• Priciest Starbucks drink ever? Man orders $47.30 'Quadriginoctuple Frap'

    By Scott Stump, TODAY contributor

    Armed with a 52-ounce coffee mug, a Washington state man headed to his local Starbucks to make history. 

    Forty-eight shots of espresso, some protein powder, two bananas, a few caramel drizzle Frappuccino chips, some vanilla bean and a little soy later, Beau Chevassus ordered what may be the most expensive Starbucks drink ever on Feb. 9. He dubbed the $47.30 monstrosity the "Quadriginoctuple Frap."

    YouTube

    Starbucks employees in Enumclaw, Wash., were eager to prepare a potentially record-setting drink, Beau Chevassus said.

    While the drink totaled nearly $50, he didn't actually pay for it. Starbucks gave it to him for free because it was his 27th birthday. He initially ordered 40 shots of espresso, but the baristas bumped him up to 48 as they got into the record-setting spirit. Chevassus posted his experience from the Starbucks in Enumclaw, Wash., just outside the company's home base in Seattle, on YouTube, where it has more than 140,000 views.

    Related: Are you a struggling single parent?

    Starbucks did not comment on whether Chevassus' order is a record. But he has apparently dwarfed what is believed to be the previous record, more than doubling the $23.60 concoction purchased a year ago this month by Logan Warren of Geek on Call. That drink featured "one Java Chip Frappuccino in a Trenta cup, 16 shots of espresso, a shot of soy milk, caramel flavoring, banana puree, strawberry puree, vanilla beans, matcha powder, protein powder, and a drizzle of caramel and mocha.'' 

    YouTube

    Beau Chevassus took several days to consume the prodigious Starbucks beverage.

    "I did it for fun, for a bit of entertainment and to see if it is at all possible," Chevassus told the New York Daily News. "I was surprised how cool the Starbucks employees were. They seemed almost more interested in trying to set the record than I was."

    Chevassus only took a few sips from the caffeine lake while in the store and then drank about half of it over the next few days. 

    YouTube

    Washington state man Beau Chevassus orders what is believed to be the most expensive Starbucks drink ever, a $47.30 monstrosity that includes 48 shots of espresso.

     

    Read more: 

    Pamela Anderson's Malibu home hits the market

    Marissa Mayer: Being mom and CEO 'takes a lot of focus'

    Job seekers ask: Where has all the courtesy gone?

    Social media profiles replacing resumes in the job hunt

     

     

  • Is Dr. McDreamy a coffee mogul? Not quite yet

    TV doctor and actor, Patrick Dempsey, has apparently beat out Starbucks to buy Seattle-based Tully's Coffee, a bid Dempsey says will retain the company's jobs. Cnbc's Jane Wells reports.

    By Martha C. White

    Too much coffee can make anybody a little giddy.

    Patrick Dempsey, best known as Dr. Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd on medical drama "Grey's Anatomy," sent out a celebratory Tweet late last night after his investment group made the highest single bid for Tully’s Coffee in a Seattle bankruptcy auction. “We met the green monster, looked her in the eye, and...SHE BLINKED! We got it! Thank you Seattle!” he wrote.

    The “green monster” is Starbucks, and either it or the bankruptcy judge who still has to approve the deal at a hearing next week could throw a wrench into Dempsey’s white knighthood.

    The investment group of which Dempsey is a member, Global Baristas LLC, beat out the other six bidders, including the coffee giant, with an offer of $9.15 million for the 47-store chain. In a statement, Scott Pearson, CEO and president of Tully’s parent company TC Global, Inc., called the auction outcome “a big win for Seattle.”

    Tully’s, which filed for bankruptcy in October and closed 19 stores, has more than 500 employees. Dempsey said preserving those jobs was a top priority. “I’m thrilled that we won and I’m even more excited about saving Tully’s Coffee and its hundreds of jobs,” he said in a statement. “I am honored to have the privilege to own Tully’s.”

