Birdsong usually has law or politics on his mind. Not today. Today he has coffee on his mind. Not drinking it but talking about the trend in others drinking less of it and paying more for it.
By this time everyone on the planet has heard that Starbucks will be closing 600 of its retail locations across the country. It could be that inflation, high gas prices, and job losses are leading to less coffee being sold at the pricey Starbucks. In related articles in a recent Orlando Sentinel newspaper Birdsong learned that Starbucks operates and licenses about 11,000 retail locations in the U.S. The majority of the Starbucks closings will take place in California and Florida. These two states account for almost one third of all Starbucks’ U.S. retail sales! Wow!
Fifty nine stores will be closed in Florida and 88 in California.
At the same time that Starbucks’ luster is fading, a local Orlando coffee house is doing well and has seen its business grow. The Sol River Coffee House & Lounge offers many blends of coffee. The Orlando Sentinel reports that recently, Adam Dudley, the owner, has brewed and is selling one of the rarest coffees in the world. Kopi Luwak coffee cost $180 per pound and sells at Sol River for $30 bucks for an eight ounce cup! Kopi Luwak has a distinct flavor and an expensive price tag because of its production process – the beans pass through the digestive system of the Asian Palm Civet. The beans are then collected from its droppings.
A customer, Natalie Jimenez, was invited to sample the coffee at a complimentary tasting last week. Jimenez who admits to drinking 12 cups of coffee a day said that she would buy it…”but not for all12 cups a day.” Well, thank heavens.
Birdsong wants to know whether Ms. Jimenez has a hollow leg? 12 cups a day…that’s a heckuva lot of coffee. Seems she would not have any time do anything else during the day… like work.
Birdsong is not a coffee drinker and has never bought coffee at a Starbucks or at Sol River.
Would you spend $30 bucks on a cup of Joe?
The Sentinel reporters who wrote these stories are Mark Chediak and Vincent Bradshaw. See, mchediak@orlandosentinel.com and vbradsaw@orlandosentinel.com, respectively.
I have to confess that I wouldn’t have guessed that Starbucks would be a natural victim of recession… odd that they didn’t try lowering their prices before closing down!