Posted by TheShot on 07 Sep 2009 | Tagged as: Beans, Café Society, Consumer Trends, Local Brew, Machine, Quality Issues, Restaurant Coffee, Starbucks
For the better part of a year, a running gag from the casual coffee lovers who know me is to ask, “So have you tried McDonald’s espresso yet? How does it rate?” Mostly they ask as a curious, sick joke — knowing that I subject myself to the worst kinds of coffee punishment. But now [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 25 Jun 2009 | Tagged as: Local Brew, Restaurant Coffee, Starbucks
It’s tough to be a newspaper man these days. Having run out of tiresome video game and comic book themes, they’re now making Hollywood movies out of bloggers. It seems that anyone with a Twitter account can also get a book deal — ironically celebrating the very media format it supposedly deems irrelevant. So we [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 11 Apr 2008 | Tagged as: Café Society, Consumer Trends, Foreign Brew, Starbucks
What a strange newsweek it’s been in the coffee world. The best way to characterize it?: What’s old is suddenly new again.
Tuesday we had Starbucks’ latest cry for attention/help/suicide prevention with their mysterious “04.08.08″-on-a-lame-paper-cup campaign. Essentially, the publicity stunt announced the launch of their “new” Pike Place Roast and a “new” return to the old [...]
Posted by TheShot on 07 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: Barista, Café Society, Quality Issues, Restaurant Coffee, Starbucks
One of the worst-kept secrets of the past few years is that McDonald’s has been trying to get into the espresso business. Today, news services such as Reuters and the Wall Street Journal are reporting that McDonald’s plans to launch coffee bars with the new employee position of “barista”: McDonald’s coffee bars to take on [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 13 Sep 2006 | Tagged as: Consumer Trends, Restaurant Coffee
In the “who just can’t let a failed idea die” contest between McDonald’s McCafé and the Sony Mini-Disc, McDonald’s seems to be upping the ante along the Central Coast of California: Espresso now comes express at McDonald’s – LompocRecord.com.
The strangest part is that the article cites Marcos Salazar, an area supervisor for McDonald’s, as saying, [...]
Posted by TheShot on 28 Aug 2006 | Tagged as: Café Society, Consumer Trends
Yesterday’s Washington Post ran an article that pretty much embodied everything I despise about coffee: Coffee craze has everyone a bit nuts – Family Times – The Washington Times, America’s Newspaper. It’s the focus on all the sizzle and none of the steak. Apparently, few of us want to hear about what it takes to [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 16 Aug 2006 | Tagged as: Café Society, Consumer Trends, Restaurant Coffee, Starbucks
McDonald’s fell in love with the foreign smell of money brewing when their switch to premium coffee helped boost their sagging top line. Although McDonald’s is still stinging from their McCafé failures in recent years, apparently they are ready to strike out again — testing out espresso production and other specialty coffee drinks at [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 17 Apr 2006 | Tagged as: Consumer Trends, Quality Issues, Starbucks
McDonald’s Corporation’s financial vital signs have kept worried investors up at night in recent years. Lacking same-store growth momentum, McDonald’s managed to find growth overseas … until international markets started to quickly saturate. McDonald’s has been making death rattle noises on the retail fast food market ever since.
McDonald’s slowly recognized that they were losing a [...]
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