Starbucks Shares Drop on Forecast

Starbucks Corp., the world's largest chain of coffee shops, fell the most in almost five months in New York trading after the company lowered its profit and sales forecasts following a first-ever decline in U.S. customer visits.

The dropped 93 cents, or 3.9 percent, to $23.17 at 4 p.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading, the most since June. The shares have lost 35 percent this year.

Starbucks raised prices by an average of 9 cents a cup in July, causing U.S. customers who face higher food, fuel and housing expenses to go to McDonald's Corp. and Dunkin' Donuts LLC for cheaper coffee. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is among the few retailers to benefit from shoppers seeking lower-cost alternatives after reducing its prices ahead of the holidays.

``Investors are going to have to digest the fact that there's no sacred cow left in retail,'' Sharon Zackfia, an analyst at William Blair & Co. in Chicago, who rates the shares ``outperform,'' said yesterday. ``Starbucks has been more insulated, but things that are better insulated get impacted later in the economic cycle.''

Robert W. Baird & Co. analyst David Tarantino lowered his recommendation on Starbucks to ``neutral'' from ``outperform.'' Seven analysts reduced their price estimates on the Seattle-based company's stock.

Source: Bloomberg.com

Move over, espresso

From The Economist print edition

A new machine could reshape the speciality-coffee business

NEAR the hard-working espresso machine at Ritual Coffee Roasters, a café in San Francisco, sits a stainless-steel box about the size of a desktop computer. This box, the Clover, produces a cup of coffee with a spectacle of streaming water, whirring motors and an ingenious inverse plunger. Zander Nosler, the industrial designer who invented the Clover nearly three years ago, seems to have done the impossible: attracted a cult following for a new coffee-making machine that is both slower and vastly more expensive than other machines and requires the undivided attention of a trained operator.

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Green Mountain Coffee disappoints Wall Street

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (gmcr) posted quarterly profits below analysts expectations. Wall Street sent the price of Green Mountain shares down 6%.

Source: Reuters

Starbucks profits rise 35%, stock price falls

Seattle (AP) - Starbucks reported today that its fourth quarter profit jumped 35% despite a slight slowdown in store openings.

The Seattle coffee chain reported net earnings of $159 million dollars. Revenue increased 22% to $2.4 billion compared to one year ago. Starbucks opened 615 stores in their latest quarter boosting its worldwide count to 15,011. Same store sales increased 4% - toward the low end of the company's guidance.

In after hour trading on November 15 as of 6:11 p.m., Starbucks (sbux) stock price plunged $2.08 per share or -8.63%.

We need a sanitary coffee cup lid

I don't consider myself overly concerned with germs and hygiene. I use public bathrooms, I drink from the glass instead of the straw, and I don't own a PDR.

What does bother me, however, is putting my mouth on a coffee cup lid that was just handled by someone I don't know. I don't know their medical history or their hygiene habits. When was the last time they washed the hands that were used to press on my cup lid? Did they follow the rule that is posted on the bathroom wall and wash afterwards? I just don't know and it bothers me.

We have so many conveniences that promote public health; many public restrooms along the highways, toilets and lavatories that are hands-free, even handy bottles and boxes of hand sanitizers. But we still put our mouths on a cup lid handled by someone else.

There must be a better way to apply a coffee cup lid by the person behind the counter, without having to use the hands.

Any suggestions??? Hit the Comments button and share your thoughts.

Robert

Helping malnourished kids in Chiapas with fortified coffee

U.S., Mexican companies join forces to bring fortified coffee to malnourished kids in Chiapas

MEXICO CITY: A U.S. company and a popular Mexican coffee producer are teaming up to help improve the nutrition of kids in southern Mexico through an unusual and controversial source: coffee.

Houston-based Voyava Republic and the coffee cooperative La Selva say they have a way to fortify coffee with folic acid and other nutrients, and they want to start giving it to elementary school children next year in the impoverished state of Chiapas.

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What drives coffee choices?

Dan Shearer
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 14, 2007 12:00 AM

Only in my weaker moments can I pay four bucks for a cup of coffee.

And what others consider a status symbol is to me nothing more than proof that we've bought into the sales pitch that the Starbucks experience is somehow worth a small fortune. And for many, it is.

But Starbucks took it in the shorts in March when Consumer Reports told the world that McDonald's coffee was not only cheaper but also better.
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A few months later, McDonald's launched its own line of iced coffees.

But are they better? Frankly, no.

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McDonald's out to win the coffee wars

By Michael Hughlett | Tribune staff reporter

In a significant new product offensive, McDonald's Corp. said Tuesday it will move full-scale into the specialty coffee market, serving up mochas and cappucinos that it says will rival those made by coffee houses.

The Oak Brook-based company has been testing specialty coffees in about 800 restaurants this year, and plans to build out the business nationally, Don Thompson, president of McDonald's USA said at the company's annual analysts meeting.

The company essentially wants to make coffee more than something that customers order with their food.

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Coffee and compost

A video about composting coffee into compost.

Quote

If charity cost nothing, the world would be full of philanthropists.

Jackie Chan's cafe expands into China

Coffee chain with ties to Jackie Chan, local firm expands into China
Pittsburgh Business Times - by Tim Schooley

Jackie Chan's Cafe, Coffee and Tea, the coffee shop venture of international movie star Jackie Chan that is part-owned by Bridgeville, Pa.-based Hometown Coffee Co., has expanded into Mainland China.

Three new Jackie Chan's locations have opened within the past month, including shops in Beijing's high-tech center and in Hong Kong.

Jackie Chan's was launched in July 2006, with its first stores opening in the Philippines, where licensing agreements called for a total of 20 locations.

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Kona Coffee Trying to Appeal to Japan

By KARIN STANTON For The Associated Press
© 2007 The Associated Press

KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii — Hawaii's Kona coffee industry is looking to attract more Japanese consumers by offering special tours.

Mountain Thunder Coffee Plantation is one of the farms taking the initiative by introducing a Japanese-language Web site, hiring a Japanese-speaking concierge and offering special tours targeted at Japanese visitors, co-owner Trent Bateman said.

"They like to have expanded knowledge of how we get the quality and how we actually do the labor," he said. "It just so happens that Japanese people pioneered this industry. Now they might have faded a little bit and the newcomers outnumber them, but the allure of Hawaii and of Kona coffee has not gone away."

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Wisdom from the Rebbe

Fur Coats & Furnaces
--------------------

Have you ever heard of the "Saint in a Fur Coat"?

He sits in his house by a fireplace full of wood. But there is no fire. The house, and everyone in it are shivering from the cold. All except for him. He dons a fur coat and he is warm.

So we ask him, "Why do you warm only yourself? Why not kindle the wood in your fireplace and warm others as well?"

He answers, "It is not just this house. The entire world is struck with a bitter, cold wind. Do you expect me to warm up an entire world?"

So we tell him that he does not have to warm up the entire world. But perhaps he could warm up one other individual. Perhaps two. Perhaps he could warm up one little corner of the world.

"For a person such as I," he replies, "it is not fitting to warm up only one corner."

And so there he sits, in his cold, dark house,
all comfy in his fur coat.


A Daily Dose of Wisdom from the Rebbe
-words and condensation by Tzvi Freeman
Chabad.org

Waiting for Good Joe

Do coffee shops discriminate against women?

By Tim Harford
Slate.com

I'm a real cappuccino lover myself, but many of my female colleagues don't seem to go for the stuff. I'd never thought too much about it until recently. I suppose I carelessly assumed that men and women have different tastes, probably as a result of different social influences. Now I know better: My female colleagues don't go to coffee shops because they're shabbily treated when they get there.

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In trademarking its coffee, Ethiopia seeks fair trade

The move could help the country's coffee growers to earn some $88 million more per year.

By Matthew Clark | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia - Nestled in the hills of southern Ethiopia lies a resource that could catapult this nation forward: coffee.

Connoisseurs worldwide savor the beans from Yirgacheffe for their distinctive flavor. And at a time when more consumers are targeting specialty brews, Ethiopia is poised to reap the rewards of a product that commands $10 per pound in the United States.

But while upscale consumers are willing to pay top dollar for the beans, farmers in Ethiopia sell their product for a pittance – less than $1 per pound. "It's like growers of Dom Perignon Champagne getting the same price as growers of bulk wine," says Ron Layton, founder and chief executive of Light Years, IP, a Washington-based group that helps producers in poor countries get better prices.

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Small organic farm wins annual Kona Coffee competition

Associated Press

KAILUA KONA, Hawaii — It's only 2½ acres, but it's the best Kona has to offer.

Kona Old Style, a small organic farm at the 2,200-foot elevation in Kealakekua, won the top prize Thursday at the 21st annual Kona Coffee Cultural Festival's cupping contest.

Co-owner Una Greenway credits her organic methods and the age of the trees for the win.

"I'm totally shocked. Now I know how Miss America feels," said Greenaway, who owns Kona Old Style with her husband, Leon Rosner. "We had a good year. We love our farm."

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