    But his grand plans and talk of ownership are a little premature. “On its face, Dempsey won because he outbid everybody else, but they haven’t won yet,” said Anthony Michael Sabino, a bankruptcy attorney who specializes in corporate restructuring.

    Global Baristas still has to get through a hearing on Jan. 11 and have a bankruptcy judge verify that its bid is the highest and best. “The reasonable expectation is very high that the Dempsey group will be the new owner of Tully’s, but it’s not an absolute certainty yet,” Sabino said.

    One roadblock could be Starbucks. “We’ve made an offer for 25 locations and another bidder made an offer for all of the remaining assets and the combined amount of our bids is $10.56 million,” said spokesman Zack Hutson, who added that even though the auction is over, the judge hasn’t made her decision yet. 

    With a bid nearly $1.5 million higher than Global Baristas, Starbucks or the unnamed second bidder could challenge the results of the auction in next week's hearing. "We're evaluating our options," Hutson said.

    Sabino said price isn’t everything in bankruptcy sales, though. “The quality of the bid can sometimes overcome higher [ ones],” Sabino said. The bankruptcy court has to weigh a variety of factors besides the dollar amount, such as how much of an offer is cash or assumption of debt versus equity, how quickly the deal is likely to close, whether or not there is likely to be any regulatory review that could delay the sale and which buyer’s plan for the company’s future will benefit stakeholders the most.

    A Global Baristas spokesperson said via email it was confident it would prevail at the hearing “because of the loss of jobs and breakup of company if others were chosen.”

    Hutson countered by saying Starbucks also would keep jobs. “If our bid is accepted along with the companion bid, we intend to invite Tully’s employees at the locations we acquire to apply for positions with us,” he said, adding that current Tully’s employees would get preference as long as they met Starbucks’ job requirements.

    Despite his onscreen ability to resuscitate the ailing, Dempsey doesn’t have a background in corporate turnarounds, and he began making plans to buy Tully’s only about a week before Christmas. He seemed eager to get involved, sending out Tweets throughout the day on Friday chronicling his visits to different Tully’s shops. “Heading to Clyde Hill Tully's now to meet employees and our customers. Very exciting,” he wrote.

    “I will be making Seattle my home away from home and spending a significant amount of time in the community,” he pledged.

  • Starbucks rolling out $1 reusable plastic cups

    Starbucks

    Refill, anyone? Starbucks is now selling a $1 reusable plastic cup.

    By Martha C. White

    Starbucks’ iconic white cup is a great marketing tool in customers’ hands, but not so great when it’s taking up space in a landfill.

    The Seattle coffee giant is trying for the best of both worlds with the rollout of a $1 reusable plastic cup that resembles the paper one but can be brought back to the store for refills. Whether or not fans will be as devoted to the company’s environmental goals as they are to its coffee remains to be seen.

    “I think it’s a good first step because it does raise awareness,” said Julie Urlaub, founder and managing partner of environmental consulting firm Taiga Company. “This is a campaign that’s in alignment with the company’s values and their sustainability plan.”

    Changing consumer behavior can be a daunting task, though. Starbucks acknowledged that its 2008 goal to have 25 percent of its beverages served in reusable cups by 2015 had stalled, even with the incentive of a 10-cent discount; three years into the initiative, just under 2 percent of drinks were served in reusable mugs. The company modified its goal to a more modest 5 percent. It also began test-marketing what it calls a “high quality, low cost” reusable plastic cup that can hold tall or grande size drinks at 600 Pacific Northwest-area stores in October.

    Starbucks now is introducing the cups to all of its U.S. and Canadian company-owned stores and some licensed coffee shops.

    The company's challenge in modifying consumer behavior is twofold: People have to actually buy the reusable cups, then they have to remember to bring them back to the stores. “Ironically, if they sell a large number of travel mugs that end up not being used, they may worsen their environmental footprint in the long run,” said Catherine L. Kling, economics professor at Iowa State University, via email.

