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Cafe Customers, Owners & Union Reps give cautious reaction to Starbucks potential opening in Ireland national |
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news report
 Tuesday June 17, 2003 16:34 by Indymedia Kevin - 1 of IMC Eire
 Photos to accompany this hopefully uploaded soon. Cafe owners, coffee drinkers, unions cautious about possible opening of Starbucks A report in the Sunday Business Post on April 29th stated that the Starbucks chain of coffee shops intended on opening up several outlets in Ireland. I took a dictaphone out to some independent cafes in Dublin and asked people what they thought about the potential arrival of this cocoa behemoth. First stop on the trip was Cafe Irie in Temple Bar. Irie is sandwiched (no pun intended) between Se Si Progressive and the Sacred Art Tattoo Studio on Fownes Street in Temple Bar. It's been around for a good few years at this stage, and is definitely one of the older establishments in an always-changing district. I talked to Neil, the floor manager on duty at the time. "I dont think that they'll have a major impact on places like us. But they'll probably do very well on somewhere like Grafton Street. Their takeaway coffee is very successful. Their name exists already, the brand is very well marketed." Charlotte from Donnybrook was sitting in Cornucopia on Wicklow Street, a vegetarian cafe that promotes healthy and organic food. She echoed Neil's thoughts about Starbucks potentially being successful here. "A lot of places in Ireland aren't that much different from Starbucks, like Rio. People would recognise the name from their holidays, and tourists would go in there as well. Yes, I know they're big and corporate, but people do like them." Tom from Inchicore was having coffee with his girlfriend in Cafe Irie. He felt that if Starbucks opened here then they'd probably arrive with a bang not with a whimper. "In other cities they dont just open one outlet, they open ten all at the same time, and jump into the market with as much force as possible." Those of you who've read 'No Logo' will be familiar with their strategy of dropping "clusters" into urban areas already heavy with cafes. Neil thought that several existing chain outlets like Bendini & Shaw's or O'Briens were more likely than independent cafes to buy into the Starbucks franchise. "But when Starbucks do open up, they do put a lot of pressure on the smaller local places that stay open near them." Simon's Place is the wonderful cafe at the end of the Georges Street Arcade. Possibly my favourite place in Dublin, with a great location, excellent food, affordable prices, and friendly, gorgeous staff! Simon, the manager, echoed Neil's thoughts on certain existing chains being snapped up. "Dublin has seen a huge growth in takeaway coffee places in the last few years, and to be honest I'm not 100% sure how well all of them are doing. I think there are certain places - and I'm not naming any names here - that were set up with the intention of being bought out by Starbucks at some future point. That's how they'll make their money." Simon admitted to being a little shocked by the Sunday Business Post article. "Yes I am, Starbucks definitely have a reputation of moving in and knocking the smaller cafes off our perch. But I am not too worried about the prospect. I've been in this business for 20 years at this stage, and there's more to it than meets the eye. I'm not sure they'd damage us. Our customers I think are different people. This place is almost like a pub with no booze. There's a personal touch that Starbucks doesn't operate." Would Starbucks be successful? "Well, are McDonalds successful here? Yes. But I think it's up to the Irish people themselves. They vote with their feet and their wallets. They generally get what they want. People seem to want this trend of big drinking factories, and in the last few years they've sprang up all over the place. So yes Starbucks probably would be successful here." Personally I think that the arrival of Starbucks would be yet another dent in Dublin's individuality. Having spent a brief period of time in Seattle, supposedly the coffee house capital of the world; I was dismayed to walk around and find every sixth building a Starbucks, and virtually all of the independent cafes swallowed up by the chain. Simon felt that this is the way things head in a capitalist society. "It's not just Starbucks. It's a lot of companies. If you go through any town in England now, you dont really know where you are, because they all look the exact same." Kieran Connolly is a SIPTU Official who looks after Cafe & Restaurant workers. Given Starbucks' general antipathy towards unions and worker organisation, I asked him how SIPTU would feel about a company like Starbucks setting up their operation in Ireland. "I haven't read the report from the Sunday Business Post that you mentioned, and I'm not familiar with Starbucks and their employee relations, but obviously we in SIPTU wouldnt welcome that approach from any company. Unfortunately in Ireland, due to the nature of the work primarily, the union membership among cafe workers tends to be very low. In some of the more upmarket outlets where people are working for longer periods of time, union rates tend to go up. In most Cafes however, its students or perhaps summer foreign workers, who generally dont tend towards union membership. "That's not to say that there aren't any cafe workers in SIPTU. There would be many individuals and also clusters of cafe workers around the country. We also deal with a considerable amount of complaints from non-union workers. They come to us when they feel they've been treated unfairly or exploited. This happens on a regular basis as unfortunately cafe workers are often asked to work excessive hours, given lower rates of pay, and not given holiday entitlements." Organic and Fair Trade coffee groups in the United States (where Starbucks is huge) have been lobbying the coffee giant to change its business practices. Ronnie Cummins, the national director of the Organic Consumers Association, said in March 2003 that "despite repeated pledges, Starbucks is still loading up its coffee drinks with rBGH (recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone) tainted milk, and buying coffee and chocolate produced under exploitative labour conditions, and in the case of cocoa plantations in Africa, workers who are actually slaves."
