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JUST BOB
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Good one John ,star bucks has alway been over priced,I can even get the same colored water at mc /d and a biscuit
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Slickster
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I wonder if this phenomenon is due to the slowdown in the economy or the chickens coming home to roost on Starbuck's strategy of trying to crush competition by opening stores to the left, right on top and under a competitor. I can recall walking around a block in the Loop and passing three Starbucks! Ultimately, that has to stretch business to where at least one on those stores wasn't going to be profitable.
It doesn't take much of a downturn to flip a marginal shop.
Besides, if you have to drink designer coffee, there are plenty of locally owned places.
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Bob
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TCM wrote: John,
Maybe Starbucks is more expensive because they offer BENEFITS such as medical insurance to their employees. Dunkin Donuts doesn't and consequently can give you cheap coffee and poor quality donuts for under $5. Also, when you go to Dunkin Donuts you are going to a franchisee who often employs his extended family with NO benefits. Check it out..... WRONG, John. DUnkin DOnuts offer helath insurance to a greater portion of their employees than Starbuicks does, and a greater portion of the Dunkin employees actually participate in the plans. Get your facts straight. Starbucks offers plans at great exspense. Dunkin subsidizes their health insurance plans, which is why people actually can afford to participate in them. ANOTHER REASON TO CHOOSE DUNKIN OVER CHARBUCK$$$.
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hammer
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At $4.39 a gallon for gas, stay home and brew your own coffee. You can buy the Starbucks' or Dunkin beans, freshly grind them at home,save the environment, break our dependcy on foreign oil, and save money.
Save even more, buy your coffee at Adli's.
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leek
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How about just making your cup of coffee at home?
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jimmy
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Nice article, and a wise comment at the end. We could use commerce staff and government officials that really understand the value of the dollar, and aren't so removed from daily life.
Is coffee really that much more expensive, or is it that sales tax increase, brought to you by Mr. Stroger?
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Bruce Small
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I often sit in the Beyond Bread in Tucson and sip my decaf, bottomless cup, for $1.62, plus they have a nice patio and delicious treats. It's across the street from a Starbucks, which has no appeal to me.
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RxBach
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Maybe Starbucks is closing 600 stores because the people who frequented them are finally figuring out that good coffee is NOT made from burnt beans. One can always hope!
Of course, going to Dunkin' Donuts instead isn't much of an improvement. Too bad Tim Hortons doesn't have any stores in Chicagoland. If you want reasonably priced coffee and donuts (and good sandwiches and soup), Tim Hortons is the place. The coffee far better than Dunkin' Donuts and the donuts are too: they're lighter and less sweet.(What is it with everything in massed food production being so darn sweet? No wonder there's an obesity epidemic.) Tim's even has a great cruller.
Tim Hortons is a Canadian company which is now part-owned by Wendy's. There are a lot of their stores in New York and Michigan and some in Ohio and PA, but unfortunately they haven't reached Chicago or northwest Indiana that I know of. Whenever I return to that area (from western NY) it's always a challenge to get good coffee when out and about.
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Ex-Chicagoan
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At Dunkin Donuts a large iced coffee costs $3.09. At Starbucks a grande (medium) iced coffee in a vente (large) cup costs $2.60. At Starbucks I put in the amount of milk I desire and I get a large cup of coffee for almost $.50 less than the same amount of coffee in a large iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts where they put the milk in behind the counter. Starbucks is a much better deal.
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David
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I don't go to Starbucks simply because their coffee eats holes in my stomach, no matter which blend is on offer that day. The coffee served by both McDs and Dunkin is milder, and some of us need that option.
Of course, the price difference doesn't hurt, either. I'm old fashioned about coffee -- black, no milk, no sugar, straight as it comes.$3 for black coffee is just silly.
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Scott
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Everyone is a genius in hindsight. It's funny how you present your case against Starbuck's like you KNEW the outcome before it happened.
It's actually cheaper (and tastes better) to buy green beans and roast them yourself. But Mr. Kass will probably still call you an elitist for doing so.
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Jim
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Tamjak wrote: Displace us by working for peanuts? What? So you wanted a job at Dunkin Donuts? That's what you wanted to do with your life? Highly unlikely.
If they come over here and want to work the cruddy jobs that no one else wants, more power to them! They don't just work cruddy jobs - the tech industry for one has been overtaken by low-priced offshore Indian contractors because they work for peanuts compared to skilled American workers. Is that related to Dunkin' Donuts? No, not directly, but many workers in the US have been displaced because of the influx of Indian workers.