    The low price of the cups is a factor Starbucks is playing up, pointing out that the cup pays for itself after only 10 drinks, but offering a dime off the price of a drink might not be enough of an incentive to kick the paper-cup habit, experts say.

    Money certainly can motivate people to adopt environmentally friendly practices. Jinhua Zhao, a professor and director of the Environmental Science and Policy Program at Michigan State University, said the number of aluminum cans recycled can be up to 20 percentage points higher in states with bigger per-can refunds.  

    “In this sense, the 10 cent discount Starbucks offers seems a bit low if the purpose is to get consumers who have purchased reusable cups to actually use them,” he said via email.

    Kling points out, however, that offering a bigger discount would come at the expense of the company’s profit margin. “My guess is that they are targeting people who purchase regular type coffee — whose prices are lower so the discount will be a higher percent,” she said. “Starbucks is presumably motivated to do this largely for environmental concerns and the associated goodwill it can bring their company. But they have to consider profitability, as well.”

    Zhao suggested that the company could sell the reusable cups in tandem with charging for disposable cups, imitating programs designed to cut down on the use of plastic shopping bags. But Starbucks customers — already paying a premium price for their caffeine fix — might resent a tacked-on cup fee.

    It wouldn’t be surprising if Starbucks evolves the initiative as time goes on, Urlaub said, especially since it already has scaled down its original goal for cup reuse. “There are stumbling blocks, there are challenges that surface,” she said. “There is a lot of failure, but in that failure, there’s a lot of learning.” It’s more important that Starbucks promote the reusable cups as just one facet of a more holistic approach to eco-friendliness, she said, which the company is doing by also trying to increase how many of its paper cups are recycled. 

    If it succeeds in getting people to remember to grab those cups on the way out the door for their morning commute, Zhao said the initiative could have a ripple effect. “Having an influential company such as Starbucks taking this action will help set examples for other companies to follow,” he said.

    More money news:

    Follow TODAY Money on Twitter and Facebook

     

  • Starbucks unveils $450 metal gift cards

    Courtesy Starbucks

    By Ben Popken, TODAY contributor

    Starbucks's $450 gift card made of metal will go on sale this Friday at noon eastern. If you notice your stocking drooping a bit more than usual on its hook this year, perhaps it's holding one of these 20 gram cards made of etched stainless steel and available in a limited run of 5,000 through the luxury shopping site Gilt.com. Existing Starbucks cardholders will get first dibs at noon ET on Thursday.

    The card is loaded with $400 worth of coffee purchasing value. It costs more than $50 to make each one, Starbucks senior manager of global brand PR Linda Mills told TODAY. The cards also grant the bearer instant Starbucks Rewards™ Gold Level, which lets them earn free food and drink after making 12 purchases. Usually a card holder would have to make 30 purchases in 12 months to gain that status.

    The gift card offering comes on the heels of a $7 large "Costa Rica Finca Palmilera" coffee that Starbucks is selling in only 48 stores, nearly all in Seattle and Portland. Large regular brews normally go for $2.20.

    While the market play of a luxe offering in a recessionary time can seem counterintuitive, or snobbish, it might actually be pretty smart. Usually in hard times, it's the sale of cheap creature comforts and vices that survive, like candy, cigarettes, and yes, coffee, along with the super-high end markets.

    If you buy your daily $1.50 tall drip, you will be set for 266 days.

    I also harbor a serious love for good design and like the idea of turning the humble gift card, a flimsy mechanism of semi-virtual money, into a coveted object of substance. Having such a hefty reminder in your wallet could also be a way to make sure this card, unlike most gift cards that die in desk drawers and the bottom recesses of purses, actually gets used.

