Starbucks to Stop Brewing Decaf Coffee After Noon (to cut costs)

Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Starbucks Corp., the world’s largest coffee chain, will stop brewing decaffeinated coffee after noon as part of a drive to save $400 million by September.

The company, which last year started brewing fresh pots of coffee every 30 minutes, will have the caffeine- free version available upon request after 12 p.m., the Seattle-based company said today in an e-mailed statement. It takes about four minutes for a fresh cup to brew, spokeswoman Bridget Baker said.

“For many of our stores, the demand for decaf is greatly reduced in the afternoon,” the company said in the statement. “With our current standard of continually brewing decaf after 12 p.m. regardless of demand, we have seen a high amount of waste.”

The company informed baristas of the change yesterday. Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz is accelerating a cost-cutting plan to save $400 million by September from labor and product expenses. The plan includes brewing smaller pots of coffee so that less is wasted if it’s not purchased within the 30-minute time limit.

Starbucks rose 15 cents to $9.15 at 4 p.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. It has lost 53 percent in the past 12 months.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=aOvUsHxFSAeM

People want DECAF after work. CAFFEINE needs to be cut off at 12:00pm.

I drink decaf in the afternoon.

and they wonder why they're going under?

:hi: Hawkeye

It may be that people who drink decaf in the morning are much less likely to drink coffee in the afternoon.

. . .in sales. I would think these coffee joints would sell way less coffee of any type after noon.

The pick and go crowd in the morning seems like it should be the busiest part of the day.

I'd wonder if they made sure that they did a Shapiro-Wilks examination of the sales of all types of coffee depending upon time of day.

But, their stock price did go up nearly 2%, so they've got somebody convinced.
GAC

There goes my decaf for the afternoon drive time. Maybe a cup of tea instead?

...just that they wouldn't keep a pot constantly brewed. If so, you could take the extra five minutes to walk in instead of hitting the drive-thru (thereby saving gasoline) and get the freshest cup of coffee in the place (because it will have been brewed just for you) and stretch your legs all at the same time.

:silly:

.

:hi:

:)

!!!!!11

good too see you're still around.

I love coffee!!!

I sleep fine too!

fake caffeine

fake beer

**YEECH**

... the funky color and aroma it gives my pee.

But after about 3 pm, high octane coffee will definitely keep me awake at night.

:shrug:

but I drink coffee all day long.

:donut:

or I'm likely to be wide awake way past bedtime.

What was funny was that my tolerance for caffeine in the afternoon and evening seemed to change overnight. I found myself going to bed and tossing and turning for hours, maybe all night. couldn't figure it out. I was wide awake, eyes wide open, wondering what the problem was. Finally figured out that it was caffeine.

For many, many years I'd been able to drink coffee at any time of the day or night without problems sleeping.

I have been known at times to drink coffee like a fish. Mostly just a couple or three cups a day, though. I am medicated for BP, but I've hit some of my best BP readings after chugging a 20-oz cuppa. I must be immune. :D

And I don't drink decaf.

Todd in Cheesecurdistan

the decaf was brewed and sat... and sat... and sat... and turned to sludge.

and one old lady would demand decaf at 10:00 pm, stating that she'd better see you pouring out of the one with the ORANGE HANDLE or she'd be up all night and come back to complain.

Hardly anyone drinks decaf. I don't blame them. It'll save water, too.

Decaf has *never* been cost-effective, I'm pretty sure.

and the morning person said that she had discovered the overnight person, who was from India, using the orange pot to make regular coffee. She said "Hey, that's for decaf," and he turned around and said "Decaf? What is that?"

Must have been lots of insomniacs wondering what happened.

Someone else already said it, but that's ass-backwards. I want high-octane caffeine in the morning, but I can't touch it after 3 PM. My local Barnes & Noble has a Starbucks, and my wife and I often get together with friends there at night, and I always go for decaf.

not to mention their highly bitter coffee...

Overroasted to the point of being burnt, yes.

Stale to the point of being flat and watered down, yes.

But yes, there's plenty of reasons to avoid *$.

:hi::loveya:

I was on HBO's "Rome" discussion board :)

Did you hear that they are talking about bringing it to the big screen???

I'm EXCITED :)

Or film some kind of adaptation? That would be cool...

I kind of hope it happens. I only saw about four episodes of the first season and nothing of the second before giving up on the series. But it would be cool to see it revived. If only to know that other people are interested in this historical time period.

by the end of the 2nd series. They'd more or less ruined any chance of doing a storyline with Livia, Julia and the rest of Augustus' family (ie what 'I, Claudius' covered, if you've read or seen that), by making up the marriages of Octavian/Augustus pretty much at random. And a jump ahead to 30AD or so would mean basically starting with a complete new set of characters (and maybe that's their point, I suppose, if the actors have dispersed). A shame - although Polly Walker's character was completely ahistorical, she had such fun playing the scheming villainess that it was a joy to watch.

However, I think that I am not in the majority. Most of the time I am not in a hurry so I could wait the 4 minutes for the decaf to brew. There are other non coffee based beverages as well.

It might cost just a bit more than a brewed decaf, but the quality is higher.

for those of you who drink Starbucks decaf in the afternoon, the article clearly states that they will still serve it on demand and for some who see it as a ass-backward decision, trust me, Starbucks has the numbers. They know how much is sold and they know how much is poured down the drain. If it was cost-effective to continue throwing it down the drain, they would.

I only drink decaf, and I'd rather wait 4 minutes for a fresh cup than have one from a pot that has sat for hours.

:donut:

support your local, hopefully fairtrading, coffee purveyor. or make it at home. starbucks is so worthy of boycott.

Seriously I can count at LEAST 10 of those fuckin' stores in my 20 minute commute to work.

And laying off 6,000. Cutting the decaf is the least of their problems.

The bleeding continues...

...there would obviously be a lot of happy people and a lot of unhappy people. I wonder which side there would be more of?