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Comments (37 of 37)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37STARBUCKS’ TOP-MAN, HOWARD SCHULTZ, IS A ZIONIST
ADVOCATE: Schultz regularly tours American campuses to promote Israeli apartheid, and he publicly condemned Palestinians in April, 2002 “for not doing their job to stop terrorism.” (during the Israeli masacres and invasions of Jenin and all other Palestinian Towns and Cities)
His work on behalf of Israel has earned him an award from an ultra-Zionist group, Aish Ha-Torah, and praise from Israel’s Foreign Ministry.
STARBUCKS INVESTS IN ISRAELI BUSINESS: Schultz has turned his pro-Zionist ideology into company strategy. In 2001, Starbucks Coffee International headed into conflict-ridden Israel’s market by striking a deal with Delek Israel Fuel Group. When branches of Starbucks performed poorly in Israel, Schultz reaffirmed his loyalty to the country: As a US Jew, my commitment to Israel is very high and my commitment to Delek [Starbucks’ Israeli partner] is 110%. I can’t say that more strongly. Here I am. Within five years, we’ll spend $15 million to open 80 Starbucks cafés [in Israel.]” (as reported in Globes, 1/16/02) Of course, Starbucks’ investment money comes from what licensees pay to open new branches across the world and royalties of 6-10% on sales.
A CUP OF STARBUCKS COFFEE = “Sweatshop” beans + Hormone-enhanced milk
Please email Starbucks to tell them 'We dont want you here in Ireland!!'
[email protected]
Although 'we are all indymedia', its better to not to describe yourself as part of indymedia when posting articles. It can lead to confusion, with people thinking your article is somehow endorsed by indymedia, or that it has a different status to other indymedia articles. Its better if people only include IMC in their name or org fields if they're acting as newswire/feature editors.
(This is not intended as an attack on your article, which is interesting and certainly unobjectionable. Just a note for future reference)
youre probably right ray,
But anyway, fair play to ya kevin '1 of IMC Eire', you deserve the title!
Actual journalism on Indymedia.
I can't wait until starbucks opens here! Maybe then i'll get a nice cup of coffee in this city.
Which is original, newsworthy, good journalism.
Just a little something to bear in mind.
Actual journalism on Indymedia.
Yes, this is indeed good journalism and as such is a rarity on Indymedia. It is balanced, which is extremely rare to see here.
Thanks for your kind comments, I enjoyed writing and researching the article as well, it was good walking around and talking to people with the tape recorder.
Point noted about not representing IMC Eire. Will have to think of another name to post under... shouldnt be a problem.
. . . or publishes photo video etc should be entitled to be/assume title one of IMC IRL . . .
. . . Makes it totally clear that one and not the 'groop' is speaking . . .
Anyone got any links and we'll make a feature of this . . .
They have cafes in the USA and do make a nice cup of coffee.
I think Starbucks has an extra-high caffeine blend which gets people hooked, though.
