Major fast food and coffeehouse chains are launching special discounts and promotions aimed to keep customers streaming in during the hot days and months ahead. Who says “happy hour” has to be limited to bars and restaurants that serve alcohol?
Egg McMuffins not your thing? No problem. McDonald’s is trying to boost its share of the breakfast business with new offerings like muffins, scones and danishes. The fast-food giant is rolling out a line of breakfast pastries in New England, going head-to-head with Massachusetts-based rival Dunkin’ Donuts.
Coinstar, the company that owns DVD kiosk giant Redbox, is testing out new machines that’ll sell everything from a first-rate cup of coffee to smartphones and video game consoles.
Before messing with lowest common denominators and figuring out how K-Cup, whole bean, and coffee-making machine prices translate into the cost of an actual cup of coffee, take at look at the homework done by others.
To broaden their appeal and expand business, each of these big-name chains is trying something new—adding breakfast, alcohol, and special bargain-priced deals, respectively.
Hey coffee lovers, here’s a little jolt that may help wake you up. The asking prices for a half-dozen different Starbucks beverages are getting more expensive at a broad swath of the coffee chain’s locations around the country.
A latte at Starbucks, however overpriced, doesn’t really qualify for the short list of American’s biggest rip-offs. Most Starbucks customers are well aware of the fact that the cost to make a coffee or mocha is a teeny-tiny fraction of the price they pay in a coffee shop; they pay the inflated price anyway, writing [...]
Which sounds more appealing: an artisan sandwich, or just a plain old sandwich? Marketers are increasingly tossing the word into the name of food products because consumers assume “artisan” means the item is somehow made with love and expertise and individuality. But many “artisan” foods are processed and mass-produced just like their standard-issue non-artisan counterparts.
Maybe Starbucks doesn’t realize that many economists are forecasting a double-dip recession. Or maybe they just don’t realize that people don’t like stains on their shirts.
Like many Americans, Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks, is disgusted with politics—the bickering, the astounding inability to get things done, the blatant self-interest in every carefully calculated decision. Now Schultz is trying to start a movement that’ll force politicians to stop putting “partisan agendas before the people’s agenda.”
The “take a penny, leave a penny” concept works pretty well at diners and convenience stores. But what if, instead of pennies, the currency being shared was digital, and the payments were made by mobile phone? That’s what one mobile app consultant wondered, and he’s now inviting anyone and everyone to use the barcode scanner [...]
