4 ms·

It's true. From my own experience, Starbucks in Japan is far superior than in the US, too. 7-11's are _wonderful_ in Japan.

jleyank 5y ago
I have found (US, Canada, UK) that Starbucks like most chains responds to the local competition. Where there's good coffee available in quantity, they hire baristas who drink it and know what they're doing. When there's few options, youthful customers or lots of tourists they go with the colored drinks and the coffee sux. I have also found that outside the US (possibly outside of N America), there's less sugar and more taste involved.
- Tade0 5y ago
  McDonald's in Italy is interesting - ketchup is not free (€0.50) and in taste is a lot like tomato sauce.
skhr0680 5y ago
7-11 were great for the 5 minutes their CEO actually cared about making customers happy and brought in innovations that literally forced nearly every other convenience store to consolidate into a mega chain into order to stay in business: - aggressive expansion of corporate-owned stores - very clean and modern toilets with a “free to use” policy - vertical integration: nearly every product became 7-11 branded. - better quality of food in general, especially hot items - fresh coffee, brewed to order Of course, they fired that guy for a penny pincher and the quality took a dramatic nosedive to the point that shitty 7-11 products are a meme now. Things like bentos with a bottom that curves upwards to make it look like there is more product than there really is, sandwiches with filling only in side the visible from the shelf, shrinking onigiri, or “strawberry pulp” that is literally a picture of strawberry pulp printed onto the cup. Nearly all of the other brands consolidated into Famima, and now Famima is competing on quality to take advantage of the situation. It was amazing how quickly they got their act together when they realized what was going on at 7.
- eplanit 5y ago
  Very sad to hear that. I guess all [good] things certainly do come to an end. I haven't been back there in a few years, so I'm recalling the "good ol' days", I guess.
  - skhr0680 5y ago
    Isn’t it great when shareholders at publicly traded companies say “Hey, we could totally make more money by making our product suck”? They’ll probably get their act together sooner or later; McDonald’s in Japan had an extreme turnaround for the better after years of poor management and scandals.

jleyank 5y ago

I have found (US, Canada, UK) that Starbucks like most chains responds to the local competition. Where there's good coffee available in quantity, they hire baristas who drink it and know what they're doing. When there's few options, youthful customers or lots of tourists they go with the colored drinks and the coffee sux. I have also found that outside the US (possibly outside of N America), there's less sugar and more taste involved.

Tade0 5y ago
McDonald's in Italy is interesting - ketchup is not free (€0.50) and in taste is a lot like tomato sauce.

skhr0680 5y ago

7-11 were great for the 5 minutes their CEO actually cared about making customers happy and brought in innovations that literally forced nearly every other convenience store to consolidate into a mega chain into order to stay in business: - aggressive expansion of corporate-owned stores - very clean and modern toilets with a “free to use” policy - vertical integration: nearly every product became 7-11 branded. - better quality of food in general, especially hot items - fresh coffee, brewed to order Of course, they fired that guy for a penny pincher and the quality took a dramatic nosedive to the point that shitty 7-11 products are a meme now. Things like bentos with a bottom that curves upwards to make it look like there is more product than there really is, sandwiches with filling only in side the visible from the shelf, shrinking onigiri, or “strawberry pulp” that is literally a picture of strawberry pulp printed onto the cup. Nearly all of the other brands consolidated into Famima, and now Famima is competing on quality to take advantage of the situation. It was amazing how quickly they got their act together when they realized what was going on at 7.

eplanit 5y ago
Very sad to hear that. I guess all [good] things certainly do come to an end. I haven't been back there in a few years, so I'm recalling the "good ol' days", I guess.
- skhr0680 5y ago
  Isn’t it great when shareholders at publicly traded companies say “Hey, we could totally make more money by making our product suck”? They’ll probably get their act together sooner or later; McDonald’s in Japan had an extreme turnaround for the better after years of poor management and scandals.