My weekend morning routine has been wonderful as of late: a walk on the Capital Crescent Trail, a workout at the gym, and a post workout bowl of oatmeal and tall skim latte on the outside tables at my neighborhood Starbucks. Perfection.
The $3.95 oatmeal and latte pairing at Starbucks is really what drew me back to being a customer there. Their regular coffee kind of hurts my stomach so it is not my usual coffee spot. And the staff at my neighborhood Starbucks was perpetually in a bad mood so that never made me want to dash in there either.
But then the $3.95 oatmeal and latte pairing was introduced and that was all it took for me to go back. You see, I rarely eat out and this was my little weekend treat. A great way to start my weekend days.
And now, I am sad to announce that that tradition is over. Because I am going on a Starbucks Strike.
All week long, the news outlets were full of stories of announcing Starbucks new and improved menu. I was excited about the new options and then discovered that it was almost all baked goods and super sweet yogurts and none of them the delicious Skinny Lemon Poppyseed muffin sold in the U.K. But what really really really has made me so mad is that as a result of the new menu, the Oatmeal+Latte pairing is no longer one of the value pairings. What used to cost me $4.10 (3.95+tax-reusable mug discount) cost me $6.52 this morning!!! The only value pairings now involved coffee cake and breakfast sandwiches, two things I never eat for breakfast. Two things that I think oatmeal is a much healthier choice than.
When I questioned the barista about the huge price jump, he replied (and I quote), “Uh, the oatmeal wasn’t selling well.”
Me, already mad and not yet caffeinated, snarkily replied back, “Huh, that’s funny. Every news story I read yesterday said that oatmeal was your number one selling food item.”
Barista: Silence
Okay, I get that he was just the barista and not the Starbucks CFO, but don’t make something up if you don’t know the answer. Especially if I haven’t had my coffee yet.
So until the oatmeal+latte pairing makes a return to the menu Starbucks, I am done with you! I realize that I am one person but that $7.36 extra Starbucks would have made off of me each weekend on the margin, is now going to be $19.66 total loss. Each weekend.
I may even picket outside my Starbucks, “Shovel, hoe, rake, I don’t want no stinkin’ coffee cake” will be my rallying cry.
Sorry, you just don’t mess with my oatmeal+latte perfection. Or else you pay the price.
[On another Starbucks-related rant, my Starbucks is perpetually out of sugar….brown sugar (for oatmeal), raw sugar, regular sugar. I take my coffee black so the brown sugar one is really the only one that impacted me. A lot of my summer reading has involved supply chain dynamics (I know, nothing says summer reading like supply chain dynamics but I find it completely fascinating) and it completely BAFFLES me how the world’s most preeminent coffee shop cannot figure out how to ensure that all of their locations have sugar.]
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