Schultz had been spotted checking out Juice Press on First Street and Liquiteria back in March.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Did Starbucks borrow East Village juice bar ideas?
Schultz had been spotted checking out Juice Press on First Street and Liquiteria back in March.
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26 comments:
If a a juice bar owner befriended a starbucks manager, and then hired her away to start coffee service/train employees for coffee service, starbucks would immediately sue for theft of trade secrets, unfair competition and a number of other bs claims. I hope Mr. Green responds in kind, and sues the pants off of Starbucks.
they should sue the sh*t out of them and open and patent 10 more liquiterias with the settlement.
and that liquiteria employee who defected is a POS corporate sellout.
But what about the ethics of the woman who walked off for cash? Not so loyal...ah, capitalism at its finest.
Not surprising that Starbucks went after Liquiteria, it's the best juice bar in the whole damn city. Sue 'em, Mr. Green!
Give me a break - it's a juice bar. Not exactly trade-secret territory. This happens in business all the time, particularly for staff training, as mentioned in the post. As if this woman shouldn't benefit from her career experience.
If a company with the reputation of Starbucks "befriends" you, and your main source of revenue is beverages, I'd recommend telling them to fuck off. As for her jumping ship, let's not blame her until we hear that Liquiteria at least tried to retain her. Loyalty doesn't always pay the rent.
As a small business owner, specifically owner of a smoothie bar, I am most concerned about the fact that Starbucks is contemplating a juice bar concept. Can't they leave us alone already?! It's hard enough as it is to survive here. Last thing we need is Starbucks storming in.
The whole point of Starbucks is to eliminate any and all competition.
Schultz sees juice bars as another way to make billions, and if it means planting a Starbucks juice bar on every other corner for a couple years just to undercut or eliminate competitors, so be it.
It is well known that many of the Starbucks locations in Manhattan were not making money, but they stayed open to further the brand and undercut competitors.
Schultz has no conscience, he lives to increase profits.
Not only will he not leave other juice bars alone, he hopes to sink them so he can generate more profit.
And anyone who goes to Liquiteria on a regular basis knows which manager left.
She's in way over her head.
@anon 4:51
"Give me a break - it's a juice bar. Not exactly trade-secret territory. This happens in business all the time, particularly for staff training, as mentioned in the post."
Exactly my point. Corporate giants file spurious lawsuits on the basis of bs trade secret claims etc...all the time to stifle smaller competition. I'm not saying there were any trade secrets actually stolen (though who knows), but particularly federal judges, who predominantly worked at corporate law firms servicing fortune 500 companies prior to joining the bench buy complete bullshit "proprietary information" and "trade secret" claims when Starbucks sue the little guy, so why not respond in kind.
Screw Starbucks. Starbucks has a soft underbelly and can be easily beaten by a small biz if the owners are ready and willing to fight back. 15 years ago when Starbucks saw that Cobble Hill was gentrifying and that my family's shop had lines out the door, they sent scouts in to watch how we ran things. Then they opened up shop across the street and proceeded to target our customers with every idea they could dream up. We beat them senseless and are still open today.
Schultz, I'm sure you've got you're good eye on Ave A and I'm sure you have drones reading these blogs and reporting back. Bring it pal. We'll spank your soft CEO butt all the way back to corp headquarters in Seattle the way we do in Brooklyn. I'm your kryptonite Schultz. I'll be waiting for you.
Schultz grew up a poor kid in Brooklyn and turned America on to better coffee. Also, I wouldn't be concerned about SBX launching a chain of juice stores. The margins on coffee beans and water are way better than fruit.
Never setting foot in a Starbucks again. Put the word out......
Liquiteria is way OVERpriced and produces fruit & vegetable juicer drinks that could be easily duplicated by just about any interested business. I don't know what the secret is that keeps the suckers lined up. I never patronize Starbucks but to me Liquiteria has exactly the same vibe.
It's not so much that Liquiteria does something with their juice that is so secret/magical, although they do use extremely quality vegetables/fruits and supplements, and understand the nutrition of both. They may be expensive for smoothies, which can be made cheaply at home, but juice is relatively expensive no matter what.
Not to be a hippie, but what makes Liquiteria special is really more about its spirit, how friendly and unpretentious they are there (unlike, e.g., Juice Press), and how CLEAN it is. My god, Liquiteria is the cleanest place ever. Starbucks can try to duplicate this, but it won't work. They'll just be upscaling Jamba Juice.
Juice bars are just like regular bars, some are cool and others are wanky. I like Liquteria, Juicy Lucy's, Daily Juice, don't like One Lucky Duck ... the people who will go to whatever Starbucks has in store are like the people who drink at TGIFriday's.
Juiceheads will fight back, though. We have a shitton of energy; we do wheatgrass.
Turned american onto "better coffee???" you have got to be kidding me. what are you a starbucks shill? Starbucks coffe is absolutely disgusting, stomach-churning chemical sludge and their stores smell like FECAL MATTER. yep, that's the smell of their beans.
Liquiteria is NOT overpriced and they are rare in that they use all organic fruits (which starbucks would NEVER do because they enjoy selling synthetic poisonous crap to their customers). Liquiteria should call the post, gothamist, the times, NY1, and every media outlet they can to drum up as much bad publicity for starbucks as possible. that is the best way to bring these corporate bullies to their knees.
i would also like to point out that starbucks treats their coffee pickers horribly and destroys the planet with the chemicals they use, and a lot of the companies they support do the same.
SBUX - stop f*cking with the east village!
I frequent Juicy Lucy's, and Liquiteria on occasion, although I used to go more often.
Juice Press is wayyyy overpriced, they attract the worst of the Eurotrash/SWPL crowd, and their staff can be downright strange, even rude, as if they had something better to do.
I tried many different items at JuicePress for a month just to give them a chance. I settled on something I liked, and would get a commentary from the staff every time. Weird people, weird place.
I'll stick with Juicy Lucy and Liquiteria. And so should you.Support local businesses.
Actually, I think Doug Smith comes off as being the biggest ass in this story. He sounds like he views Yohana Bencosme as being his indentured servant or slave. How dare she leave me!
This seems to be a non-story. I'm more interested in other things about Liquiteria, like (1) I think their original name (which I've forgotten) was better ... "Liquiteria" sounds cheesey; and (2) Isn't that the building that David Duchovny grew up in?
No matter what your feelings are about Starbucks, in general, and their poaching of employees there is no argument for how prohibitively expensive Liquiteria is.
Sorry, when identifying the Liquiteria owner I said "Doug Smith" instead of "Doug Green".
Liquiteria is really not that good. Good for the girl who left.
Liquiteria is expensive, but I still support them since they've been there for 12+ years.
I remember when they were called something else, and were associated with a great juice joint/smoothie emporium on West Houston back in the mid 90's.
It was called Lucky's Juice, and the one on West Houston was great. I used to see Willem Dafoe in there all the time. Lucky's invented all of the smoothies you still see at Liquiteria. The exact same stuff.
That was back when W. Houston still had empty lots and some original life.
Then Starbucks moved in and Lucky's closed.
That's a sorry state of affairs when something that has been around for 12+ years has been granted icon status. Even Starbucks has been around longer than that.
An EVERYBODY loved Starbucks when they first hit the scene. Why all the hate now?
Go back to sleep tim.
No one said Liquiteria was an icon.
It's simply been there awhile, and folks should support local businesses.
By the way, Starbucks is not local.
To show your displeasure at Starbucks' intrusion into our waters; VOTE WITH YOUR WALLETS FIRST! But to add to that, I propose giving Starbucks the "thumbs down" sign as you pass. It's simple and shows your disdain. Who knows? It could catch on! Soon, Douche bags and their Fabulosa girlfriends could be furiously juggling their Victoria Secrets bags in order to join us in giving those bastids whatfor!
Cameo is exactly right. Why is Liquiteria crying about theft of concept when the concept belongs to Lucky's Juice Joint? Liquiteria is very good but not at all original.
In the late 70s/early-mid 80s, the Liquiteria space was a 24-hour coffee shop patronized mostly by drag queens and the hookers who worked the area. Talk about an interesting place to hang out at 2 AM...
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