Tue
Aug 16 2011
01:42 pm
Starbucks CEO to corporate America: step up
By: R. Neal

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz told CNBC today that "we can’t wait for Congress to solve America’s problems. America's CEOs have to step up and grow their companies and start hiring people."

He also said he is boycotting any further political contributions and urges other CEOs to do the same until Congress gets their act together.

We've complained a lot recently that corporations (and banks) are sitting on piles of cash and not investing it and probably won't until Obama is out of office. The flip side of that, though, is that demand is weak because people either don't have jobs or are worried about losing the job they have. Something has to give.

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michael kaplan's picture

the last thing we need are

Submitted by michael kaplan on Tue, 2011/08/16 - 8:32pm.

the last thing we need are more starbucks providing overpriced lattes served by underpaid employees to coffee lovers who have lost their jobs.

schultz needs to watch this

R. Neal's picture

That's sort of ironic/funny,

Submitted by R. Neal on Wed, 2011/08/17 - 9:48am.

That's sort of ironic/funny, given that the talking head commentators called the guy a socialist for suggesting such a thing.

Anyway, I don't think the point was more Starbucks on every corner.

Regardless, I thought they had a pretty good reputation on competitive entry level wages, benefits for part timers, etc.

michael kaplan's picture

i think schultz is worried

Submitted by michael kaplan on Wed, 2011/08/17 - 3:51pm.

i think schultz is worried about the competition from panera which not only offers good coffee and coffee drinks, but decent, affordable meals. panera, like starbucks, can now be found in major cities.

michael kaplan's picture

read this for its

Submitted by michael kaplan on Wed, 2011/08/17 - 8:08pm.

read this for its entertainment value ...

Factchecker's picture

Entertainment value maybe

Submitted by Factchecker on Wed, 2011/08/17 - 10:22pm.

I've heard all the knocks on Starbucks, and yeah, it's a big chain guilty of sprawl like the rest of them, but I too thought they had a good rep w/r/t salaries, benefits, and general working conditions, at least relative to the food chain industry.

Personally, while 98% of their specialty drinks don't interest me, I admit a weakness for liking Starbucks coffee, and I'm a major coffee snob. I also think their buildings employ attractive architecture. So that's my full disclosure.

Panera, OTOH, has fair coffee at best and is hugely overrated in every other respect. What a chaotic mess it is to go through that food line. I see nothing special about food or pricing.

Have you tried Jason's Deli? That's a chain that may fulfill the Panera promise.

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