Addendum: The Starbucks Via Taste Challenge kicks off Friday and runs through Monday in Starbucks stores across the U.S. and Canada. But I got a head start Tuesday morning, as I noted in the post below: I disagree with CEO Howard Schultz's "guarantee" that you won't be able to tell the difference between Starbucks' drip and its new instant (or "ready brew," as he calls it). Starbucks Bold drip handily beat Bold Via in my taste test--for what it's worth. This morning (Wednesday) at my local Starbucks, I tried the lower-test brews: Pike Place drip vs. Columbia Mild Via, side by side. Verdict: Via wins. Then again, what true coffee lover loves Pike Place?
"We've literally cracked the code on being able to replicate a cup of Starbucks coffee that I can guarantee you would not be able to tell the difference."
- Starbucks (SBUX) CEO Howard Schultz on his entry today into the $20-plus billion instant coffee market. I tried Via, Starbucks' new product, this morning: The barista served me a cup of the new instant bold brew and a cup my usual bold drip coffee, and I drank them side by side.
Howard, I have to tell you, they do taste different. Your new Via lacks the burnt taste that causes some people to call Starbucks "Charbucks." I actually prefer the burnt taste of your bold drip. Via seems to me to be short on flavor. Though the barista insisted that the regular Via is better than Pike Place drip.
It's interesting that Starbucks is introducing its value brand, Via ("less than a dollar a cup," notes Schultz in the video below), the same week that the guy who tried to balance value and quality and got the boot, Jim Donald, landed a new CEO job elsewhere. Former Starbucks chief executive Donald, whom Schultz replaced with himself in January 2008, has been under the radar for almost two years (roaming, rowing, speaking, teaching, and serving on boards), but he just accepted a job as CEO of Haggen, a food and drugstore chain based in Washington state. (Haggen's website claims that it was the first grocer to have an in-store Starbucks Coffee shop, in 1989.) Donald's earlier career was in grocery--senior posts at Safeway (SWY), Wal-Mart (WMT), and Pathmark--so he's going back to his roots.--Patricia Sellers
I'm an optimist. Always have been. So take with a grain of salt--or sugar, perhaps--these signs of hope across the board:
1. Maybe print isn't dead. My new Kindle 2 makes me think that even though we may not be reading magazines and newspapers on paper a decade or two from now, long-form stories and beautiful page design can endure. (My Monday Postcard, "Amazon: Thinking beyond the Kindle," stirred debate about MORE
Patricia Sellers - Apr 3, 2009 1:45 PM ET
Photo courtesy of Starbucks
by Jim Donald, former CEO of Starbucks and Pathmark
"Good morning, general store managers, assistant store managers, VPs and all 26,000 employees…Jim here…
It's Wednesday morning and the merchandising message today is--and you are not going to believe it-- but I am telling you that it is OK to steal."
It was 5:30 a.m., and I was on the phone, in my kitchen, sending out my daily voicemail. MORE
Patricia Sellers - Apr 1, 2009 1:02 PM ET
Who are you? It's more important than ever to know the answer to this question.
Think about it - When you're on shaky ground (aren't we all these days?), when your bosses and direct reports question your moves (admit it, they do), and when you're rethinking your life or career (you'd better be, or you're a fool), you need one core competency: Know thyself.
A primer in this regard: a book that I MORE
Patricia Sellers - Mar 27, 2009 12:54 PM ET
David Neeleman, the founder and former CEO of JetBlue (JBLU), launched his fourth low-cost airline Monday. This one is in Brazil. It's called Azul, which means "blue" in Portugese. It's a lot like JetBlue: TVs at every seat-back, leather seats, extra leg room, nonstop flights between cities that previously lacked nonstop service.
Who knows if Azul will take off, but Brazil's economy is growing faster than most (6.8% in the third MORE
Patricia Sellers - Dec 16, 2008 3:23 PM ET
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz needs less optimism and a stronger dose of reality in his brew.
Monday's fourth-quarter earnings report -- net income down 97% to $5.4 million on revenues of $2.5 billion, which were up 3% -- missed expectations. Same-store sales, down 8% in the United States and 7% globally, were worse than Wall Street predicted. Moreover, $170 million in restructuring costs to close 600 U.S. stores, as detailed by management MORE
Patricia Sellers - Nov 11, 2008 12:12 PM ET
I waited 45 minutes to vote this morning. A breeze, I guess, compared to those people standing in line for hours. At 8 a.m., I walked into my Starbucks on Manhattan's Upper West Side for a free tall brewed coffee -- the retailer's Election Day promotion -- and walked straight to the counter. No line. The store filled 20 minutes later. Obviously, Americans are running about one hour late today. MORE
Patricia Sellers - Nov 4, 2008 1:55 PM ET
Seeing Starbucks (SBUX), once America's model retailer, post its first-ever quarterly loss, you realize how dire the retail category is these days. Just about everybody except the low-price players like McDonald's (MCD), Wal-Mart (WMT) and TJX (TJX) are losing.
But beyond being a victim of the harsh economy, Starbucks made real mistakes. It dramatically over-expanded. And when Howard Schultz, who built the company from a tiny Seattle chain, fired CEO Jim MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jul 31, 2008 2:42 PM ET
The news that Starbucks (SBUX) will close 600 stores and lay off as many as 12,000 employees is not only the news that Wall Street was waiting for. It is inevitable. One thing I've learned from my 24 years following retailers for Fortune is this: Every retailer that expands across the U.S. hits the wall on growth eventually. And every retail entrepreneur, no matter how talented, is eventually exposed as MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jul 2, 2008 12:35 PM ET
"Act like you own it. The difference between founders and corporate executives is engagement. Founders are engaged in the business—emotionally connected to that brand or that product in a way that you don't see anywhere else."
-- Former Starbucks CEO Jim Donald, who has worked for founders Sam Walton at Wal-Mart (WMT) and Joe Albertson at Albertsons supermarkets. Howard Schultz, who built Starbucks (SBUX) from a tiny chain, replaced Donald as MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jun 26, 2008 6:18 PM ET
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Pattie Sellers has written some of Fortune's most talked-about cover stories, including "Oprah's Next Act," "Can Meg Whitman Save California?" "The $100 Billion Woman" (Melinda Gates), "MySpace Cowboys," Martha Stewart ("I cannot be destroyed"), Ted Turner ("Gone with the Wind") and Oprah Winfrey ("Oprah Inc."). Since its launch in 1998, Pattie has helped oversee Fortune's "Most Powerful Women" cover package.
A specialist at dissecting larger-than-life personalities, she has also profiled former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Morgan Stanley chairman John Mack, and countless CEOs.
Pattie co-chairs the annual Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, the preeminent gathering of women leaders in business, philanthropy, government, academia, and the arts. She started at Fortune in 1984, covering the big brand companies.
In Pattie's blog, Postcards, she provides insight into the lives of super-achievers through commentary, career advice, and Guest Posts by CEOs and other leaders.
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