Not a bad estimation of the quality of Starbucks coffee in my experience. I can make a better cup of coffee with a freakin' Nespresso machine.
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Why Starbucks can't crack the Australian market
- Thread starter Dastardly Jerks
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Not a bad estimation of the quality of Starbucks coffee in my experience. I can make a better cup of coffee with a freakin' Nespresso machine.
For the four months or so that Tasmania had a Starbucks, I did enjoy having what was essentially a liquid cake under the name of a "hot chocolate". But I never once ordered anything with an espresso shot in it.
One of the few things Hobart has in excess is coffee shops, so I never really felt the need to saddle up with a chain as large as Starbucks.
And, for what it's worth, most coffee places in Hobart are pretty stable. I don't tend to see many coffee places turning hands. But this city's pretty static anyway. Seven years ago a five story building in the centre of the CBD burned down, and the solution was to put a fence over the hole it left and construct a shitty plank walkway over the top of it. Seven fucking years...
One of the few things Hobart has in excess is coffee shops, so I never really felt the need to saddle up with a chain as large as Starbucks.
And, for what it's worth, most coffee places in Hobart are pretty stable. I don't tend to see many coffee places turning hands. But this city's pretty static anyway. Seven years ago a five story building in the centre of the CBD burned down, and the solution was to put a fence over the hole it left and construct a shitty plank walkway over the top of it. Seven fucking years...
toddhunter
Member
Well I suppose, but those shops have to go somewhere which would close down other things. And it is all hypothetical anyway. They obviously haven't succeeded, so they haven't created jobs.
Opening up a thousand steel mills would be even better but that isn't going to happen either.
chicko1983
Member
So why does coffee sold at service stations work but Starbucks doesn't? Just because of convenience?
toddhunter
Member
I believe service stations sell petrol to pay the bills and their coffee and anything else is their profit.
way more
Member
If Starbucks started selling gas (petrol?) that might be a point but they are different things. They sell nachos at stations but you wouldn't mention that if a mexican restaurant closed down.
I wandered into one in sydney up near the cinemas in george street.
Not great. Had a hot chocolate, was like a sort of chocolate flavoured cement. Fucking awful.
If their coffee is similarly bad, then i' m wondering how 22 stores survived.
McCafes in my experience are far better.
Not great. Had a hot chocolate, was like a sort of chocolate flavoured cement. Fucking awful.
If their coffee is similarly bad, then i' m wondering how 22 stores survived.
McCafes in my experience are far better.
BruceLeeRoy
Banned
Because the average citizen knows what good coffee is and that Starbucks definitely doesn't fit the bill.
Some sublime coffee in Austrailia
"Flat White" Bless you guys for this.
Some sublime coffee in Austrailia
"Flat White" Bless you guys for this.
travisbickle
Member
Ok that's interesting. That tells me my contact in Korea is a Starbucks fangirl, because she is always in various branches of it
In my experience they were actually kind of rare in Japan too.
I would say you have to go out of your way to find a Starbucks, and considering there's coffee shops everywhere you'd have to be a fan to only be in Starbucks. And it's the only coffee shop I know where you pay for wifi!
I don't see them striving any time soon here in Brazil as well. Coffee needs to be pitch black (at least for me), since every coffee shop can make it I don't see why they would pay more for something you can get for less.
Besides, 'tea coffee' is bad as hell and coffee drinks get old very fast.
Besides, 'tea coffee' is bad as hell and coffee drinks get old very fast.
I kinda like it. Wish they turned it into a nice park instead of another fucking department store.
Anyway, I admire Starbucks balls at opening up on lygon st.
Vigilant Walrus
Member
In Hong Kong and China Starbucks was a lifesaver for me, because just like McDonalds, these two chains have a higher quality standards than anyone else when it comes to: Aircondition. Many of the local chains in China don't have aircon. So you're eating in an uncomfortable humid enviornment. It's really uncomfortable in the rain seasons. Starbucks and McD fixes that.
It also has a higher level of hygine standards. The toilets and bathrooms are leaps and bounds above the alternatives.
There was a local chain in Beijing I saw everywhere which was called Mr. Lee. It was so fucking disgusting. I'm biased since I am a foreigner, and I am sure the Chinese are used to the warm humid temperatures.
