Food for Thought

The Hazards of Being a Food Critic: The Albany Times-Union's food writer believes he was beaten by men who were hired by a local restaurant owner who had a score to settle. More details are right here.

Starbucks Coffee . . . and Beer Hall? Apparently so. Restaurant News reports that a Starbucks in metro Seattle is planning to renovate with a "green" design and a menu that will expand to include beer and wine. More details are right here.

No Need to Abandon Fish: Maria Rodale contends that the oil spill in the Gulf need not drive U.S. consumers away from seafood. She notes that trout is a freshwater fish that is "farmed" -- meaning that eating it doesn't raise the same sustainability issues as some other fish. She even has a recipe to share. More details are right here.

Satisfying Our Sweet Tooth: Here's more proof that dessert is still Americans' favorite course. I just noticed that 4 of the 5 "most popular recipes" listed on Delish's home page are desserts. One of them is Sour Cream Ice Cream. That's one of those recipes that you just know is either wonderful or terrible. More details are right here.

Starbucks: Do You Love It or Hate It?

In this post at MSN, Justin Rohrlich explores the intense emotions that many people express -- positive or negative -- about Starbucks:

Hate Starbucks? Have you asked yourself why?

Maybe it's because you find the coffee stores bland and generic. Perhaps you don't like that they seem to be everywhere you look.

Or it could be that you simply prefer your local, independent mom-and-pop coffee shop, and show your loyalty by hating Starbucks.

But guess what. Mom-and-pop coffee shops don't hate Starbucks at all. In fact, most of them love it when a Starbucks opens a location nearby.

... It may sound like something you've read in The Onion, but it's absolutely true.

I'm somewhere in the middle. I like independent coffeehouses, but I also appreciate that when I order a latte at a Starbucks, I know exactly what I'm going to get.

Instant Coffee at Starbucks?

You heard correctly. Starbucks is launching a new instant coffee, hoping to appeal to recession-scarred Americans and Canadians who are counting their pennies. According to the Wall St. Journal:

The Seattle-based coffee giant on Tuesday is planning to roll out Via to Starbucks stores across the U.S. and Canada after having tested it in Seattle, Chicago and London for several months.

. . . Via will be available in stores such as sporting-goods retailer REI and Office Depot Inc. On Tuesday, all customers on domestic United Airlines flights longer than two hours will get free packets of Via . . .

"We recognize there's a very large opportunity in the grocery aisle," Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz said during a conference call with reporters.

In traditional supermarkets, Starbucks will go up against industry giant Nestlé SA, maker of Nescafe Taster's Choice, which already is running ads attacking Via.

The Toronto Star reports:

Priced around $1 a cup, Schultz said he thinks consumers will see Starbucks "Via" as good value. But the proof will be in the drinking, marketing expert David Dunne said.

"It's got to taste significantly better than existing instant coffees and pretty close to a ground coffee from Starbucks," said Dunne, a professor at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. "I think it's a risky move if you don't have a clearly better product."

I agree with Dunne. Besides, introducing an instant coffee will compete with Starbucks' existing house brew. If I were Schultz, I'd be concerned that such a move might cause many consumers to buy-down -- i.e., to shift from buying Starbucks house coffee to buying Via. This shift would cut into the coffee chain's profits.

A marketing expert might question Starbucks' decision from a different standpoint: does a brand that has built its image around premium coffee cheapen that brand by sinking into a Sanka world?

I guess that question will be answered over the next year or two.