I don't frequent Starbucks much...usually then it's because I have a gift card. It's just not in my blood to pay $4 for a coffee beverage, particularly if the coffee beans are not freshly roasted and ground on the premises.
Evidently others have been cutting back on the Star$$'s brew. They've announced that beginning next month they'd be offering food plus drink for $4. Now that's not too shabby..unless the 'food' is a mini-muffin. I'm hoping it's something more substantial like a sandwich, or at least half a sandwich and a mini-dessert.
I'll be checking it out--via my loaded gift cards . I thought you might be interested too. I like to support businesses who are smart enough to realize that they, as well as consumers, must cut back in hard times--be willing to make a smaller profit.
Exactly how much is enough of a profit for a business? Well--if we let greed drives us there is no amount that is ever enough. I've heard that Rockefeller answered,when asked the question "how much is enough?" (relative to how rich did he want to be), "just a little more".
While it's good to have the desire for more ----and the freedom to earn it to spur us to work versus sitting on our can--we also need the wisdom to know when enough is enough. There is more to life than excessive amounts of money in the bank. Mind you--money is not evil. Without it we'd have a horrible time and probably a hard life.
But money won't enrich our life if we allow the getting of and possessing of it to rob us of the more important things--which include not only loving our family and meeting their needs, but loving our neighbor as ourselves. Without that love of others, we won't allow any of our benefit to 'trickle down'.
I'm a capitalist at heart, but only in light of God's (Yahweh) instruction to love our neighbour as our self. And by the way--that instruction also says if a man or woman refuses to work then he shouldn't be allowed to eat. In other words--we are to bear our own burden in order to not be a burden and be available to bear the burden of those who "cannot" bear their own--the emphasis being on 'cannot'. Anyone able but unwilling to carry his own load deserves to suffer the consequences of his choices.
Kudos to you Starbucks for adjusting to the current economic situation and trying to make your business succeed in light of it.