I think Starbucks is decent but I grow bored after a while with the food and coffee. Starbucks best things are these sugary drinks with some coffee in them. I hate going in there because I feel tempted to buy something crazy with syrup, vanilla cream or something else.
In China in the Beijing Northern Train station they had this Starbucks with a Green Bean flavor. It actually tasted really interesting and different. In China they eat a lot of bean-type smoothies, but this one was iced like a frappucino.
I think in Europe in general Starbucks is overpriced for a big black cup of filter coffee. Here in Denmark we have an alternative chain which feels like a copy-pasted version of Starbucks called Barasso. It feels like it's completely the same, but Danes prefer it for nationalistic reasons.
I think it's really cool the Australians are so passionate about coffee they wanna keep doing the local thing. Things like that make living in a city much more interesting than being in chain cafes and stores. Because it's the same everywhere.
It also has a higher level of hygine standards. The toilets and bathrooms are leaps and bounds above the alternatives.
There was a local chain in Beijing I saw everywhere which was called Mr. Lee. It was so fucking disgusting. I'm biased since I am a foreigner, and I am sure the Chinese are used to the warm humid temperatures.
I think Starbucks is decent but I grow bored after a while with the food and coffee. Starbucks best things are these sugary drinks with some coffee in them. I hate going in there because I feel tempted to buy something crazy with syrup, vanilla cream or something else.
In China in the Beijing Northern Train station they had this Starbucks with a Green Bean flavor. It actually tasted really interesting and different. In China they eat a lot of bean-type smoothies, but this one was iced like a frappucino.
I think in Europe in general Starbucks is overpriced for a big black cup of filter coffee. Here in Denmark we have an alternative chain which feels like a copy-pasted version of Starbucks called Barasso. It feels like it's completely the same, but Danes prefer it for nationalistic reasons.
I think it's really cool the Australians are so passionate about coffee they wanna keep doing the local thing. Things like that make living in a city much more interesting than being in chain cafes and stores. Because it's the same everywhere.
reptilescorpio
Member
Had Starbucks once in Melbourne for the novelty of it and wasn't impressed. I don't recall seeing a store since then.
Yeah even the bottleo serves takeaway coffee now. You can't throw a stone in our small rural town without hitting somewhere that grinds their own beans!
Also yeah, fuck Gloria Jeans. I was able to convince my wife and her friends to go elsewhere for coffee, which is nice.
Yeah even the bottleo serves takeaway coffee now. You can't throw a stone in our small rural town without hitting somewhere that grinds their own beans!
Also yeah, fuck Gloria Jeans. I was able to convince my wife and her friends to go elsewhere for coffee, which is nice.
Haha. Why not just operate Starbucks net cafes instead and let people bring their own coffee in from elsewhere?
Considering my neighbourhood in Melbourne houses one of the city's most notoriously scummy hotspots for heroin and drug activity, yet still has multiple independent cafes in the same area that absolutely destroy Starbucks and are consistently ranked as some of the city's best brews, it's no wonder they're struggling.
CyclopsRock
Member
I'm gonna get some heat for this, but Starbucks has done a lot for coffee drinking generally. I don't know about the rest of the world, but in the UK at least, they absolutely changed the scene. Whilst there are certainly better places to go and get a cup of coffee, those better places pretty much only exist because of the trail that Starbucks blazed. Before they showed up, getting espresso based coffee in the UK was a rarity that you really had to seek out. Now it's the default.
Footscray!
On a related not, Finland, the country with the heaviest consumption of coffee in the world per person, has a single StarBucks... at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport. Guess we just prefer to brew our own coffee without the need for extra charge.
For a strange reason Burger King has returned here after missing for aboot 30 years. For some mind-blowing reason unknown to me, is gaining ground a bit. The burgers are nothing to brag about but still people line up to eat there.
As a side question for australians: Why do you enjoy VB? Isn't it a bit bland?
For a strange reason Burger King has returned here after missing for aboot 30 years. For some mind-blowing reason unknown to me, is gaining ground a bit. The burgers are nothing to brag about but still people line up to eat there.
As a side question for australians: Why do you enjoy VB? Isn't it a bit bland?
