Starbucks is now selling the Grateful Dead.

Posted by Otis Kimzey on Jul 31, 2007 in Seattle, Starbucks | 3 comments

Nothing much to say other than when I saw that Starbucks is selling a Greatful Dead album I was surprised as I never really thought of Dead Heads going to Starbucks often or being their key clientel.  However, after talking with a Barista it sounds like alot of Dead Heads have given up the life on the road and become a key target market for Starbucks.

What do you think, is it weird that Starbucks, a giant corporation is selling a Grateful Dead album?

[Sidenote: I bet I have motivated at least one person to go down to Starbucks and buy the album as soon as they read this post.  Starbucks, you're welcome.]

My name googles well.

Posted by Otis Kimzey on Jul 31, 2007 in Random | Comments Off

I wrote a post on May 9th titled “Your Nothing Unless Your Name Googles Well.“  It was a quote from an article written in the WSJ and it helped me get more motivated to keeping this site updated.

Not that this site is anything special but I did receive an email from an old friend who doesn’t appear to be using Facebook with this quote in it

“…had to do a google search for you.  You are very easy to find!”

I guess that helps show two things.  My name “googles well” and this site has helped make me easy to find when someone is looking for me.

Again!?…Why is Apple so affected by rumors?

Posted by Otis Kimzey on Jul 31, 2007 in Tech | Comments Off

Again today Apples stock took a huge hit (7%!) when a rumor that turned out not to be true hit the inter-tubes.  This time TheStreet.com reported that Apple was cutting back on their production of iPhones, thus causing people to panic and sell their stock.

This is remeniscent of the time that engadget reported a rumor on Apple delaying the iPhone and their new OS when the stocks took a huge hit, but quickly recovered.

Why is Apple such a volatile stock that goes up and down with the rumors so quickly?  Is it because it’s so new?  Because people love the company, but are always scared of the comeback kid and wondering if they are for real this time around?  I don’t know, but it’s crazy that this has happened twice withing the past two and a half months.

Sabermetrics for business? Investing?

Posted by Otis Kimzey on Jul 30, 2007 in Marketing, Random, Tech | Comments Off

I have been a big fan of Sabermetrics for the past few years after reading moneyball.  Taking traditional stats turning them upside down and looking for new more useful stats in the game of baseball…that’s my rough explanation of what Sabermetrics is.

I just picked up the Football Prospectus 2007, which does the same thing for football by taking a totally new approach to the stats that really matter in the game of football.  I haven’t even opened it up yet, but I can’t wait to see what they have in there about the Seahawks.

Thinking, doesn’t there have to be a way to look at business acquisitions?  Investing?  Hires?  Something big in the business world that has always been viewed a traditional way… I bet if some people take the time to look at things from a different angle, within the next 5 years there will be a totally new system being adapted on how to do some of these key processes.

Any ideas which vertical will be the first to determine a new way of thinking?  My guess…VC.

Why is Starbuck’s changing to 2% milk?

Posted by Otis Kimzey on Jul 26, 2007 in Seattle, Starbucks | Comments Off

Let me start by saying that I love Starbucks.  I love their coffee, I love their business, and I wouldn’t mind taking over for Jim Donald one of these days.  That is one reason the news that Starbucks is changing to 2% milk is so frustrating.  I typically order non-fat myself, and more often than that just an Americano, but this issue is bigger than my preferences, it goes to the heart of the company.

I wish that I had my book “Pour Your Heart Into It” which talks about how Starbucks became the empire it is today (or in ’99 at least) and gives alot of background on both Howard Schultz and the company itself.  One part in the book that struck a chord with me was when Starbucks wanted to introduce non-fat milk as an option.  Howard would not budge on even offering non-fat as an option until he went in and observed a store and how many people asked for non-fat milk while wearing workout clothes.  He still said that they would not change the default milk from whole because whole milk is what lattes are supposed to be made from (through his experiences in Italy).  Probably 10 years (I can’t fact check without my book) after they introduced non-fat, 1%, 2%, and even breve as options they are now changing their default drink to be 2% rather than whole.

Isn’t this changing the latte from what is supposed to be?  Isn’t this changing the entire coffee and Starbucks experience?  For something that took Howard so long to budge on (to even have an option) it is dissapointing to see them change their core offering.  What I really want to know is why?

Is it because they are trying to stop people from gaining weight?  They fased out all of the trans-fats in their pastry case and offer many more “reduced fat” options in the case now.  Could this be due to the fact that McDonalds was recently sued for the weight problem we have in America?  I would hate this to be the case as it’s not Starbucks, or McDonalds fault for people gaining weight.

Or is it this…the stock hitting an 18 month low.  It has rallied some in the past month, but on June 22 it hit $25.54 and had been on the decline for about a year and a half.  I have a feeling that this is the reason for the change and it is sad to see.  I know the pressures of being a public company and especially of a company that has performed so well are high, but it should not change who you are as a company.  Something that Howard thought was so key to the company was maintaining the consistent coffee and latte experience that he had in Italy.  2% milk is cheaper than whole milk so this will help with the profit margin signficantly.  This paired with the increase in prices starting next week (the second increase in a year) should result in some good numbers next quarter and next year.

Now as much as I wish they weren’t changing for principal reasons, I think I’m going to buy some Starbucks stock tomorrow after I just wrote this post.