Office space is expensive. Why pay to keep all of your employees in the building when there are perfectly good areas right nearby with plenty of desks (well, tables), plentiful wireless Internet, and someone always puts on a new pot of coffee? What we’re saying is that some businesses are kicking employees out and sending them to Starbucks. [More]
starbucks
Starbucks Will Now Offer Braille Gift Cards Year-Round
By 10.3.13
Starbucks has offered Braille gift cards during the month of October since Fall 2011, a limited run of the cards for the month designated as disability employment awareness month. Two years after that product launched the coffee giant says the Braille cards will become a regularly offered item. [More]
Sunday Is National Coffee Day, Which Means Free Coffee If You Know Where To Look
By 9.27.13
You may scoff at the notion of “National Coffee Day,” but it’s one of the few holidays that (A) doesn’t require you to buy a card, throw a party, or decorate, and (B) results in free coffee for people willing to seek it out. [More]
McDonald’s Hopes You Won’t Notice Its Pumpkin Spice Lattes Are Not From Starbucks
By 9.25.13
If you’re one of those people who are sick, absolutely fed up with all things Pumpkin Spice Latte related, stop reading right now. For all of you who never get sick of finding new ways to ingest the stuff, McDonald’s would like it if you tried out their “new” McCafe pumpkin latte. [More]
Starbucks CEO Asks Customers To Please Leave Guns At Home
By 9.18.13
For years, Starbucks has been stuck in the middle of the debate over whether businesses should let customers bring guns into stores in states and municipalities where it is legal to openly carry a firearm. CEO Howard Schultz had previously called it a “difficult, fragile” situation but said the company was not going to change its longstanding policy of following whatever the local laws allowed. Then last night, he issued an open letter to customers, asking them to please leave their guns at home. [More]
Attention, Vegans: Yes, The Pumpkin Spice Latte Contains Dairy, Even When It’s Made With Soy
By 9.11.13
Now that Starbucks has stopped using ground-up bugs (cochineal extract, mmm) in its products, there’s a new, dairy-free battle vegans are fighting against the popular coffee chain, and it involves the beloved Pumpkin Spice Latte. [More]
Starbucks Celebrates 10th Anniversary Of Pumpkin Spice Latte With $150 Sparkly Tumbler
By 8.29.13
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks, a beverage with an entirely justified fanatical fan base. The company is celebrating that anniversary with a limited-edition ceramic tumbler that features caramel-colored Swarovski crystals, orange and brown glaze, and an abstract version of the company logo in green crystals. It costs $150. [More]
Should Eating Food Out Of The Trash At Work Be Grounds For Termination?
By 8.28.13
A 21-year-old barista who worked at a downtown Seattle Starbucks claims he was fired for taking a sandwich out of the trash and eating it. He argues that since his employers were going to toss it anyway, why should he be punished for pulling it out of the garbage, especially when he hasn’t been working enough hours to pay his bills? [More]
Subway Now Outnumbers 30 Of The 50 Largest Fast Food Chains… Combined
By 8.21.13
People joke about their being a Starbucks or McDonald’s on every corner in America — and in some parts of the country that seems true — but did you know there are more Subway restaurants in the U.S. than there are Starbucks and McDonald’s combined? [More]
Coffee Shop Owner: Limiting Laptop Squatters Has Boosted My Sales
By 8.19.13
Ever since the advent of the whole coffee-shop-as-satellite-office thing, some have operated under the notion that java joints should do what they can to cater to and keep customers sitting in seats for hours on end while they toil on their laptops. But one store owner says his business has actually seen an increase in sales after he decided to put limits on the laptop-lugging squatters. [More]
Starbucks Dumps AT&T And Picks Google To Be Its New Wi-Fi Partner
By 7.31.13
Because business relationships are totally exactly like high school releationships, we’re pretty sure Starbucks had the following conversation when dumping AT&T: “It’s not about you. It’s about me. Well and also, actually, it’s about you because see, Google says it’ll give me faster Wi-Fi speeds, so… I need that T-shirt of mine back and the Journey CD I loaned you.” [More]
Starbucks Now Wants To Sell Yogurt Because It Can And People Will Probably Buy It
By 7.23.13
Perhaps motivated by all those Stamos-starring Oikos commercials, Starbucks has decided to venture into yet another consumer food market, partnering with Dannon parent company Danone to release its own line of white goo that will never be as yummy as ice cream no matter what you put in it, or “yogurt” as some people refer to it. [More]
Lawsuit Claims Starbucks Employees Discriminated Against Deaf Customers In NYC
By 7.16.13
Starbucks is facing a lawsuit brought by 12 customers in Federal court claiming that employees at the chain discriminated against deaf people in New York City. The plaintiffs say they were refused service, ejected from the store and made fun of for how they speak. [More]
Couple Asks Random Starbucks Customers To Name Their Unborn Child
By 7.2.13
The regulars at my local Starbucks are nice people who seem like they have good taste. I would probably trust their suggestions for which new Frappuccino to try, or even their restaurant or hairdresser recommendations. I would not, however, trust them to help me make my major life decisions. Like naming my child. [More]
Court: Starbucks Baristas Only Have To Share Tips With Shift Supervisors, Not Asst. Managers
By 6.27.13
In the fight over who gets to dig their hands into the Starbucks tip jar at the end of the day, everyone is coming out kind of a winner. Well, except for assistant managers, but they already earn salaries and have benefits, so that’s pretty winner-y. A court says baristas must share their tips, but only with shift supervisors. [More]
Everyone Get Ready To Freak Out: Starbucks Hiking Prices 1% Nationwide Next Week
By 6.21.13
Hey everyone, the price of coffee beans is going down! That’s great news — for Starbucks, but not necessarily for its customers. In fact I would be remiss in not mentioning the news that prices are actually going to go up pretty much everywhere across the country at Starbucks next week, by about 1%. [More]
Starbucks Opens At Disney World, Everyone Freaks Out For Some Reason
By 6.20.13 — Updated: 6.21.13
Main Street, U.S.A. serves as the entrance to Disney’s theme parks worldwide. It’s like a quaint American small town from a century ago, where everyone carries smartphones in their fanny packs. Change has come to Main Street, and some Disney fans are more than a little upset that the Main Street Bakery will now serve a full menu of authentic, turn-of-the-century Starbucks beverages. [More]
Time To Face The Mochafrappuchocalatte Music: Starbucks To Post Calorie Counts
By 6.18.13 — Updated: 1.4.16
Like avoiding eye contact with that vague acquaintance from work — the one you have absolutely nothing to say to — who ends up in your train car on the way home, it’s inevitable. You’re going to probably end up looking at Starbucks’ new calorie count postings because they’re there, you know they’re there, and it’s better to just get it over with. Say hello to the future. [More]