We dont. Some do, but only because they've had too much.
Fun fact: VB stands for Visitor's Beer. ie its the cheap beer you keep on hand for unwanted visitors to offer when they turn up without warning. Keep the good beer for people you like.
MistakenMobius
Member
there is two: one on arrival outside of the airport zone, and one in the non-EU flight zone
I wasn't convinced by Hessburger. (BTW, what's the cheap local food you can get in Helsinki). The choice didn't really seemed enormous.
Antiwhippy
the holder of the trombone
I have never actually seen anyone drinking VB.
Starbucks is decent but their competitors are so much better here in Australia that they just can't win.
Starbucks even get muscled out of their Frappucino drinks. You can now get better Frappucino-style drinks from other cafes. And their Green Tea frap is just no match for the quality of the Green Tea frap from the nearby Japanese coffe/cake shops.
Starbucks even get muscled out of their Frappucino drinks. You can now get better Frappucino-style drinks from other cafes. And their Green Tea frap is just no match for the quality of the Green Tea frap from the nearby Japanese coffe/cake shops.
Dynamite Shikoku
Congratulations, you really deserve it!
You could throw a rock in Sydney and hit a cafe with better coffee than Starbucks
Starbucks is shit in Japan because the pricing makes zero sense. You can go to random conbini and get better coffee for like ¥100 instead of ¥350 from starbucks, or go to any number of better cafes and pay ¥400 to get a lot better drip coffee.
I didn't think it was so bad in Canada at least but ┐(´ー｀
┌
I didn't think it was so bad in Canada at least but ┐(´ー｀
┌StueyRowls
Member
The problem for Starbucks when they entered the market, especially in Melbourne, there was already a strong coffee culture established. The product Starbucks offered was more expensive and the was not appealing.
If they were able to create a cheaper and better espresso or latte than the competition they may have had a chance, but the market was already way too competitive.
If they were able to create a cheaper and better espresso or latte than the competition they may have had a chance, but the market was already way too competitive.
BurnOutBrighter
Banned
You think it's hard there, don't even think about invading New Zealand.
Mr. Pointy
Member
I had a vanilla flavoured something in a Starbucks in Singapore once, because it was near my hotel and I was killing time before the Zoo tour. And I hadn't been to a Starbucks before so I figured I'd cross that off my bucket list.
The coffee was... I can't even remember. I guess it was shit but I couldn't really taste anything of note underneath the other flavourings.
Why is Starbucks coffee shit? How do they roast their beans to make them turn out shit?
The coffee was... I can't even remember. I guess it was shit but I couldn't really taste anything of note underneath the other flavourings.
Why is Starbucks coffee shit? How do they roast their beans to make them turn out shit?
toastyToast
Member
We've got good coffee coming out of our ears in Melbourne. No one is going out of their way to drink at Starbucks
Gloria Jeans is still a large chain, at least for a small market like Australia - 460 stores. They just won the battle for market share.
Still plenty of places to get a decent coffee. Starbucks is probably seen as too American. Being seen as American isn't bad for fast food outlets, but not for coffee outlets.
Yep - that's exactly why it's the second most popular beer in Australia - because nobody drinks it.
It tastes like crap if drunk at any temperature other than just above freezing, but when it's extremely cold it goes down ok.
Still plenty of places to get a decent coffee. Starbucks is probably seen as too American. Being seen as American isn't bad for fast food outlets, but not for coffee outlets.
Yep - that's exactly why it's the second most popular beer in Australia - because nobody drinks it.
It tastes like crap if drunk at any temperature other than just above freezing, but when it's extremely cold it goes down ok.
zorlaczerohero
Banned
Gloria Jean's coffee is not much better in my opinion. They also supported the Australian Christian Lobby whilst they were opposing same sex marriage, and they have big links to Hillsong. As such I won't touch the place.
So many good independent coffee places even in the Suburbs around Sydney. I don't see why anyone would need a Starbucks.
Diprosalic
Banned
it's just way too expensive. i ain't paying $8 for a cup of mediocre coffee.
which is quite funny. One of GJs near me has openly gay and lesbian staff and management. Hillsong would die of fright if they visited.
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