[PEN-L:29974] planet starbucks

["Devine, James" <jdevine@xxxxxxx>]

Title: planet starbucks

BusinessWeek MAGAZINE

cover story
PLANET STARBUCKS
What do you do when, in 10 years, you grow from 14 coffee shops to the fastest-growing brand in the world? When your dominance provokes everything from jokes to anarchist outrage? If you're Starbucks, you keep growing. But with saturation of the U.S. market slowing the pace, the only recourse is faster caffeination of colonies abroad. Will the company's cups continue to run over?

------------------------

this gives new meaning to the phrase "cover the earth." It used to be an advertising slogan referring to paint; now it's being applied to overpriced burnt-beans coffee. I'm afraid that the second dip of the Dubya recession is going to reveal that Starbuck is over-expanding. People cut back on expensive coffee in recessions. Or are the folks at Starbucks lobbying for a war to pump up demand?

Jim Devine jdevine@xxxxxxx &  http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine