Bring on the Starbucks Liquor

In class when we spoke of brand extensions, we talked about what is a natural and unnatural extension for a brand. Many of us agreed when we said that we don’t like the idea of Wal Mart extending its brand to add boutiques with higher priced items, and McDonalds making cafes. What we didn’t agree on so much was the Starbucks brand extension, which was the addition of coffee liquors into its line. Those who didn’t agree said that they felt it was too much and made the appeal of Starbucks wear off and look cheaper. Here is my two cents on the recent choices Starbucks has made.

I don’t like Starbucks coffee particularly, which is unfortunate because I love everything else about the company. Their pumpkin spice latte and cookies are amazing and worth every overpriced dime. I have never had bad service, and what’s the best part is when they actually think they are giving you bad service, they hand you a voucher for your next Starbucks purchase. I don’t know any other place that owns up to bad service without being told first. I get handed these vouchers every now and then and I love it, because it’s like getting a little present. The voucher has the little apologetic note on it, and I’m suppost to think “aw, so nice”, but inside my head I’m doing a little happy dance, cause I’m getting anything I want for free, and I don’t even know why. I also love the atmosphere and the coziness of Starbucks, its special. I think their retail area always has cute stuff and finally I think they are marketing a genius…

Well used to be until recently, when in the past two years they’ve taken a liking to attaching themselves to gas stations and Subways in rural developments. I think they run the risk of selling themselves out if they keep building in places that don’t reflect their roots. Starbucks started as a small coffee shop in urban areas, they had a limited number of them and that’s what made them so special, but now you see them everywhere. I fear a Tim Horton’s vibe coming along, meaning mainly I hope they don’t become like Tim Horton’s.

With the addition of coffee liquors into their line, I actually don’t mind that at all. Some people find that this takes away from selling coffee itself and makes them look like they are selling themselves out. I completely disagree. In every part of Europe it is absolutely normal to add liquor into your coffee. I spent six weeks in Switzerland this summer and there was not a day that went by where I wasn’t asked if I preferred crème or liquor in my coffee. In Switzerland, they add plum schnapps or kirsche into their coffee, or just crème. They call a coffee with schnapps in it a ‘kaffee fertig’. The translation for that would be ‘coffee finished’, so when you order one, you would say, “I’ll have a finished coffee.” This is like saying that your coffee is not ‘finished’ unless there is liquor in it. Here, it’s not finished if it’s lacking the cream. I guess what I’m saying, is that I was surprised people were against the addition of coffee liquors as a brand extension, when I just found it to be a very natural addition to Starbucks. I personally think it’s a shame that Starbucks and other coffee shops can’t have a license to sell alcohol, so that they would have the option of selling dessert coffees. I think it would make it that much more special to go to Starbucks and having the option to have a dessert coffee or just a regular one. I understand that with the rules in place this can’t happen, but I do think it would be nice. The other thing too is, because we’ve never had the option to add a little booze into our coffees at lunch, people might abuse it if we had that right. The idea is to just have a little something extra when you’re reading your book, something special, not to get drunk.

To sum it up, I do think Starbucks does need to watch where they are now building their cafes, and it would be nice if they came out with a blend that wasn’t so damn beanie, but I will happily continue to indulge in my guilty pleasure and accept vouchers for their supposed ‘screw ups’. Besides, who needs liquor and non-beanie coffee anyways, when you’ve got Pumpkin Spice Lattes, the answer to all of life’s problems.