BCE's Starbucks Watch

Starbucks' Camp Hill Partners Prepare to Treat Customers

More than 70 percent of Americans take at least one coffee break per day. Starbucks Coffee Company treated those Americans to a great cup of coffee today. Starbucks hosted its first-ever National Coffee Break, inviting customers in for a complimentary cup of freshly brewed coffee, on March 15 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. In more than 7,500 stores, partners (employees) poured tall (12-ounce) cups of coffee for surprised customers and delighted commuters.

"This is what it's all about: exceptional coffee beans, expertly roasted, perfectly ground, and freshly brewed," said Jim Alling, president of Starbucks U.S. stores. "We want customers from Seattle to Miami, from Boston to L.A., and all points in between, to visit us... for a complimentary cup of the best coffee they've ever had."

The Company estimated it will serve more than 500,000 cups of coffee in its more than 7,500 U.S. stores during the two-hour event. Starbucks partners will take coffee to some who can't make it, using innovative, mobile-sampling, "Venti Vans" and insulated coffee backpacks. Starbucks Coffee Masters, certified coffee experts, also will be available to introduce customers to coffees from around the world and to offer tips on how to brew great coffee at home.

Starbucks is the leading retailer, roaster and brand of specialty coffee in the world, with approximately 11,000 retail locations in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific Rim. The Company is committed to offering the highest quality coffee and the Starbucks Experience while conducting its business in ways that produce social, environmental and economic benefits for communities in which it does business. In addition to its retail operations, the Company produces and sells bottled Frappuccino(R) coffee drinks, Starbucks DoubleShot(R) espresso drink, and a line of superpremium ice creams through its joint venture partnerships. The Company's brand portfolio provides a wide variety of consumer products -- innovative superpremium Tazo(R) teas and exceptional compact discs from Starbucks Hear Music(TM) enhance the Starbucks Experience through best-of-class products. The Seattle's Best Coffee and Torrefazione Italia coffee brands enable Starbucks to appeal to a broader consumer base by offering an alternative variety of coffee flavor profiles.

Source: Starbucks Coffee Company

Reading the Coffee Beans

By Bernadine Healy, M.D.
U.S.News & World Report

No matter where you get your news--TV, daily paper, website, magazine, or radio--the media are choked with conflicting medical information. From low-fat diets to hormones, chocolate milk to pain relievers, calcium to vitamin pills, readers are confused. There may be no greater offender than the mixed messages that pour in regularly about what some consider America's national beverage--coffee. On this score, last week's report in the Journal of the American Medical Association on the purported link between coffee drinking and heart attacks is a godsend. For this article serves up coffee as a model for consumers in making sense of much of the health news that seems at odds.

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