Tried to comment on this earlier but my computer got uppity and I said I'd try again later. This is a great piece of writing Kev (I have to join the parade to slap you on the back) - really interesting. I remember realising the penetration of Starbucks into the market when I visited Edinburgh two years ago and got lost - three times - on account of losing my bearings due to too many Starbucks! It really seemed like every corner had another branch. A comedian from Montreal has a routine based upon the time he saw two Starbucks facing each other across a road. Scary, scary stuff. Shame about the narrow-minded first comment though (re a boycott); I think it's much more honourable and fair to attack Starbucks for its corporate policies, staff conditions, marketing strategy etc - rather than based on the personal political opinions of an owner. Suffice to say I don't think there's any evidence that staff are required to pledge allegiance to a Greater Israel, or that portraits of Theodore Herzl are being etched onto coffee cups, or that Palestinian drinkers are barred from the stores. The speeches made by Schulz are in accordance with his political freedom and I wonder if you scrutinise the views of the owners and management of all the places you shop? Furthermore the call for a boycott is factually incorrect (through ignorance or falsification, I don't know) - based on the very link supplied by the poster, Starbucks don't have any business in Israel any longer. Doesn't mean that I'm going to give them one cent of my money (and even if they were an example of corporate virtue, their tea tastes awful and I don't do coffee); but I have better reasons for staying away than an intolerance for free expression of political views.
Bewley's do a rotten coffee, tastes like bisto and has been brewing around in their vat for hours. Also the cafe's are too hot, smelly and overpriced.
starbucks don't allow their employees to wear aftershave of pefume because it takes way from the aroma of the coffeee. Facism is alive and well!
Glad to see you've been reading your no logo homework, have a gold star and go to the top of the class
ay, it has to be done, you can't call really call yourself a socialist unless you read no logo or anything by Michael Moore! Its an alright book but i wasn't overly impressed.
There is a crisis destroying the livelihoods of 25 million coffee producers around the world. The price of coffee has fallen by almost 50 per cent in the past three years to a 30-year low. Farmers sell at a heavy loss while the four big coffee companies - Nestlé, Kraft, Procter & Gamble and Sara Lee - make big profits sells.
Oxfam is calling for a Coffee Rescue Plan to make the coffee market work for the poor as well as the rich. The plan needs to bring together the major players in coffee to overcome the current crisis and create a more stable market.
go to http://www.maketradefair.com/stylesheet.asp?file=11092002125632 if you want the coffee farmers to get a fair deal
yeah, i'm worried about SB driving small cafes out of business. we'll be left with a generic coffee taste.
more woorying is the report below. i can see this GM decaff running wild and wiping out real coffee!
Genetic engineers decaffeinate coffee
19:00 18 June 03
NewScientist.com news service
Coffee plants that produce much reduced levels of caffeine have been created by genetic engineers.
Hiroshi Sano and colleagues at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology in Japan used a technique called RNA interference to silence a key gene for making caffeine in coffee plants.
This technique cut caffeine in young coffee plants by up to 70 per cent. They now hope to develop this technology in the world's most popular Arabica coffee.
The demand for decaffeinated coffee is growing globally, say the team, because of the possible adverse health effects of caffeinated coffee. Caffeine can trigger palpitations and increase blood pressure in sensitive individuals.
Sano believes consumers will not be put off by the idea of genetically modified coffee. "It's actually a good GM organism for health," Sano told New Scientist. "In this case, you will have coffee beans which are quite normal except in their caffeine content - it will be of practical good for some people."
The other key advantages of GM decaffeinated coffee, say the researchers, are that it should be cheaper and retain all the taste of regular coffee. The expensive processes currently used to extract caffeine from normal beans also strip other flavour compounds from the coffee.
Interfere and destroy
The team's achievement is the result of seven years work on the coffee plant variety Coffea canephora.
Caffeine is produced in coffee plant cells from a natural plant chemical called xanthosine in three steps. Each step involves a chemical process called methylation. The team has now managed to silence the second gene involved in this process so that caffeine cannot be produced.
Proteins are produced from genes in living cells via complementary molecules called messenger RNA. This mRNA, which is a mirror image of the gene's DNA, is "read" to produce a protein, but RNA interference switches off this process.
"With RNAi you introduce a small fragment of RNA complementary to the mRNA ," says Sano. "They interfere and destroy each other."
