Starbucks, dear Starbucks...

Well, this is completely off topic, other than the fact that I hit the Starbucks line bright and early every morning before I headed to the NICU two years ago…for COFFEE. Being the coffee aficionado that I am, I had to comment. Starbucks has now introduced a line of “SMOOTHIES!”

Um…what? They have jumped right on the “blender bandwagon” as the article stated, introducing their nourishing breakfast option. Again, what? I go to Starbucks for coffee…nothing else…coffee. I go to a Juice Stop for a fruit smoothie. Who really walks into a Starbucks store for something other than coffee? I do realize that McDonalds, Taco Bell and even Dunkin’ Donuts now offer a smoothie of sorts, but why the heck did Starbucks have to do it too? Stick to the basics, Starbucks. They are good at coffee. Darn market demands anyway. Darn economy; darn it that they had to go and do this. I am a big brand strategy person and to me this is a blatant deviation from their beloved strategy. They are also offering a multitude of discounts and coupons, and in the past, this would be loathed by the brand. Fine though. I’ll take a coupon for my special order: a triple latté with a little extra foam, but not a full blown cappuccino. The whole thing though makes me want to go local and simply drink a less than fantastic cup of coffee. Whatever. Like I said, OFF TOPIC!