A tempest in a coffee pot Starbucks

There's always a coffee war brewing somewhere. The latest one has small, neighbourhood espresso shops kicking grinds in the face of Starbucks, the grande operator of the indie coffee business.

Apparently, independent designer coffee shops – 25 new ones opened in Toronto this year – are stealing coffee drinkers from Starbucks faster than you can say "fratta-latte," so the Seattle-based corporation is fighting back. And it's using the independents' playbook as its guide.

Earlier this year, Starbucks opened up a shop in the Capitol Hill neighbourhood of Seattle. However, the new Starbucks wasn't called Starbucks. The sign outside read: "15th Avenue Coffee and Tea" and in much smaller letters below were the words: "Inspired by Starbucks."

Now it appears more "Inspired by Starbucks" shops may pop up in neighbourhoods across the United States – not Canada, for the time being, though, according to Starbucks – as the coffee giant hopes to perk up enthusiasm among what could well be described as the anti-Starbucks crowd.

According to independent shop owner Stuart Ross, Starbucks has no one to blame but itself for the competition. 

Without the corporate coffee giant, the owner of Bull Dog Coffee at Granby and Church streets says a majority of coffee drinkers would likely never have been turned on to espresso-based drinks in the first place. 

"They (Starbucks) are the ones who told us, `Now is the time to drink Americanos, macchiatos,'" Ross says. 

"What they're good at is marketing, which paved the road for places like mine."

Starbucks Coffee Canada calls the company's new cafés "a celebration of each community's personality and culture," and "learning labs for us to incubate ideas and evaluate various concepts."

Starbucks says the new locations have been received with community enthusiasm, but a number of Seattle's independent café owners weren't so sanguine.

A week before the opening of 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea, the Seattle Times reported that owners of at least two independent shops, Seattle Coffee Works and Victrola Coffee Roasters, spotted Starbucks' employees on research trips lingering in their stores. 

"They spent the last 12 months in our store up on 15th (Ave.) with these obnoxious folders that said, `Observation' written on them," said one independent owner.

From: Thestar.com