Second Cup’s new owner has a vision: be the best at niceness (Globe and Mail, 15 Jun 2006, Page B3)

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Second Cup’s new owner has a vision: be the best at niceness
BY ANDY HOFFMAN FOOD AND BEVERAGE REPORTER
Globe and Mail
15 Jun 2006

As far as the new owner of Second Cup Ltd. is concerned, the more Canadian the specialty coffee chain becomes, the better. Gabriel Tsampalieros’ vision for success in the fight with global coffee behemoth Starbucks Corp. for the high-end java... read more...

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Starbucks faces suit over OT (San Francisco Chronicle, 27 Jun 2006, Page D1)

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Starbucks faces suit over OT
By Henry K. Lee Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle
27 Jun 2006

A former Starbucks manager has filed a federal lawsuit against the coffee company, alleging supervisors weren’t paid overtime and were forced to work through meal breaks.

Steve White, who had worked at Starbucks shops in Concord and Walnut Creek, said the company owes him and other managers unpaid wages plus interest and compensation for working “off the clock” and missing meal and rest periods.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, is seeking class-action status for thousands of managers who worked at California Starbucks stores over the past four years.

The suit follows litigation — now settled — that accused the Seattle company of wrongly classifying its managers as being exempt from overtime. As a result of that lawsuit, Starbucks’ managers are paid an hourly wage, White’s attorney, Scott Edward Cole of Oakland, said Monday.

“By bringing this action, we hope to send a strong message to Starbucks and other companies like it that gimmicks and end runs around California’s wage laws — in any shape or form — won’t be tolerated.”

In a statement Monday, Starbucks said it was reviewing the complaint and would respond “in a timely manner.” “Starbucks believes that it is has complied with... read more...

A Class War Over a Cup Of Coffee (Jerusalem Post, 25 Jun 2006, Page 18)

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A Class War Over a Cup Of Coffee
By JULIE BOSMAN
Jerusalem Post
25 Jun 2006

THREE big restaurant chains are revving up efforts to take on Starbucks, which has struck it rich by serving expensive coffee to people looking for a little bit of daily luxury.

But the chains — Dunkin’ Donuts, McDonald’s and Burger King — are not going after the Starbucks coffee snob; they’re going after the average Joe.

Burger King customers buying the new BK Joe coffee “don’t want it to be complicated, like a chai half-decaf whatever,” said Denny Marie Post, the senior vice president and “chief concept officer’’ for Burger King, a unit of Texas Pacific. “Our customer doesn’t have that kind of money, frankly, and doesn’t have that kind of profile. They just want it to be straightforward. This is not frou-frou coffee.”

They may not want the snob appeal of Starbucks, but the challengers certainly want a bigger slice of the booming $8.4 billion retail coffee market. And that is just the amount sold in coffee shops. Starbucks accounted for $6.1 billion of the total in 2005, up from $3.7 billion in 2003.

Since McDonald’s began promoting its premium coffee several months ago, the company says, its coffee sales have increased at a double-digit rate. Burger King said sales of BK Joe, which comes ... read more...