Vancouver fans of coffee-flavoured hot milk will find in the book entitled Starbucked , Taylor Clark story on how Starbucks spread across the world like some kind wood-panelled baby boomer friendly virus.

The book reveals interesting anecdotes such as the one of the woman ordering “decaf single grande extra vanilla 2 percent extra caramel 185-degree with whipped cream caramel macchiato.” According to the Starbucks Gossip Web site, a Seattle woman orders this drink every day at the height of the morning rush.

The Guardian book reviewer Steven Pooles says:

“Critics ascribe to it a policy of strangling independents by opening about 50 new coffeeshops all around them; but it did at least try this trick out on itself first, building its second outlet, in 1991, 15 yards away from the first one. Clark reports interestingly, too, on the cult-like company ethos, flowing downwards from its founder, Howard Schultz. In between insisting that Starbucks is all about “community” and “humanity”, Schultz likes to claim that he served the first ever latte in America, which might be news to generations of Italian-American cafe owners before him.” [The Guardian]

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 Last week, Starbucks lost up to $4 million in sales when all U.S. 7,100 Starbucks closed simultaneously for three hours. They did so, chief executive  officer Howard Schultz said, in order to retrain their near minimum wage “baristas”. 
 
The problem at Starbucks has never been its coffee but it’s the pseudo-european stale sandwiches and pastries. Last weekend Tabatha Southey said in her Globe and Mail column: 

“Closing every store for three hours isn’t going to fix the problem. It will only make the sandwiches three hours older – and although three hours is mere seconds in Starbucks Sandwich years, it certainly won help the situation. Also for the records, sir, and I can be quoted on this, a combination of ancient and olive does not necessarily something European make.” [The Globe and Mail]  

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