uh. John. pardon?
I think the main obstacle to Starbucks here in NZ and Oz was, as I said in first post - there were already a lot of excellent cafes and plenty of local brewers of coffee.
Starbucks was seen really as another McDonalds - and its product was nothing like what we already had. I don't deny that in some places in the US and possibly Europe/Asia it provided OK coffee to places that didn't have coffee tradition or culture.
I don't mean to be a coffee snob - I just think the starbucks coffee there is weak and flavourless. I also know that at times real coffee places - make shit coffee because of the way staff a. look after the beans, and b. actually make the brew.
They didn't do their research very well before entering the NZ and Oz markets. A uniquely antipodean coffee drink here is the
"Flat White".
Starbucks didn't even bother to offer that when started up. Like Macs - it just turns up with product and tells you to enjoy.
They do that whole "Tall", Grande, Venti thing as well - which is bullshit. Bullshit because it's all about marketing and buy-in - as opposed to actually caring about the product you make.
Scary Squirrel says it best.
Mildly NSFW.
And in keeping with John's sense of humor I think.