Speaking at the Ernst & Young Strategic Growth Forum today, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said basically that McDonald’s McCafe launch lit a fire under his company’s ass and made the mega-chain better.
According to Reuters, Schultz, who regained control of Starbucks early last year, told the crowd that because the McCafe ad blitz prompted people to compare products between the two corporate giants, Starbucks actually gained ground. Starbucks’ shuttering of 900 stores and cutting other costs has apparently contributed to the chain raising its financial forecasts for 2010. But it’s probably too early to tell if Via sales played any significant role in this “year-long turnaround.”
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