Howard Schultz Chokes on McDonald's Happy Meal

Well, that's the gist of this story. Or I could have said that Howard pulls off a George Bush, READ MY LIPS, NO NEW TAXES.

Just read it for yourself from Rueters:

Once upon a time, Starbucks had nowhere to go but up.

My, how times have changed.

Chief Executive Howard Schultz in July said the upscale coffee chain would not combine menu items and sell them at a discount, a move made popular by fast-food chains like McDonald’s.

“We’re not going to go down the fast-food lane,” Schultz told investors back then — when the company’s business was hitting the skids in a housing-led slowdown.

On the heels of news that McDonald’s will finish adding McCafes to U.S. stores by the middle of the year, Shultz is now touting a plan to offer several “breakfast pairings” at “attractive price points” beginning in March.

“The question of value often gets tied to the competition. How are we competing with (quick-service restaurants)? How can a premium brand be competitive when customers are trading down on everything from houses and travel to clothing and lunches out?” said Schultz. “We will combine our breakfast strengths with a value proposition that challenges misperceptions about our every day affordability.”

As it pays the price for its expansion exuberance, Starbucks is slashing another 300 namesake cafes around the world, bringing its closures to 1,000, cutting thousands of jobs and putting its brand new Gulfstream jet on the blocks.

In the midst of it all, Starbucks hopes to attract Seattle’s Best Coffee franchisees.

“We recently began exploring ways we could leverage Seattle’s Best Coffee brand to work for us, starting with a food service test in more than 2,800 Subway restaurants in the US beginning this month,” Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz said. “I’m pleased to share with you today (that) we are expanding our franchising program with Seattle’s Best Coffee.”

Starbucks executives even suggested that Seattle’s Best franchisees could be good tenants for stores that will been vacated in the latest round of Starbucks closures, which bring the company’s total store closures to nearly 1,000.

Starbucks bought Seattle’s Best in 2003.

There are currently 12 Seattle’s Best franchisees who operate 36 cafes — some of which are located in Las Vegas casinos. Borders bookseller and grocery chain Albertsons are among the stores that house the more than 500 Seattle’s Best licensed cafes.

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