Mildly Infuriating

Has this man even been inside a Starbucks recently? They used to be loungy places people could chill, now they're all bland, sparsely decorated, dirty, and uninviting. There is absolutely nothing premium about Starbucks, it's basically a fast-food chain. Once again demonstrating how far removed CEOs are from reality

The coffee sucks, the tables are all filled or dirty and sticky, the outside seating is in a parking lot, baking in the sun, the drive through is backed up to the interstate, the food is re-heated trash that costs a fortune, the atmosphere is boring factory produced trash, and the wifi is so slow it's like it doesn't exist.

Why. Why on earth would I go to starbucks

It's sad to think there are people in the world that think Starbucks coffee is nice.

They need some way to pay for the year he commuted to Seattle by private jet.

Also, he is the asshole who said to keep raising the prices at Chipotle.

Fuck him. I will drink Folgers (and I do) before I'll drink your shit.

Fuck Starbucks. It’s not the first time I mention this, and I’ll keep mentioning it: When Corona hit Germany, the government reduced the VAT to prevent restaurants from going bankrupt in 2020. Starbucks gave every customer the finger and did not lower the prices, keeping the difference for themselves. I was never a regular customer but this made me blacklist them for life.

Pepperidge Farm remembers

I hate this trend of putting shit at the beginning that I then have to hear again less than 10 seconds later. Like I get it's for grabbing you but the second I start hearing the same thing again I immediately close the video.

The interviewer's inability to hide his reaction is priceless

Wow that guy doesn’t even look human. No wonder he had no issue mandating all employees return to the office while he flew a private jet from California to Seattle every day.

Its also hilarious he has that ear piece in his ear so that his PR team can feed the machine the 'correct' focus-grouped response to every question.

Premium my ass.

I love our local coffee place. We bring our dogs. The baristas bring them cups of whipped cream. The place is cozy and they sell art from local artists. And the coffee is actually good and doesn't taste like someone burned it. I usually make my own coffee, but it's nice to go there once a week and just enjoy being there. That is premium.

A $96-million dollar douche defends a $9 cup of coffee

Let's just pretend Starbucks coffee didn't taste like cheap, crusty asshole for a second... Fuck you, Brian!

I'm in India, and when I was in college, first Starbucks in the city was opened and a few of my friends including me wanted to try it. We all spent 500-600 INR ($4-5) which was a lot. After taking the first sip, we all came to the conclusion that the coffee sold at the college canteen for ₹20 was better than this overpriced slop.

I make coffee at my home for less than a dollar and I love the taste and I love the experience.

I had a Starbucks franchise owner tell me that Starbucks doesn't sell coffee; [they] sell an experience.

Then improve the experience, I told him. I seriously have no idea how they're still around.

Calling the stuff you buy at Starbucks coffee? What they sell is all sorts of sugar in a cup. This is not a coffee place, it is a diabetes hole.

Look at the wording- 'premium experience'. He's not selling coffee, he's thinking big picture of the whole experience from the moment you walk in the store. He's not even wrong here. This is good business management- that he's taking charge of everything about the store from the decor, the furniture, the colors, how the employee talks to you, etc. That's all part of the experience.

What's wrong is that people keep going. Most people don't give a fuck about the experience, they just want a tasty coffee. Our economy is based on competition and free choice. If he makes his coffee cost $8 or $9 or $15 or $50 that's his right and his company's right. Just as it is your right to go elsewhere, which you should be doing anyway.

The thing is- IMHO, Starbucks coffee isn't worth anywhere near $9. Here's a challenge- go to Starbucks and order a double espresso shot. Now find a local artisan coffee place, like the type with a chalkboard that says where the beans they're brewing today were grown. And get a double espresso from them also. Compare the two.
What you'll notice about Starbucks is that it's burnt. And that's because it's literally burnt- the typical Starbucks bean is roasted MUCH darker than average, so the resulting coffee flavor is dominated by a burned smoky bitter-ish flavor.
Compare that to your local artisan coffee place- you'll notice it's NOT burnt, the flavor is NOT dominated by smokiness, but you have a lot more layers of flavor. Then order whatever drink you want- better coffee in means better drink out.

Keep in mind also most of what Starbucks sells isn't really coffee, it's milky sugary drinks that incorporate a few drips of espresso. So you're paying $9 for a sugary calorie bomb made from overly roasted coffee that just makes you fat.

