Starbucks acquires Coffee Equipment Company, Clover

[Reggie]

It would only have been unfortunate if you had bought one, and not have had the customer base to support the investment.

[Marshall]

Sorry if someone in these 9 pages has already mentioned it, but the Associated Press has been following this thread: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/357511_sbuxclover03.html.

[onocoffee]

It would only have been unfortunate if you had bought one, and not have had the customer base to support the investment.

Touche to you on that one, Reggie. In fact, the clovers in the photo are yours.

Of course, the grapevine was abuzz awhile back about the seemingly numerous problems you were having with your clovers, and the resultant downtime and R&D/troubleshooting/field testing you ended up doing for them.

But I do have to wonder what my stance and argument would be today had I been convinced enough to pay for a clover, do their beta testing for them and have it sold out from under me. I don't think I would be as happy as I am today.

Oddly enough, I happened to touch Baltimore's one and only clover this afternoon while checking out the new Baltimore Pho. Yes, a snazzy pho joint has the only clover in Baltimore. And it's scheduled to be hooked up tomorrow. Since it was by the toilet (poetic) and I was looking it over, the owner asked me if I knew what it was. I told him that I was familiar with the machine but left it at that. I'll have to save the "clover coffee" for next time - I just wish their pho broth had more "soul".


Oh, but my favorite quote from the article Marshall referenced:

Until now, these sorts of prices have meant that most Americans don't live near a shop that has a Clover. Pretty soon they may have one on every corner.

[Mark Prince]

Sorry if someone in these 9 pages has already mentioned it, but the Associated Press has been following this thread: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/357511_sbuxclover03.html.

AP's been sitting on a Clover story for a few months, out of their Kansas office. It took the sale for them to publish something on it, and more may follow.

That quote from me is almost 2 months old.

Mark

[Mark Prince]

You weren't "one of clover's most vocal critics and biggest skeptics" in December of 2006.

Nope... that would be me. But I don't take much pride in that, and always in the back of my mind when I was voicing criticisms was an attempt to seed discussion and debate on how to recognize potential problems with the machine, and ways to improve it. Never did I have the intention of trying to bring the company down, nor were any of my comments driven by spite; but I also refused to drink the kool-aid.

I wasn't alone in the criticism though - plenty of people expressed privately that they were less than impressed with the product, including some huge guns in the industry. If I have to name one, I'll name George Howell. If I have to name another, it'll be Inny, who has now spoken out. But few were saying anything on the record or publicly. I even did a bit of a call out on coffeed many moons ago asking more of them to be vocal publicly about issues they had with the machine and its output, or how they were used (45+ gram doses for 10-12oz brews, for eg). Few answered the call out, but I sure did get my share of angry (or upset) emails and PMs for things I've said about the Clover in the past.

Mark

[nick]

http://www.starbucks.com/
What now?

[barry]

http://www.starbucks.com/
What now?

taking a cue from Jay and going to 6oz drinks?

[barry]

A training guide & workbook quite literally just dropped onto my desk.

Out of thin air.

[Rich Westerfield]

http://www.starbucks.com/
What now?

taking a cue from Jay and going to 6oz drinks?

$2.00 says it's a new cup design. For SBUX customers, that would be a bigger deal than a Clover.

(a mere 5 minutes later...)
I see Barry mentioned this already in the members section.
FWIW, all that stuff was talked about openly on Starbucks Gossip a week or so ago. Given the level of detail offered on that blog, I'm amazed they were able to keep the Clover deal secret.

[Mark Prince]

More Clover coverage, including some talk about how hands on the machine is. Rich gets quoted!

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08097/870345-34.stm

Mark

[Rich Westerfield]

Rich gets quoted!

... and Rich explains his quote here.