Circa 1971 Starbucks lands in Bryant Park
People gather as free samples of Starbucks' new "everyday" brew Pikes Place Roast are handed out in Bryant Park Tuesday. Starbucks constructed a replica of the original Seattle Pike Place Market Starbucks to celebrate the launch. (Getty)
New Yorkers are crazy about coffee, and Starbucks knows that.
The company that turned “large” into “venti” and the homely cup of joe into a fashion accessory is now making a celebrity out of its new “every day” brew.
At a replica of the original store that was set up in the middle of Bryant Park Tuesday, company representatives gave out samples of “Pike Place Roast,” a single-brewed coffee that will be offered daily in stores across the country. The event was one of a series of tastings that took place simultaneously across the country to mark the launch of the new coffee.
As the event got under way, more than 200 people stood eagerly in the sunshine clutching paper cups. Also on hand was a large crowd of journalists, including seven television crews and more than a dozen photographers. The latter went into a frenzy of snapping worthy of a Hollywood star and yelling “Over here! Over here!” when the company co-founder and CEO Howard Schultz stepped up to the microphone.
“Starbucks is very popular in Japan,” explained Noriaki Takada, reporter for Nippon TV.
By the time the news conference began, Edelman, the public-relations company in charge of the event, had signed in a list of journalists five pages long.
“I’m, like, looking around and thinking, who are all these people?” said Kyrsten Laboda, a Starbucks visual presentation manager who helped set up the replica overnight.
“Ok, it’s getting serious,” said her colleague Brandon Mosby as the speeches were about to begin.
No fewer than eight people took turns on stage, talking bout how amazing Starbucks is.
The event was carefully staged: Journalists who approached the speakers after the speeches were over were forced to conduct their interviews in the presence of an Edelman chaperon.
Amid falling stocks, slowing sales growth and increased competition, Starbucks announced sweeping changes last month in an attempt to re-brand itself and reconnect to its coffee roots.
“We are now going to reinvent brewed coffee,” said Schultz, claiming that Starbucks had already changed how the country viewed coffee before.
All this for coffee? What’s the big deal?
“It’s not just coffee,” he said. So what is it?
Several tasters agreed that the new flavor was less bitter. Master coffee blender Andrew Linnenman said the company had listened to customers, who wanted a coffee that was at the same time bold, smooth, and mild.
“You wanted a coffee that was like a Ferrari, at the price of a Chevette and in the style of a Chevrolet,” he said.
Perhaps it just that New Yorkers have a special relationship with coffee.
Jessyca Escobar and Stephen Flynn, two 19-year-old Hunter College students, skipped classes today to come and taste the new brew and get free bags of coffee beans autographed by Schultz.
Escobar, a self-avowed addict who goes to Starbucks once or twice a day for a venti skinny mocha, said she started drinking more coffee when she arrived in the city a year ago.
Joyce Huang and Sarah Kline, both 25, took the subway over to Bryant Park from work a few stops away after reading about the event online.
Kline theorized that New Yorkers are big coffee drinkers because they have to be.
“There’s a lot to do in New York so you need a lot of energy,” Huang explained.
-- Mathilde Piard
amNewYork extra!
What do murdered mobster Albert Anastasia and Starbucks have in common? Click here.
Comments (1)
Anastasia was murdered at a Barber Shop wich later has become
a Starbucks at ground floor of Park Central Hotel.