Is there no rest for the all consuming wickedness of the monster brewer Starbucks? Will we all be forced to consumed their burned bean brews!!? damn, it looks like it :(
ps...i actually liked torrefazione...
"Reuters UPDATE - Starbucks to acquire Seattle Coffee Co. Wednesday April 16, 9:46 am ET
NEW YORK, April 16 (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp., the world's largest coffee shop chain, on Wednesday said it has agreed to acquire rival Seattle Coffee Co.'s North American operations for about $72 million in cash, expanding its line of premium coffee offerings.
The transaction calls for Starbucks, based in Seattle, to acquire Seattle Coffee's U.S. and Canadian units from parent company AFC Enterprises Inc. (NasdaqNM:AFCE - News), which owns a variety of restaurant chains, including Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits and Cinnabon.
A Starbucks spokeswoman said the plan for now is to keep the company's Seattle Best Coffee and Torrefazione Italia Coffee brands and retail chains intact.
"It's business as usual for us," said Audrey Lincoff, a Starbucks spokeswoman. "We will continue to operate those stores and those brands."
The transaction is expected to decrease Starbucks' fiscal 2003 earnings by roughly 1 cent a share, which the company said it now expects will close at between 66 cents and 67 cents per share. It said the deal will add to earnings by an unspecified amount beginning in fiscal 2004.
Starbucks shares fell 54 cents, or 2 percent, to $26.20 shortly after the opening bell on the Nasdaq market Wednesday while AFC climbed 46 cents, or 3.1 percent, to $15.183.
AFC said in a statement the transaction will allow it to refocus on its core restaurant, bakery and cafe franchises. The company intends to use proceeds from the transaction to pay down debt and repurchase its stock.
Seattle Coffee operates 51 company-owned Seattle's Best Coffee and 21 Torrefazione cafes in North America. Starbucks will also acquire 78 franchised Seattle's Best retail outlets.
AFC will retain control of 93 Seattle's Best Coffee franchised cafes in eight countries.
The companies aim to close the transaction within 90 days. "
Even post-acquisition by Seattle's Best.... I still think Torrefazione serves up a better espresso in their shops than SBS or Starbucks do. I can only hope that they really leave things the way they are at Seattle's Best and Torrefazione. SBC has finally appeared in a number of airports that I pas through regularly and despite their shortcomings they serve a better cuppa joe than the 'bucks.
Even post-acquisition by Seattle's Best.... I still think Torrefazione serves up a better espresso in their shops than SBS or Starbucks do. ...SBC has finally appeared in a number of airports that I pas through regularly and despite their shortcomings they serve a better cuppa joe than the 'bucks.
I agree. Even before I was a coffeegeek, I would always choose SBC over Starbucks, which was pretty easy to do in the Seattle area.
Torrefazione always was horribly prepared because they sold it wholesale to small shops with poor quality control. However, I did have a relatively good shot at their store in Pioneer Square recently.
I'll always choose other brands than these two nowdays though.
My only experience with Torrefazione was at their Financial District where I had an excellent short latte on my first visit. On a subsequent visit several months later it was so-so but I've used their Perugia blend at home (before getting into home roasting) and made very good shots. Consistency really is the big bugaboo for most of these places and the larger the chains get the worse it is. I travel regularly and end up getting a triple shot 12 oz latte or quad shot 16 oz at Starbucks by default when I need a fix. I fervently wish someone could blow them out of the water with multiple locations and consistent quality but I don't see it happening. As a person who travels regularly, I end up in Starbucks waaaaay more often than I should but through no fault of my own (other thasn wanting a caffeine fix).
Once again the coffee giant swallows the smaller guy. And will people change their view of Starbucks even more? McCoffee. Hey even though I am not a fan of the Evil empire, I at least give them the fact that they have educated millions on coffee. But please try to support he little guy, once you find that good one.
Shady Senior Member Joined: 14 May 2005 Posts: 1 Location: Kent, Washington Expertise: I live coffee
Posted Sat May 14, 2005, 9:07pm Subject: Re: Buckys Buys Seattles Best (and torrefazione)!
Starbucks sucks. Plain and simple. Starbucks is a perfect example of corporate america, mass production, and loss of quality. Every single time I've gone to a Starbucks, and purchased a drip coffee, I've been disappointed. The coffee tasted burnt, and lacked the bold, smooth flavor of other drip coffees that smaller, more personal, quality, and customer-service driven roasters deliver. Thomas Hammer Coffee (based out of Spokane, Washington) is great coffee, and I've never had better coffee. The coffee had a great taste, the barista's were real people. It's too bad that Starbucks bought SBC, hopefully the quality of SBC doesn't go downhill as well.
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