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Starbucks rethinks stance on young customers (Kids giving getting a buzz a new meaning)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20608492/ ^ | 9-10-07 | Allison Linn

Posted on 09/11/2007 6:34:11 AM PDT by Hydroshock

Kamyra L. Harding never gives her son coffee or soda, and rarely opts for treats such as chocolate cupcakes. But about twice a month, the mom does give in to her 4-year-old son Garrett David Brand’s request for a Chai tea latte from Starbucks.

“People here already know us,” Harding said on a recent visit to a Starbucks on New York's Upper West Side. “They know we want extra milk.”

Garrett has been a regular Starbucks customer since “he could hold a cup,” his mother says. Now when he passes a Starbucks he says, “I want to buy this tea.”

Starbucks, keenly aware of the pitfalls of being seen as trying to lure kids to drink sweet, caffeinated beverages, has for years insisted that it does not market to children — even as stroller traffic jams build outside some stores and teenagers pack others.

Now, however, the company is revising its stance on kids, acknowledging that the under-18 set has become part of the coffee chain’s customer base.

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: caffeine; children; coffee; starbucks
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1 posted on 09/11/2007 6:34:15 AM PDT by Hydroshock
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To: Hydroshock

All I get from there is hot chocolate, during the winter it’s their peppermint hot chocolate.


2 posted on 09/11/2007 6:36:41 AM PDT by wastedyears (George Orwell was a clairvoyant.)
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To: Hydroshock

“Give me 2 tall lattes and 1 ritalin. To go.”


3 posted on 09/11/2007 6:37:42 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (The broken wall, the burning roof and tower. And Agamemnon dead.)
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To: Hydroshock

No worries. These upper west (and east) side kids are probably already on Ritalin, so drink up!


4 posted on 09/11/2007 6:38:59 AM PDT by wilco200
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To: wastedyears
I work with a group of serious caffeine junkies. One guy last week had a large coffee with 4 shots of espresso washed down with a red bull.
5 posted on 09/11/2007 6:39:08 AM PDT by Hydroshock ("The Constitution should be taken like mountain whiskey -- undiluted and untaxed." - Sam Ervin)
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To: Hydroshock

Tea does not contain all that much caffeine. The effect is different from coffee. I can drink tea all day and never get strung out. One cup of coffee and I am wired.

Sipping a cup of Golden Nepal-Kanyam Estate 2nd Flush


6 posted on 09/11/2007 6:40:16 AM PDT by AppyPappy (If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
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To: Hydroshock

That’s m’ boy!


7 posted on 09/11/2007 6:40:27 AM PDT by null and void (I have several guns....every sane person should have at least one. ~ Fawn)
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To: Hydroshock

It’s interesting: when I was growing up, coffee seemed to be treated as some kind of dangerous drug that was strictly off-limits to kids. Now they’re all Red Bull junkies. ;)


8 posted on 09/11/2007 6:40:46 AM PDT by Mr. Jeeves ("Wise men don't need to debate; men who need to debate are not wise." -- Tao Te Ching)
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To: Hydroshock
One guy last week had a large coffee with 4 shots of espresso washed down with a red bull.

Sounds like he's ready to move on to another product from Columbia.

9 posted on 09/11/2007 6:41:16 AM PDT by PBRSTREETGANG
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To: Mr. Jeeves

“Here is your coffee Johnny.....and have a good day at school.”


10 posted on 09/11/2007 6:42:32 AM PDT by Red in Blue PA (Truth : Liberals :: Kryptonite : Superman)
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To: wastedyears

Did you ever get a chance to try Chantico? It was available during 2005 only - got yanked for poor sales.

It was the best hot chocolate EVER. It was like drinking a melted Hershey bar.


11 posted on 09/11/2007 6:42:37 AM PDT by Xenalyte (Can you count, suckas? I say the future is ours . . . if you can count.)
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To: PBRSTREETGANG
I joked with them that they will soon be aerosol spraying Ritalin in the office.
12 posted on 09/11/2007 6:42:55 AM PDT by Hydroshock ("The Constitution should be taken like mountain whiskey -- undiluted and untaxed." - Sam Ervin)
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To: Hydroshock

If caffeine did anything to me, I’d drink at least one of those daily.


13 posted on 09/11/2007 6:43:18 AM PDT by wastedyears (George Orwell was a clairvoyant.)
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To: Red in Blue PA

My dad was a carpenter, he always had coffee in the morning, he started to serve it up to me when I was 6.


14 posted on 09/11/2007 6:44:53 AM PDT by Hydroshock ("The Constitution should be taken like mountain whiskey -- undiluted and untaxed." - Sam Ervin)
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To: Xenalyte

I don’t know if I would want to drink melted chocolate. It seems a bit thick to me.


15 posted on 09/11/2007 6:45:03 AM PDT by wastedyears (George Orwell was a clairvoyant.)
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To: Hydroshock

Good for them. I love the Free Market. :)

a. If you’re stupid enough (as a parent) to let your kid get hopped up on caffeine, you can always give him a Ritalin tab later in the day, Right? *SMIRK*

b. As a parent, you can say “NO” to Starbucks, just as you do to Mountain Dew, or other things you don’t want young children to have. When my boys were teens, they could have junk if they wanted it, but they had to spend their OWN money on it. That kept the Mountain Dew & Cheeto consumption down to a very manageable level.

c. I get the feeling that this author is one step away from calling for regulation of caffeine for kids, which smacks of “Nanny Stater” to me. I’m from a very German family; we had coffee from toddler-hood on, with lots of milk and sugar.

d. Big deal. *SHRUG*


16 posted on 09/11/2007 6:45:20 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (Save The Earth. It's The Only Planet With Chocolate.)
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To: wastedyears

That’s not what it was, only what it tasted like - it was intense. Much the Euro-style drinking chocolate.


17 posted on 09/11/2007 6:46:37 AM PDT by Xenalyte (Can you count, suckas? I say the future is ours . . . if you can count.)
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To: Xenalyte

Oh, in that case, maybe I would try it.


18 posted on 09/11/2007 6:48:27 AM PDT by wastedyears (George Orwell was a clairvoyant.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Think about this: When kids forget their Ritalin, the teachers give them caffeine. It has the same effect although for a shorter period.


19 posted on 09/11/2007 6:48:33 AM PDT by AppyPappy (If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
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To: Hydroshock

Sweet, mother of pearl!! What a rush!


20 posted on 09/11/2007 6:49:34 AM PDT by Paulus
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