    Related story:

     

    

  • At $7 a cup, this Starbucks joe is black gold

    Courtesy Starbucks

    A view of the Starbucks store at Brewery Blocks in Portland, Oregon, one of the 46 locations where you can sip the $7 Costa Rica Finca Palmilera coffee.

     

    By Ben Popken, TODAY contributor

    Fancy a $7 cup of Starbucks? 

    In this day of skyrocketing gas, grain and food prices, only a select few do.

    But that's the price for a special rare brew Starbucks is serving up in just a few locations.

    If you want to sip this black elixir, you'll have to ask for "Costa Rica Finca Palmilera," and fork over $40 for a half-pound. Also, you'll need to live in Seattle or Portland.

    Only 48 stores in the country have the beans, and 46 of them are in one of these two cities.

    It's not just any Starbucks there that have them, either. Only locations boasting the $11,000 "Clover" coffee machine are worthy to brew the beans. The coffee doesn't have to be made in the Clover, though. It's also available as a pour-over.

    Jimmy Kimmel mocks the new $7-a-cup premium coffee at Starbucks with a blind taste test where he provides two identical cups of regular coffee and records tasters' "impressed" reactions.

    Starbucks said Wednesday there's a very good reason for the premium price on this "exotic" blend from a rare "Geisha varietal" line, which comes from an ancient line of plants that traces its lineage back to Ethiopia.

    They didn't make very much of it. 

    It's simple supply and demand, created for demanding coffee fans in two of the nation's most coffee-centric cities. 

    The coffee "only grows at extremely high altitudes, and because of the tree’s low yield allows for more of the soil's nutrients to reach each cherry, intensifying the coffee's vibrant flavors," said the Starbucks spokesperson. "A trained nose and palate might pick up delicate floral aromas, flavors of white peach and pineapple, and a juicy herbal complexity in this coffee."

     In addition, all the beans came from just 3 hectares out of a single 90 hectare estate, yielding a tiny amount, a mere 3,800 pounds.

    Starbucks basic tall Blonde coffee, produced in bulk, sells for $1.50 a cup.

    "Costa Rica Finca Palmilera" is part of the Starbucks "Reserve" line of coffees, previously known as their "Black Apron" line, where the company hunts down rare and flavorful beans in origin countries and makes them available at just a few stores for a brief period of time. 

    "The Starbucks Reserve line of coffees allows us to offer our customers the opportunity to try rare, unique, exquisite coffees that they might not otherwise have the opportunity to experience," said Starbucks. That is, as long as they are ready to pay a higher price.

    For instance, the Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee, when available, goes for $4.50 for a tall brewed cup. Other brews in the Reserve line go for $2.95-$6.00 for a tall cup.

    That said, even for a Reserve cup, "It is the highest price we've ever had," a Starbucks spokesperson told TODAY. "It raises the bar."

  • Starbucks expanding effort to help businesses create jobs

    Reuters

    The Create Jobs for USA program was launched last October, soon after Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz publicly scolded politicians on both sides of the aisle for not doing more to deal with the country's fiscal woes.

    By Allison Linn, NBC News

    Starbucks is expanding an unusual effort to create jobs through small business loans, which the company launched last fall after chief executive Howard Schultz lambasted politicians for not doing more to fix the economy.

    So far the Create Jobs for USA program has raised about $11.5 million, including about $2.8 million from customers who bought brightly colored wristbands along with their lattes or donated to the program online.

    Starbucks says its analysis shows the money raised so far could create or retain about 4,000 jobs.

    While that is just a tiny fraction of the 12.7 million people who are unemployed and looking for work, Starbucks spokesman Jim Olson said the coffee giant has received mostly positive feedback from customers and that the program will continue indefinitely.

    The program was launched in November, soon after Schultz publicly scolded politicians on both sides of the aisle for not doing more to deal with the country’s economic woes. Schultz also called on Americans to stop donating to politicians and asked business leaders to step up hiring to boost economic growth.

