From Domino’s emoji ordering, to Starbucks’ cut-the-line-order-ahead app, fast food restaurants around the country are jumping at the chance to get customers to place orders on their phones. For the restaurants it all comes down to sales, but persuading customers to use those apps is harder than one might think, despite the obvious draws: no line, no wait, food ready and waiting. [More]
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Starbucks Dabbling In Original Content With Documentary Series
By 9.7.16
Starbucks is supposed to be the place that “content creators” go to hog table space and spend hours working on that novel/screenplay/memoir that they know is inside them. Apparently the coffee chain has also been bitten by the content-creating bug, as it plans to launch a new online documentary series. [More]
Starbucks Testing Weekend Brunch Menu, Plates Of Waffles
By 9.6.16
If you’re a fan of brunch, the most important meal of the weekend, would you consider going to Starbucks for it? The chain really hopes so, and is rolling out a test of brunch food in the Pacific Northwest: waffles and quiches that are available only in the morning and early afternoon on weekends. [More]
Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Accusing Starbucks Of Putting Too Much Ice In Iced Coffee
By 8.24.16
If you feel like you’re getting too much ice and not enough coffee in your Starbucks iced beverages, well, we’ve got some bad news for you: a judge has ruled the chain hasn’t done anything wrong. [More]
Bottled Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Frappuccinos Will Be Everywhere, Not Just Costco
By 8.11.16
Last year, there was exciting news for fans of iced pumpkin spice coffee beverages. Starbucks brought its pumpkin spice brand to pre-packaged chilled beverages, selling its bottled Frappuccino products in pumpkin spice flavor exclusively at Costco. Now, to keep capitalizing on the pumpkin spice mania seizing the nation, Starbucks is bringing the bottled PSF to grocery stores across the country. [More]
Lyft Will Soon Be Selling $20 Gift Cards At Starbucks Stores
By 8.9.16
In a move that its rivals haven’t tried yet, Lyft says it will start selling gift cards in a new partnership with Starbucks. [More]
Starbucks Will Start Offering Almond Milk In U.S. Stores Next Month
By 8.9.16
There will be another dairy-free alternative for Starbucks customers come September: alongside soy and coconut milk, the chain will be offering almond milk as part of its milk lineup. [More]
Starbucks Recalling 2.5M Stainless Steel Straws Because They’re Cutting Kids’ Mouths
By 8.2.16
While it might be refreshing to drink a refreshing cold beverage delivered by an equally cold metal straw, it’s much less enjoyable when that straw becomes a stabby thing that can cut your mouth. [More]
Starbucks Denies Reports That It’s Slashing Hours Chain-Wide
By 7.27.16
While Starbucks announced planned raises for employees and a loosened dress code, those changes came in the middle of rampant chain-wide unhappiness among baristas. More pay per hour doesn’t help if you can’t actually get scheduled to work, and employees complain that hours have been cut at the stores where they work. [More]
Cold Brew Craze Continues: Starbucks Selling Pitcher Packs To Make It At Home
By 7.27.16
Starbucks’ love affair with cold brew coffee doesn’t appear to be slowing down. In addition to selling a traditional version of the cold beverage – along with a nitro version – at stores and bottles of the drink at retail partners like Target, the company is now providing customers with the option of making the beverage at home with new pitcher packs. [More]
Starbucks CEO To Step Back, Concentrate On High-End Coffee Roasteries
By 7.26.16
A few years ago, Starbucks started a mini-chain of higher-end shops within their regular chain with fancier, “small-batch” coffees in an effort to compete with a new generation of coffee shops. This week, the company’s founder and CEO, Howard Schultz, announced that he’ll be stepping back from day-to-day management of the main business to think about the company’s overall strategy and concentrate on the high-end Reserve business. [More]
Starbucks Employees Can Now Match Green Hair To Their Green Aprons
By 7.25.16
Nearly two years after Starbucks allowed employees to get a bit more graphic behind the counter — showing some visible tattoos for the first time — the coffee giant is once again revamping its dress code, this time allowing baristas to wear more color — even if that happens to be in their hair. [More]
To Investors, Dunkin’ Donuts Is Stuck Between A McRock And A Starbucks Place
By 7.25.16
For those of us of a certain age, especially those of us that age who grew up in and around Boston, the Dunkin’ Donuts brand identity might seem indelible. But it’s been almost 20 years since the last time Fred the Baker intoned, “Time to make the donuts!” on TV, and those decades — and a national expansion in the face of some stiff competition — have left the iconic sugar-and-caffeine chain in a bit of a slump. [More]
Starbucks Joins McDonald’s In Blocking Porn Access On Free WiFi
By 7.18.16
You won’t be able to watch a skin flick with your morning latte at Starbucks anymore: the coffee chain says it’ll join McDonald’s in adding a pornography filter to its in-store WiFi. [More]
Starbucks Brings Back Iced Sampler Cards Program, Separate From Star Rewards
By 7.18.16
While recent changes to the rewards program at Starbucks drew some complaints, the app remains popular and customers still have massive amounts of money stored away in their accounts. However, the company has brought back a very analog promotion for the summer, which uses a card with stickers for customers to rack up free drinks. [More]
Starbucks Invests In High-End Italian Bakery, Princi
By 7.14.16
Starbucks has its hands in a lot of different products outside of the coffee it serves up in stores — cold brew coffee, coconut milk, juice, to name a few. Now the company is expanding its portfolio with the acquisition of a company specializing in Italian baked goods.
[More]
Starbucks Price Increases Go Into Effect Today
By 7.12.16
Two weeks after a computer glitch pushed out Starbucks’ annual price increase early, the day has finally come when your morning cup of joe will actually cost more. [More]
Starbucks Will Give U.S. Front-Line Employees And Managers Raises Of At Least 5% In October
By 7.11.16
If you’ve heard rumblings in the news recently about Starbucks employees complaining that they’re underpaid and not being scheduled for enough hours, the coffee chain wants you to stop worrying: they’re giving hourly employees and managers raises in October, and making unspecified dress code and benefits changes as well as doing something about scheduling issues. [More]