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eff
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Ex-Chicagoan wrote: At Dunkin Donuts a large iced coffee costs $3.09. At Starbucks a grande (medium) iced coffee in a vente (large) cup costs $2.60. At Starbucks I put in the amount of milk I desire and I get a large cup of coffee for almost $.50 less than the same amount of coffee in a large iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts where they put the milk in behind the counter. Starbucks is a much better deal. Yes, but it is much easier to whine about "$5 cup of coffee at Starbucks", even though if you ever actually set foot in a Starbucks you would know that a cup of coffee costs under $2, not $5. Geez, the way people fuss about this you would think Starbucks is grabbing people off the streets and forcing them to buy their coffee.
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Wisconsin Reader
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John Kass ... Fox News contributor and man of the people ... A weak column with typical ending featuring innuendo against "enviros" and Obama.
Stick to the Combine stories.
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Dave
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Kass, you failed to mention that The Carlyle Group is an owner of Dunkin' Donuts. The Carlyle Group is a big-time war profiteer with high-level government connections. The Dunkin' Donuts ownership has also tried to muscle some of its franschisees out of their businesses so the corporate owners can take them over. Starbucks may be expensive but at least you are not turning over your money to the Carlyle Group. I don't buy from either one.
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eff
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Dragon wrote: Here is the answer to all this. You go to the dumpster out behind Starbucks and dig out a Starbuck's cup.
Then you make your own coffee and pour it in their cup. Then you walk up and down the street sipping YOUR coffee while flashing the Starbuck's cup.
People stop their because it is a matter of personal taste. I really don't think any so-called 'hip' factor plays into it, unless you are 16 years old.
That way everybody will think you are "hip" without it costing you big money to look "hip", when in reality you aren't "hip" at all. But who will know? People stop there because, as with many food/beverages, it is a matter of personal taste. I really don't think any so-called 'hip' factor plays into it, unless you are 16 years old.
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Todd
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John, you forgot one thing - Starbuck's coffee sucks. Dunkin's is WAY better. And jelly filled donuts are for fancy pants reporters - real donuts are plain glazed.
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Carl G
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Whenever I need a caffeine fix, I head over to the nearest Borders Books Store Cafe for a cup of Seattle's Best. Their coffee is far superior to the swill Starbucks churns out, plus I can get some browsing in as well.
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Joe in Chicago
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Seattle's Best, once Starbucks' competitor, is owned by Starbucks.
I can't believe everyone ignores the creepy people who run Caribou. The sales people there are very high pressure. They have to suggest something else when you buy, and if you don't they have to suggest something else. And if you dont buy that then...
True story from the Caribou at Halsted and 14th.
I popped in quick to buy a pound of coffee as a gift for someone. The lady at the counter asked if I would like a baked good with that. I said, no, I was in a hurry just to get a gift of coffee. She said, "Well how about adding a second pound of 'Amy's Blend' coffee, a charity blend benefitting a cure for breast cancer?" "I said no, just the original coffee." Her response was to tell me how Amy died and what a creep I was for not buying an extra pound of Amy's Blend!!!! I couldn't believe it! Does she know I give to The Cure in other ways?
I asked for the manager; s/he was unavailable. I asked for a phone number for the manager so I could call later.
I called a little while later--it was the same people working in the store--they just gave me their number! The same person pushing Amy's blend told me never to come back and hung up.
The Caribou coffee people are pushy as hell. The few times I've been other Caribous (never the one near 14th and Halsted again) they always ask not only once (which I could understand) but twice or even three times what I might by.
Incredibly rude. Since then, the Trib has run a story on the strange ownership and backing of Caribou, but whatever the case, after my experience in that Caribou at Halsted and 14th, I will never be back.
Starbucks gets all my business.
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Uhh
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There are some missed points and some interesting ones here...
First off, many of Starbucks' drinks are espresso-type beverages. You're paying for the product, plus the labor. And yes, it does tend to be more European and upper crust. Interesting that they mentioned the Boston Tea party when comparing these... The Bostonians and other Colonials weren't getting no-whip-non-fat latte's when they bucked the British trend of drinking tea.
Instead of harping on Starbucks like is so many people's favorite hobbies, I think we should listen to Ziggy and look at the bottled water industry. They're bottling water from Lake Michigan and selling it at $1.50 a bottle. I'm not an environmentalist wacko, but it makes sense that not all bottles end up being recycled (which isn't exactly an entirely efficient process either... that takes a lot of energy). So, we've got companies taking water from one of our best resources and profitting off of it and using energy to do so, creating extra waste.
Back to the story, I like certain drinks at Starbucks, and I like certain things at Dunkin' Donuts. Depending on which I'm in the mood for, I'll choose my destination. But I'm going for DIFFERENT things that the other doesn't offer.
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