food than Starbucks.
When your coffee tasting notes are “burned, charcoal, ash”, and you make up for it by offering £7 worth of sugar, it’s not surprising when people only shop there for so long.
My sister used to manage a coffee shop and says they would never hire former Starbucks employees because they are trained to make it very poorly.
I like some things from Starbucks, but ever since the manager tore into an autistic girl for having the gall to have boundaries while being sexually harassed, I stopped going. I even reported that POS manager to the DM. Fuck that guy. Girl did nothing wrong and got shit on for “not reporting it the right way”, “not working it out like an adult”, and “being mean”. FFS, the person she was training was the damn poster child for Sexual Harassment and she told him no, she did not want to be touched nor hit on.
I much prefer my local coffee shops, but they are all ~15 minutes away. Only one of them has a decent amount of seating with outlets. The rest are small and don’t really accommodate people who want to work for a few hours, which is the main reason I am going to a coffee shop in the first place. The only close one was that Starbucks.
We are laughing at your misfortune, you fucking ghouls
Americans learning why Starbucks struggles overseas. I’m guessing the maturity of small coffee shops has caught up to the rest of us, so better coffee at better pricing is more abundant.
Struggle overseas?
I guess if you exclude Asia, UK, Canada, and Turkey… maybe
When people on lemmy say “overseas” or “the world”, they really only mean Europe.
Latin America is also obsessed.
I like good tea, not coffee.
So, you know, I have technically always been boycotting Starbucks I guess.
If people really want a caffeine and sugar fix I can’t wait till someone tries a chain of yerba mate places. North America is gonna be wired.
Well, anyone who wanted good coffee wasn’t going to Starbucks either.
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Yep, this too. They used to feel cool despite being a large corporation. Now they feel like a corporate cesspool with Apps and anti-unions and $10 sandwiches smaller than the size of a drink coaster. It’s not fun anymore, and it’s not fun to just be there, especially with people running in and out with the App to just grab things.
But look in the positive side, although they probably lost or will lose 30% of their customer base, at least they can increase profits by 1 percent by having more back-end tracking data to sell from some remaining customers willing to download a shitty ad-infected closed source App!
