Thursday, August 03, 2006

Waiting in Line Costs Starbucks

The Wall Street Journal has an article today wherein Starbucks blames their mildly disappointing quarterly results on longer wait times in their stores.

In a rare stumble, Starbucks Corp. said unexpectedly heavy demand for new juice and banana Frappuccinos during the morning rush hurt its sales growth in July.

"We are losing some espresso business due to longer-than-normal wait times" at stores, Chief Executive James Donald said. Frappuccinos are more complicated to prepare than some of Starbucks's other beverages.
I can agree with that. The reason I don't go to Starbucks is the wait. I love the coffee, but with the time it takes to park and order and get my coffee and leave and then the cost othe coffee, I'm far better off investing in an espresso machine at home.

It doesn't seem to have hurt them.

5 year chart for SBUX

1 comment:

Justin said...

And THAT is why there are Starbucks' across the street from each other in Houston.

I think it's at Post Oak and Westheimer, but I'm not too sure