Menu Changes Cause Stir at Starbucks

While going through the Starbucks drive through on Monday, my wife noticed some changes...and apparently she was right (for once)! The cheap drinks have been removed from the menu! Here's more from USA Today:

What a difference a new sign makes.

At Starbucks (SBUX) drive-throughs — one-third of the chain's 11,000 U.S. stores have one — newly redesigned outdoor menu boards advise customers that they can buy Grande (16 oz.) and Venti (20 oz.) sized beverages. Curiously, the signs no longer mention the smaller, cheaper cup size that's still for sale: Tall (12 oz.).

This has set the blogosphere abuzz. Some believe Starbucks is being sneaky — nudging hurried, drive-through customers to spend a tad more than they might have intended.

While Starbucks' same-store sales have grown nicely the past year — following very difficult years in fiscal 2008 and 2009 — the brouhaha comes as the restaurant industry is desperately searching for ways to boost traffic and sales. Some 44% of restaurant operators reported a same-store sales decline in July, the National Restaurant Association says.

But Starbucks officials strongly insist this isn't about nudging sales. They say the change is actually something that drive-through customers have requested — a simplified menu board. Starbucks shrank the number of items on drive-through menus from 70 to about 25. The change was made at all drive-throughs on Aug. 31.

"We are not being sneaky," Starbucks spokeswoman Deb Trevino says. "We did it because our customers were frustrated with the difficulty of reading our drive-through menus."

What's more, she notes, drive-through customers can still order Tall beverages. For that matter, they can even order Short (8 oz.) drinks, which aren't posted on menus inside or out.

But Robert Passikoff doesn't buy it for a minute. The founder of Brand Keys, a brand consulting and research consultancy, says Starbucks is playing fast and loose with its customers.

"It's disingenuous to suggest that how they simplified the menu was to benefit the customer," he says. "I don't know why you'd suddenly drop your cheaper item off the menu."

Click here for the rest of the article

Get Abilene Company on Food Network

Here's an email I received from Tasha DeKarske, who owns ShortBus Hot Dogs with her husband. They are trying to be on Food Network, and want your help in doing so!

We and have been nominated to be on Season 2 of The Great Food Truck race on FoodNetwork. We are the only truck nominated in the Big Country! We're hoping to drum up some community support with your help! To determine the finalist for season 2 there is a voting period and it's open right now until September 10, 2010.
You can go to: www.foodnetwork.com/foodtrucks and click on the link to VOTE (it's under the video box). On the voting page you can scroll by truck name or click on Texas on the map. The map will show you visually all of the trucks that were nominated in Texas.
We have participated locally with several events including the Balloon Fest last year and this year, 2 years at the Tye celebration, and several other smaller events around the Big Country.
We hope to hopefully put Abilene on the map with the FoodNetwork!

So if any of you have tried the ShortBus hot dogs, you might want to consider giving them a little help with this Food Network thing!

Arrivederci, Tuscany's

Tuscany's Coffee House on South 1st Street will serve its customers for the last time on Friday.

The owner said it's unfortunate, but he needs to focus his time on other opportunities.

Almost everything inside Tuscany's will be on sale Friday, Sept. 3 beginning at 7 a.m.

All you can eat extravaganza!

I am very excited to announce that Genghis Grill, a Mongolian stir-fry restaurant, will be opening a store here in Abilene in December!


It will open where the old Luby's stands on Clack Street. The restaurant hopes to be open before the end of the fourth quarter.

At Genghis Grill you pick your raw ingredients from a buffet, hand them to the chefs at the grill, and they cook it up for you and bring it to your table. There are 70 choices, with proteins, seasoning, veggies, sauce and starches.

From its website: According to legend, 12th century Mongol warriors, led by the mighty warrior GENGHIS KHAN, heated their shields over open fires to grill food in the fields of battle!

I love it, because you can control your own portion size and nutritional value. And, when you go back for seconds (which I've never done because I'm stuffed) you can cook up something totally different.

Other locations feature a fully-stocked bar, so it becomes a big hangout.

Check out photos of the restaurants on Genghis Grill's Flickr account.

Sugar and Spice

I am a big fan of the homemade chips at Alley Cats. In fact, I was on my way there Tuesday for lunch with two other Alley Cats lovers and a new hire who had never been there. We spent the entire car trip telling her how good the home made chips are, describing the thin, salty, seasoned and semi-sweet goodness.

But when we got there, after upgrading our wraps to include chips and a drink, we were told they were out of homemade chips. So, BBQ Lays would have to do. Boo!

Today I needed to run an errand downtown so my date and I decided to head to Alley Cats again, since we were still craving the chips 48 hours later.

Alas, they're still out.

This sounds rude, but we turned around and walked out. Not because I don't like Alley Cats, but because we'd already been there once this week. They did have a delicious looking build-your-own burger bar with all kinds of tasty-looking toppings, but I wasn't in a burger kind of mood. I was in a wrap with salty/sweet chips kind of mood!

So my date and I walked to Cypress Street. They have good homemade chips, right?, we asked ourselves.

C'mon, say it with me in the Twix guy's voice --
OHHHHH YEEEEAH.

I got the blackened chicken wrap and my date got the club. Both came with a heapin' helpin' of homemade chips! I think these are a lot sweeter than Alley Cat's chips, and may actually have enough granulated sugar in the seasoning mix that a diabetic should inquire about it. I should have asked what all is in the seasoning.

So, which restaurant has your favorite homemade potato chips? Alley Cats or Cypress Street? Or maybe you crave homemade tortilla chips and salsa from somewhere?

BBQ Journeyman Reviews Sweetwater's Bucks

A blogger-slash-barbecue lover is tracking his meat-filled journey around Texas and writing about his sticky-fingered experiences, and recently stopped at Buck's Steaks and BBQ in Sweetwater.

Here's an excerpt from TexasBBQJourney.blogspot.com.

The Brisket was the absolute finest I have had in years. It was perfectly cooked, tasty and "cut with a fork" tender and moist. The Ribs were long, thin and full of meat. The flavor of the Ribs was good and they were cooked well with just the right amount of fat and meat to be pleasing to the eye and easy to eat. Click here to read the rest of the review, which now makes me want to go there!

Graham McFarland tells us: "Texas BBQ Journey is one man's journey to review and report on one of the greatest Texas comfort foods of all time, BBQ. Discover the many BBQ joints around Texas and find out which ones are worth the trip."

McFarland has only reviewed three BBQ joints so far, so we'll see whether Buck's makes the must-visit list.

Free Whataburger on Tuesday!

Found this on Whataburger.com. Ok, let's be honest, I "found" it on Facebook and "confirmed" it on Whataburger.com.

Free Whataburger for our 60th Birthday

Pull out your best orange outfits and wear them with pride. We’re celebrating our 60th birthday on August 3rd from 5pm-8pm. Just stop by your neighborhood Whataburger, show off your orange and get a free Whataburger.