Knock-out efficiency
Related Stories
Gene therapy may switch off Huntington's
13 March 2003
RNAi protects living animals against disease
10 February 2003
Tear-inducing onions get the chop
16 October 2002
For more related stories
search the print edition Archive
Weblinks
Nara Institute of Science and Technology
Association Scientifique International du Café
Nature
Modified one-year old seedlings showed a reduction in caffeine content of 50 to 70 per cent in their leaves. It will be at least four years before these GM plants blossom and therefore produce beans, says Sano. "Until then, of course, we cannot evaluate the caffeine content in the beans," he says.
Previous attempts to genetically alter the caffeine content of coffee plants have involved a less efficient technique than RNA interference, says Sano.
In 1998, researchers at the University of Hawaii produced decaffeinated coffee plants using a gene "antisense" method. "Experimentally, plant biologists have found knocking out efficiency much higher with RNAi than with antisense," says Sano.
Journal reference: Nature (vol 423, p 823)
Shaoni Bhattacharya
Starbucks has an odd policy of not letting people take photos inside - none, nada, no way!
check out
http://starbucksphotos.com
ahhh i was wondering how long they could overlook our little island. its like the shire in the lord of the rings or something.
well we really shouldn't let this new invaders onto our soil. their domination of another market would be a huge blow to fair trade and organised labour.
it would be interesting to see if a counter campaign could be launched.
we could use culture jamming and all kinds of other things Naomi Klein wrote in that great book!
the more starbucks try to propagate their brand, the more we should point out to the public:
a. their labour practices - denying full time status to employees, strict codes of behaviour suppressing personality etc. low wages/benefits, anti-union practices etc.
Is this the kind of business we want to see dominating our (quite sizeable) coffee industry?
b. Their corporate and evil buying policies. thats right, SB practice the ancient art of buying low and selling high. nearly three yoyo on a paper cup of a couple of dried crushed beans and a lick of milk, thats robbery. so are the prices paid for their beans from south american and african farmers.
their over use of disposable receptacles will no doubt place an even greater burden on the FF/PD waste disposal extravaganza - bury or burn, and consequently our environment.
i've got a great idea, lets try really hard to keep them out of business!
Yes indeed. A boot stamping on a bottle of Chanel No. 5 . . . forever. Those bastards! To the barricades, comrades!
There is a Starbucks within a quarter mile of where I sit now. There are also six other coffee shops, four of them small businesses, three of them fair trade coffee purveyors. I prefer one which is a small business fair trade coffe place.
Still and all, I can't think of Starbucks as all that bad. After all, they sell a lot of coffee, people drink more coffee, which tends to raise prices for the producers. They are not evil, even if they don't allow their employees to douse themselves with Old Spice or Eau de Toilette.
They have an active policy of siting their shops so that they halve the available passing trade. They can afford this, but small family-run businesses can't so they are forced to close.
Furthermore there is absolutely no evidence to support the assertion that coffee producers gain from the over consumption of coffee by stupid people like "Irish" American. What evidence there is suggests that the people that benefit are the huge companies that act as middle men (often there are at least three identifiable layers of coffee brokers). The poor fuckers producing it get their drinking water poisoned with pesticides (see Mother Jones special issue on this circa 1998) and their tree cover stripped away (to allow beans to ripen more quickly) which facilitates soil erosion and species depletion.
Really, the shit that "Irish" American talks makes me wonder if "Irish" American is having a coffee drink or a coffee enema?
Really, of all the corporations to focus on . . Starbucks as the centrepiece of Indymedia Ireland?
In the novel "Memoir from Antproof Case" by Mark Helprin, the main protagonist had a hatred of coffee, calling it "a whip driving the human soul," and the fuel for all of heartless metromonic modernity.
Didn't get your green card, did you, un-American?
There might be reason for worry if Dublin was currently overrun with quality coffee shops. As it is, after 6pm, there's Sufi's on Stephen's St and, er, that's it. (Notice I didn't mention Kaffe Mocha (sp?) as I'm including only "quality" coffee - they couldn't brew a decent cup in there at gunpoint - and yes, I tried this tactic.)
Far more worrying has been the demolition and closing of lots of old-time pubs from the city and the opening of awful Zanzibar-style meat markets. Just because this homogenisation is being imposed from within Ireland, doesn't make it any better.
P.
A Cancerous death and bubonic hell torture to all those marching under the scars and tripes.May you all sprout malignant pustules on your bloated pasty genitaila and fester in a pit of eternal screaming filth.Oh and have a lice day.