    Despite billions of dollars in economic stimulus and record-low interest rates, the nation's unemployment rate remains painfully high at 8.2 percent.

    Starbucks said Tuesday it plans to keep the focus on jobs by marketing a temporary line of mugs and other items to benefit the Create Jobs effort. It also announced that $1 million of the money raised so far had come from financial giant Citi and the bank’s foundation.

     

     


    About $5 million in funding has come from the Starbucks Foundation, and the company also is covering the program’s administrative costs. The rest of the money has come from other business partners.

    Experts say the program has likely helped small businesses and organizations in underserved communities get financing they might not have otherwise received. But they say it’s very tough to say how many jobs are created by such grass-roots efforts.

    “Yeah, sure, there’s job (creation), but it’s really about making the community healthy,” said Julia Sass Rubin, an associate professor at Rutgers University’s Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy and an expert on this type of lending.

    The program works like this: When a customer buys a wristband or makes a donation, the money goes to the nonprofit Opportunity Finance Network. That organization passes the money on to community development financial institutions that in turn use the money toward loans in underserved areas to groups that might not qualify for a traditional bank loan.

    Mark Pinksy, chief executive of Opportunity Finance Network, said lenders are required to use the donations to make loans and not for overhead costs. Starbucks said the $11.5 million in donations it has received so far can be leveraged to create up to $80 million in lending. Beneficiaries include a charter school, a community development corporation and a gelato store.

    Pinsky said member institutions in the Opportunity Finance Network did more than $2 billion in total lending in 2010, the most recent data available.

    The effort has attracted the attention of other big companies, such as Citi, the nation's No. 3 bank. Bob Annibale, global director of community development and microfinance for Citi, said the bank has long supported these financial institutions in other ways but that the Starbucks-founded program appealed in part because it is increasing awareness about the small loans.

    Rubin, the professor, said there’s been more demand for such loans in part because big banks have been less willing to loan money to small businesses and organizations since the financial crisis that began in September 2008. Annibale said Citi also has tried to address the issue directly by increasing lending to small businesses. In 2011, he said, the company loaned about $7 billion to small businesses, up from $4.5 billion in 2009.

    Citi also has cut tens of thousands of jobs in recent years, and in December announced plans to cut another 4,500 jobs. Annibale said employment is down partly because the company sold off some of its business.

    Starbucks' latest effort will include the temporary “Indivisible” line of coffee beans, cups and mugs. The mugs are being made by a small factory in Ohio that received the type of small business loan the program supports, Olson said.

    Starbucks itself has been adding jobs. The company employed 149,000 people as of October 2011, including 112,000 in the United States. That’s up from 137,000 as of October 2010, including 107,000 in the United States, according to the company’s annual reports.

    Still, Starbucks employs fewer people than its 2008 peak of 176,000, including about 143,000 in the U.S. Starbucks was forced to close hundreds of stores and cut thousands of jobs as it grappled with the recession and other woes, although business has since rebounded.

    Here is a look back at Schultz's battle cry last summer:

    Discussing political donations and lower coffee prices, with Howard Schultz, Starbucks chairman/CEO.

     

     

    More from msnbc.com business:

     

  • Coinstar to install Seattle's Best Coffee kiosks

    Coinstar

    "Hi. I'm your new robobarista. May I take your order?"

    By msnbc.com staff

        Betting, perhaps, that Americans just can’t drink enough coffee, Coinstar announced Wednesday it would have 500 automated kiosks serving Seattle’s Best Coffee in the Northeast and West Coast by year's end and “thousands” across the country in the coming years.

    Coinstar has experienced success with its Redbox movie rental machines in supermarkets and convenience stores. Seattle’s Best Coffee is owned by Starbucks.

    The machines will also serve coffee drinks such as lattes and mochas. Prices will begin at $1.

    It will be a new business model said Nick Montano of Vending Times, an industry trade publication. The coffee vending business is established, but no company yet has tried the placement Coinstar may use.