Also- if you usually order the same thing at Starbucks- just learn to make it. Even if you throw $1000 at a nice fully automatic espresso machine, taking the per-coffee cost from $9 to $1 means you'll break even on the machine in 125 coffees. For most people that's less than a year. And you can do it yourself- next time you order, watch what the barista does. They are not wizards and nothing behind the counter is magic. An espresso machine and a blender will make like 95% of the menu. Here's a guide

"Starbucks CEO, easily replaced by AI. Here, we'll show you why that's the case."

Anti union piece of shit

Also interview only included CEO, no labor representation

IDGAF. Why are you buying Starbucks anyway, their coffee is just flavoured, caffeinated sugar water. I don't see a big deal with $9 for a cup of piss. Rich people will pay even more if you tell them some lies about the water being shipped from the Himalayan mountains to make the coffee. Charge them whatever the fuck you want. Rich people ripping off rich people is a win win.

Are people really so addicted to Starbucks that this is a big deal? And there's no better and cheaper coffee?

Friendly reminder that during 9/11, Starbucks in NYC charged firefighter $5 for tap water.

Now, I realize $5 today doesn't sound like much, but to put it in comparison, at the time a bottle of 20oz water ranged between $0.50, and $1.25 at grocery stores.

So here's these men, saving lives, risking their own, covered in asbestos and other soot, desprate for a drink to keep saving lives, and the manager of that starbucks decides thats a good time to gouge them for tap water. BITCH THAT SHIT SHOULD BE FREE!!! Especially for these guys! Many of whom died when the towers collapsed. Their last drink for some of them was a price gouged starbucks tap water.

Edit: I just thought of another way to put it in perspective. I remember in 2000 my dad would give me $5 occasionally to get dinner from McDonalds so he didn't have to cook. It was at the time enough for a medium size double quarter pounder meal. Large or super size would have taken me over the $5 mark, but the medium would just barely cover it.

So now next time you're at McDonalds, look at the price of what that is today, and imagine being asked to pay that for a plastic cup with tap water.

Yes. Starbucks. The McDonald’s of coffee shops. High class. Premium.

I don't give a fuck how much they charge for coffee. I don't know why anyone would. You buy it, or you don't. It's not fucking insulin. No one needs to buy their shitty products.

this has the McDonald's CEO eating vibes all over again.

We WANT this to be Worth Your While so we're ~~Paying our Baristas enough to Make It Worth Your While!~~ ~~Buying only the BEST Coffee Beans!~~ ~~Creating NEW Techniques to make your Coffee even MORE Enjoyable!~~ ~~Investing in our Stores so there COMFORTABLE!~~ Giving me, the CEO, a Private Jet!

Prioritizing "experience" over coffee itself is not new for Starbucks. Even before the $9 price tag, their prices far exceeded their (low quality) coffee because they're selling the experience.

Coffee roasters sometimes refer to them as "Charbucks."

I mean, let's be real, how much does a banana even cost Michael? Twelve dollars?

I have friends who are super into roasting their own beans and curated coffee experiences...

Starbucks is far and away from being premium or even...good. They're all marketing and accessibility, not quality.

I'm surprised he didn't mention the "sense of pride and accomplishment" buying a $9 coffee would bring -_-

Starbucks coffee is shite. The main reason many people go there is because of the image of status symbol, especially in many parts of the world. The chain also ruffled feathers here in Ireland for setting up shop everywhere, driving down prices of their coffee to force local cafés to close. Then, when local competitions are gone, Starbucks raise prices to extortionate level. For these reasons, I boycott Starbucks. Thankfully, what Starbucks did in Ireland was nipped in the bud, locals prefer their local cafés.

Besides, countries with older café culture rail stronger on the overgrowth of big coffee chains like Starbucks. For example, the coffee chain in Australia never became popular enough. Because Australians see cafe culture as being more community based, where they chat to neighbours and baristas, a habit picked up from Greek immigrants to Australia long before coffee chains took the world by storm.

Labeling Starbucks coffee as a premium experience is a bold statement. Did he never drank real coffee? "Oh but it's premium because our coffee tastes so bad, we just add a lot of sugar and flavors to it so you won't notice."

I would actually pay $9 for the premium experience of seeing this CEO getting a cup of boiling hot coffee in his face.