Returning to Ireland in August after many years in U.S. Now I know that I'll be able to get my cup of starbucks too. Excellent!!
Excellent article.
what is "Irish American" blathering about? no don't tell me, i'm sure i'd figure it out if i wanted to.
Indeed starbucks suck to the fullest extent. i propose a french-style welcoming a la the *farmers* reception given to McDonalds. but let's face it, who is actually systematically targetting the monsters that are here already? McDung? PissHut? Kentucky Fried Rabbit? etc. etc. the list is mammoth. beyond a quiet little boycott amongst friends these moguls aren't really being challenged here. AT ALL.
Although i agree with you in principle Gaz, it is well researched and confirmed that Irishmen, unfortunately, possess genetically inferior olfactory nervous systems. which generally renders them incapable of appreciating smell. hence the overWHHHHelming practice of swimming in aftershave >gagGAAAAAAAAG
i forgot the bit about quality coffee, but so did Dublin. and starbucks is defo not going to change that.
mmm...i.t.a.l.y.
hurray, another us target to wreck during next years eu summit, lets hope they open in time
this irsh woman (who's lived in the US all her life - sad truth be known) has seen far, far too many independent cafes be driven out by starbucks - and their coffee's not that great!! if you want great american coffee, try Strictly Organic (it's organic AND fair trade certified AND WAY TASTIER than sb's could ever be)
beat back the greedy corporate bastards!
it is really quite as bad.
think local act global and all that.
Share value in Starbucks has _increased_
on the back of consistent press and media speculation that the company is about to expand in Europe.
thanks to everyone who did their bit for -background noise-
really we should stick to issues not brands.
none
i think this culture of chain stores and cafe's wrecks the individuality of a town or city,even countries. it's all a huge problem,and thanks to corporate greed its going to continue.if starbucks opens here i wont be going there.
Good article Kevin. Very good in fact. The reason for the title I have used is because I am astounded by the answers of the members of the public. When you interviewed them were you not a tad shocked by the apathy - i thought. But I soon realised that, that is the crux of the problem. They dont know the facts, they need to know the facts and people hide the facts so they dont know. Very frustrating. But as I am a relative newcomer to indymedia's website and am delighted to have found a source for the information to be gotten from (excuse the 'bad english) I would like to remind everyone who posts on this site that they are helping that information along.
Good Show.
I'm an Irish emmigrant living in the u.s. I'm returning to our beloved little island to live, permenantly. And the last thing I want to see is another fuckin' starbucks, there's one on every block here. Ban the bastards, lets let them know they are not wanted.
New York, NY- The Starbucks Baristas Union and community members across the country have condemned repeated attempts by the company to deny workers a fair vote on the Union. While paying lip-service to respecting the choice of employees, Starbucks has deployed a variety of crude tactics in an effort to defeat the IWW IU/660, which would be the first union certified in the United States at the mammoth chain.
Supporters around the country and internationally are contacting Starbucks demanding they live up to their rhetoric. If Starbucks really is a bastion of worker benefits, what is Chairman Howard Schultz, who raked in over $17 million last year, so scared of? The truth is Starbucks, with its poverty wages and rampant repetitive-stress dangers, resembles a sweatshop more than it does a decent place to work.
The IWW released today the text they obtained of a voice mail Howard Schultz sent to employees around the company regarding the Union which Schultz calls, “very disappointing and disturbing.”
“What we have here is classic union busting plain and simple,” said Benjamin Ferguson, an IWW member working on the campaign. “They are using the same down and dirty tricks we see time and time again from highly successful corporations unwilling to give their workers a fair shake.”
One the legal front, Starbucks has hired corporate law firm Akin Gump to argue that the workers in the store aren’t entitled to a vote. Mr. Shultz is fond of saying the Starbucks Mission Statement requires respect and dignity for employees but apparently that does not include exercising the right to form a union. The IWW will face off with Starbucks on June 2 at a formal hearing at the National Labor Relations Board.
read more @ link:-
Is it really nearly two years ago since I wrote this? Got a phone call yesterday informing me that Starbucks are definitely going to be opening up their first outlet near the front of Trinity College, next to the Bank of Ireland in College Green, in the coming months. This will be the first of a half-dozen or so outlets which they hope to have opened by the end of the summer.