More Starbucks Headlines

Starbucks is closing every store in America for an emergency three hour training session. They as a corporation have noticed what we have been saying all along. Starbucks quality is a mere fraction of what it used to be. Their baristas only know how to push a button on the super automatic, kind of like pushing the button on the french fry maker at their last job.

If you have friends, family, co-workers, etc who are massive Starbucks fans, send them over to Nemo's during the Starbucks closure. We will give them an amazing cup of coffee or specialty drink, plus offer them freshly made sandwiches, salads, home made soup, breakfast burritos, chicken with lime cilantro rice lunch burritos, etc, etc. Step into Nemo's once, and there is no going back!

Here is the brief USA Today article, and some blog comments on the story:

Coffee break: Starbucks closing for 3 hours today

SEATTLE (AP) — Starbucks is closing the doors at its 7,100 stores across America for a brief barista re-education.
CEO Howard Schultz announced the 3-hour closure starting at 5:30 p.m. local time Tuesday to energize 135,000 employees.
TODAY'S CLOSING: Starbucks press release
STARBUCKS CHANGES: Read Schultz's e-mail to Starbucks staff
He wants baristas to share their passion for making espresso, or as he says, "to pull the perfect shot, steam milk to order and customize their favorite beverage."
Schultz says it's part of his refocusing on the coffee customer experience.
A few blog comments on this story:

Starbucks is giving America the opportunity to discover the competition this Thursday evening. America will realize that the competition is better and cheaper at providing the same buzz... all without having to learn a totally new language.

at least where well trained barista's are concerned (and I met almost NONE when I worked at Starbuck's) it should be as considered as tipping a bartender. It's not only how well they make a drink, but how welcome they make you feel.
Your best trained barista's rarely work for a major corporation.

I wonder how they'll react when they discover most of their "barista's" know next to nothing about frothing milk...or pouring it properly.
I used to work in one...I'd had a few years experience when I went there. My talents could have been utilized MUCH better than they were.

I think Starbucks tastes like burnt mud. I used to drink it, but they lost me a few years ago....warm battery acid.

Somebody needs to teach Starbucks employees how to make regular coffee, two weeks ago I ordered a reg. coffee, cream ,two sugars, no joke the kid behind the drive-up window asked me how to make it, I almost fell out of the truck I was laughing so hard, unbelievable, last time for me.

Fine. Starbucks has been around how long, and they are just now training their employees how to serve their product? Shouldn't we be entitled to a refund for past purchases made from untrained buffoons? I suppose this upgrade to barista proficiency will raise the prices. Certainly appears to be nothing but a sneaky way to fool the consumer into thinking they're getting something better. I'll stick with McDonald's.


Hey Starbucks, while you're at it, train them to make a better tasting coffee.
Starbucks is the most expensive, bitter cup of caca I ever drank in my life.

For me, the thrill of going to Starbucks is over for me. I can make just as good coffee at home and take with me (thanks to DD coffee grounds in stores). I think Starbucks will start charging people to lounge in their stores. It's only a matter of time...

I like them for there bathrooms in NYC.
But I stood in line for 10 minutes and I bought 2 cups of a grande or venti or whatever they call them...
and it was 7 dollars...

next day went to a small coffee shop and it was 2.75 and the service was great and personable.
Dunkin Donuts has 3 lines and gets your coffee in a flash and it taste like coffee not burnt toast.

Charge 1 dollar for a small cup and watch traffic increase Starbucks, oh and 3 starbucks on 1 block is frustrating and uncool.

Starbucks CEO Schultz "wants baristas to share their passion for making espresso."

I think you concentrate on making a good cup of coffee that doesn't taste burnt before you do anything else.

No loss..To be honest, I wonder if this is the start of some problems for the company? Has the "coolness" factor worn off or become obsolete? Still, their green and white logo has become a permanent fixture in our society of rampant consumerism where "hipness" supersedes quality.

Frankly, I was one of those who thought it was "cool" to go to Starbucks when they first started multiplying over 10 years ago. It was one of those places to be seen. Now, I rarely even go into one, as their coffee is not even the best quality. I have taken a liking to Dunkin' Donuts coffee recently and also 8 O'clock for at home. Probably not the best coffee in the eyes of many, but I can say personally it's much better than Starbucks.

I was the only person for a long while who used to sit at the Starbucks by my home drinking a Dunkin coffee. When DD moved in about 6 months ago the lines started thinning out at Bucks. Now, I have seen several people who come to read the paper or surf the internet (as I do) with a competitor’s coffee.