Middle-Market Woes Inspire Starbucks’s Bet on Luxury Coffee [$12 cup of joe]

Wall Street Journal ^ | December 5, 2016 | Julie Jargon

[C19fan]

About 25 years ago, Starbucks Corp. decided to become a public company on the bold idea that customers across the country would pay more than $1 for a cup of coffee.

Now, Starbucks is betting people will pay as much as $1 an ounce.

Howard Schultz, who built Starbucks into a global brand with more than 25,000 shops, said last week that he was planning to step down as chief executive to work on a project within Starbucks to build high-end coffee shops charging as much as $12 for 12 ounces of coffee.

[C19fan]

No thanks. Is this the coffee made from beans pooped out by a African animal?

[C19fan]

You can avoid the WSJ paywall by googling the article.

[Pollster1]

http://www.wsj.com/articles/middle-market-woes-inspire-starbuckss-bet-on-luxury-coffee-1480966895

I cannot imagine anyone wasting that much on coffee (or tea). They must be expecting an economic boom under President Trump if they think people will be that extravagant.

[GreyFriar]

I don’t go to existing Starbucks and I definitely will NOT go to this new extravagant store.

Obviously he doesn’t care about folks who have to watch their pennies.

[Sgt_Schultze]

There’d better be something going on under the table whilst I consume my luxury beverage.

[katana]

I’ll bet that shark they’re jumping will look awfully small from a $12 a cup altitude.

[nikos1121]

NOt me. That’s foolish. You can get up to two pounds of green beans for that.

[Dilbert San Diego]

I’m not the biggest coffee drinker. Starbucks is OK once in a while. I get gift cards from people for Starbucks sometimes.

I’ve never gotten the business model; that they make coffee some gourmet item. But clearly there is a market for what the sell.

[taxcontrol]

Man, and I thought $5 per cup was too much.

[Blue Jays]

The only segment where I could see this potentially being a popular spot is the Match.com<\i> online dating crowd seeking a quieter venue.

[puppypusher]

I like my coffee.but I’ll be damned if I’m going to pay twelve dollars for a cup of it.Its no wonder the CEO of Starbucks resigned.

The guy who thought of this should be demoted.

[Quality_Not_Quantity]

Great business plan: Can’t make money selling over-priced coffees? Sell even more over-priced coffees.

[HiTech RedNeck]

If they come up with a coffee that tastes like heaven, they might be able to get away with this.

Call it the Trump-Pence blend.

[Liz]

Starbucks invented Pumpkin Spice Latte....and people lined
up to pay 5 dollars a cup. Save big bucks using this recipe.

Pumpkin Latté

Pan-heat or micro combined cup hot coffee, 5 oz evap/milk,
1/4 c plain canned pumpkin, 1-2 tsp sugar, 1/8 tsp pumpkin pie spice.

Carefully pour into mugs. Foam up some milk for the top
(shake skim milk in a Mason jar if you don't have a foamer).

SERVE w/ homemade oatmeal cookies.

[Uversabound]

starbucks another globalist?

Hope he goes out of business..

[jsanders2001]

I never got Starbucks coffee except for the mocha frappaccinos. The rest tastes like crap. I guess if the CEO wants to go down in flames looking like a greedy ba$tard why stop him...

[Opinionated Blowhard]

But they throw in the lecture on you being a racist, sexist homophobe for free.

[M Kehoe]

$12? Coffee with cocaine in it?

5.56mm

[NobleFree]

I cannot imagine anyone wasting that much on coffee (or tea).

They call it conspicuous consumption: one drinks $12-a-cup coffee in order to be seen drinking $12-a-cup coffee. For people with money to burn and no moral compass.

[kschockeynut87]

I buy my coffee whole bean from a local roaster. Better, fresher and FAR less expensive. $12 a pound and it lasts all week. I refuse to buy Charbucks.