Starbucks, Lean On Me

Leslie and I are coffee nutters.

This is how bad it is. When we travel overseas our first stop is a discount appliance store where we buy a drip-style coffee maker. That way we can make our own really strong morning coffee no matter where we are staying. At the end of our trip we donate the coffee maker to the nearest charity shop and eveyone is happy.

Coffee Maker On The Counter (Left) And In Its Travel Bag (Right)

So having established our credibility (?) I’ll go a step further and say we (also) like Starbucks.

Starbucks is going thru a rough patch right now, so it’s important we get behind them. After all, this is an American institution, even if it was founded on the idea of copying Italian coffee houses.

In their latest effort to improve the bottom line they are emulating Toyota’s Lean Manufacturing techniques, described here in today’s Wall Street Journal.

Which in a way reminds me of the old joke about hell; where the Germans are the police, the British do the cooking, the Italians run the trains, and the French make the cars.

In this case the Americans are trying to do the Italians one better by acting Japanese. But I have another suggestion.

Since I’ve established my chops as a Drip Coffee expert, let me suggest a new approach to Drip Coffee.

Just Another Approach To Drip Coffee

As long as I’m on a roll about Starbucks, here is link to a very well-researched history of the Starbucks Logo.

And finally, if you clicked on the WSJ link above and were spanked and told you needed to subscribe, here is the hack-around.