There was a great case study about Starbucks and their corporate real estate planning in the NYT over the weekend. Today I read something interesting about "the genius of Starbucks" in the context of teh supposed "benefits" of green tea:
"Thus weak studies pointing to weight loss – and the fact that the Japanese seem thin – allow green tea to be sold as a psychic cancellation stamp on foods we love and know to be bad for us. The large version of Starbucks’ Green Tea Frappuccino has 560 calories not counting whipped cream. (The unappreciated business genius of Starbucks is not charging $4 for a latte, but rather giving adults the permission to drink milkshakes, on the pretext that they are merely tea or coffee.) This is exceeded by the 640 calories in the “power” version of Matcha Green Tea Blast at Jamba Juice, a franchise chasing Howard Schultz’s caffeinated footsteps."-Green tea, the elixir of false virtue [Jacob Weisberg, FT.com, April 4 2007 ]