    “The mainstream vending industry serves workplace locations,” Montano said. The operators are primarily regional.

    “Is this something new? No. But how they are doing it? Yes,” he said. “They aren’t going outside of a 7-Eleven that sells coffee inside. But maybe inside a Wal-Mart or supermarket – places that have no coffee service.”

    In a press release, Coinstar said the kiosks would be in “grocery, drug, and mass merchant locations. As Coinstar expands geographically with its coffee kiosk, it will also pursue additional channels as part of an ongoing roll-out.”

    Coinstar CEO Paul Davis told CNBC the company has been testing the product for “a year-and-a-half to two years” and was optimistic about success.

    “We’re convinced there’s a terrific business opportunity there,” he said.

    Below, Davis discusses the company's moves and strategy with CNBC.

     

     

     

     

  • Victims' group protests over Starbucks gun policy

    The National Gun Victims Action Council began a boycott of Starbucks Monday over the coffee giant's policy of allowing customers to bring guns into their shops in states with "open carry" laws. CNBC's Melissa Lee discusses the protest with the head of the NGAC.

    Discuss this issue on Facebook.

  • Deal of the day: Starbucks times two

    Starbucks

    Starting Thursday, you can get two fancy-schmancy coffee drinks at Starbucks for the price of one, which could mean a savings of $4 or more, depending on the drink and location.

    If you're hoping for a serious morning pick-me-up, forget it. The deal, which lasts through Sunday, is only available from 2 to 5 p.m.

    Coffee purists looking for a basic cup a Joe also need not apply. The only drinks offered in the deal are: Caramel Brulee Latte, Peppermint Mocha, Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha, Peppermint Hot Chocolate, Gingerbread Latte, Eggnog Latte, Caramel Brulee Frappuccino blended beverage and Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino blended beverage.

    In any case, you'll probably want to bring at least one friend to share your coffee drinks. The Caramel Brulee Latte, in the grande size, is 420 calories, more than double the calories of a regular latte.

  • Starbucks to baristas: Slow down and smell the coffee‎

    baristaIf you’re already frustrated by the long lines at your local Starbucks, just wait: it may soon take a little longer for your barista to whip up your next grande mocha frappuccino.

    Amid customer complaints that the Seattle-based coffee chain has turned coffee-making into something more akin to a factory assembly line, The Wall Street Journal reports that Starbucks is telling its busy baristas to slow down, and the change of pace behind the counter may result in longer lines.

    Starbucks has instructed the coffee chain’s baristas (from the Italian for “bartender”) to stop making multiple drinks at the same time (no more than two at a time, according to the report). Baristas also are supposed to steam milk for each drink rather than steaming an entire pitcher to be used for several beverages. Other instructions include rinsing pitchers after each use, staying at the espresso bar instead of moving around and using only one espresso machine instead of two, according to company documents obtained by the newspaper.

    Starbucks is making the changes, which it expects to roll out nationwide and across Canada by next month, as part of a company effort to make its stores more efficient, the Journal reports. It says Starbucks believes the new procedures will eventually hasten the way its beverages are made and lead to fresher, hotter drinks and reduce the “possibility for errors.”

    Starbucks spokeswoman Trina Smith told the paper that it will take time for baristas to become comfortable with the new drink-making method, but some baristas interviewed by the Journal are worried that the changes will create longer lines.

    “While I’m blending a frappuccino, it doesn’t make sense to stand there and wait for the blender to finish running, because I could be making an iced tea at the same time,” Tyler Swain, a barista in Omaha, Neb., told the Journal. He also said he is worried that he will not be able to keep up with volume if he can only complete one drink at a time.

    Erik Forman, a Starbucks barista in Bloomington, Minn., confirmed these fears. He told the paper his store adopted the new drink-making guidelines last week and said the changes have “doubled the amount of time it takes to make drinks in some cases,” resulting in longer lines.