I have always found Starbucks to over-roast their coffee to my liking but throughout the US it is the only decent coffee to be found (not counting Caribou). However this week Time Magazine has laid into Starbucks over the environment that they have created:

It’s not the atmosphere, Howard. It’s your incompetence. Or at least that of the executives who work for you at your way too laid-back HQ. You’re talking atmosphere when you should be talking about front-end operations. Instead, in my Starbucks we have the morning chaos, the lines stretching all the way to the ludicrously heavy doors, a drill duplicated at the coffee hour of 4 p.m., where they’ve mastered the art of have exactly one less person on hand than needed. Then again, I can’t blame the local manager for this parsimony, since she hardly has any room for more people. The place is too cluttered up with displays of coffeemakers, mugs, CDs, books and that other crap you can’t sell.

 Starbucks Wake up and smell the coffee - Time Magazine

I tend to agree that they fill their stores up with crap at all the holidays where I would prefer they provide more space for tables and chairs as well as improving the Tmobile wireless in many stores.

The answer for starbucks is getting back to basics of service and good coffee….

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