

Posts Tagged ‘caffeine’

Energy Drink Makers Shift Their Damage Control Strategies

The makers of extra-caffeinated sugar water products like Monster, Rock Star and 5-Hour Energy are having a tough time. After being tied to several deaths and suffering through a few rounds of terrible PR, they’ve decided to shift their strategies by dropping the “dietary supplements” tag and referring to their products by their proper name: beverages. Our question: how did they get away with that for so long?

In calling their products what they so obviously are, the makers of these drinks are also subjecting themselves to new regulations–and avoiding others. They now have to list exactly how much caffeine each can contains, but their spokespeople no longer have to let the FDA know when someone draws a link between the “beverages” and their adverse health effects.

Of course, nothing about the contents of these cans will change. Isn’t it strange how a little bit of labeling can do so much?

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Dr. McDreamy, Tully’s Coffee Take on Starbucks

Tully's Coffee Patrick DempseyCapitalism, at its most basic, is a system that enables the public to vote with its money. By offering or withholding funds, the public decides which companies succeed and which companies fail.

So as cynical and jaded as the public can be about the ubiquitous presence of Starbucks and its cultural influence over how we—we meaning the entire human race—perceive and consume coffee, it is important to remember that the public elevated the brand to global prominence.

As Starbucks continues its caffeinated march across multiple nations and generations, we see a growing opportunity for brands that cater to people who–gasp!–love coffee but don’t love Starbucks. Some folks, for example, think Starbucks coffee tastes bitter or burnt (and this isn’t just the Dunkin’ Donuts crowd).

Enter actor Patrick Dempsey–yes, that would be Dr. McDreamy from Grey’s Anatomy. The man who isn’t a doctor but plays one on TV just purchased Tully’s Coffee, a chain based in Starbuck’s own hometown of Seattle, Washington which filed for bankruptcy in October. At auction, Mr. Dempsey and his group Global Baristas outbid six other competitors (including Starbucks and Baristas Coffee Co.), paying $9.15 million for the company. Read more

Will the World Grow Weary of Starbucks’s Unstoppable Growth?

Ok, now this is just surreal. We’ve all heard the jokes about how there is a Starbucks on every street corner, and we know that statement is funny because it is (almost) true.

Everywhere you turn, no matter where you are, you’ll see that green and white logo—beside the gas station, across from your florist, atop the dog groomer’s studio. Starbucks simply appears out of nowhere, like Michael Meyers in Halloween.

But the world is, apparently, not enough: The Seattle-based coffee chain and global caffeine kingpin just announced plans to open 3,000 new stores in the Americas region by 2017, with half of those stores slotted for somewhere in the United States. That is staggering. Where in America is Starbucks going to build 1,500 new shops? And where are all of those customers coming from? Does the US have secret plans to colonize Antarctica? And why weren’t we told?

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