Not to understand the appeal of Starbucks, Costa, etc.?

[Nataleejah]

What is the thing with them?
Drinks are nothing special, food is not the freshest, yet you pay for a coffee and a sandwich just as much as for a decent restaurant meal.
Or it its an adult version of a "happy meal" ?

Husband and I travel a lot. Nationally and internationally. We enjoy trying local cuisines and beverages and find some of the best and worst establishments are independents. Chains have standards and whilst some of those standards may be mediocre a McD toilet will always be clean (or you can ask for it to be cleaned immediately before using it), Starbucks will always have the specialty milk husband needs or syrup I prefer. After weeks of travel and trying different things sometimes it's nice to just know you can have what you want without a 10 minute discussion about lactose free milk or the need for toilet paper in cubicle one

Starbucks hot chocolate is the nicest ever most independents are watery rubbish, yabu, individual taste and all that

I don't understand the appeal of Greggs but I don't go slagging off people who queue up there. YABU

Greggs doesn't have much of an appeal at all.
But Starbucks has some sort of a 'trendy' thing

I remember at uni we had a visiting lecturer from USA. He had worked for an investment firm. When Starbucks proposal came to him, he threw it away because he didn't think anyone would pay that much for a coffee. He said i was the biggest mistake of his life as he never imagined it would take off.

Costa coffee is very nice, I'm surprised people are saying it's not. Food is not great though and definitely overpriced.

If you buy take away hot drinks , are you aware that many of the cups they use can't be recycled? Why don't you carry hot drink with you in a flask and save money ?

If it's for the reason that you couldn't make the particular hot drink at home as good as they do at the takeaway place, then how many of you carry round a washable cup to have it served in? Would you consider it?

But Starbucks has some sort of a 'trendy' thing

I must be old then as it isn't among my peers/friends!

I love Starbucks, it's my guilty pleasure, I get a Starbucks mocha most mornings in the winter.

With Starbucks I can order on the app on my walk there and not waste my lunch hour standing in a queue. It's all about speed for me. On the weekend I'll go to an independent coffee shop (which has most excellent cakes!)

The Starbucks I go to occasionally is at the motorway junction and has a druve through. In and out in a couple of minutes. When I have travel we go to the drive through there. Why would I go into town to an independent, park up, pay to park, walk to it and walk back. Adding 30 minutes to my day.

Also I have had awful coffee in loads of independents. If I am somewhere I am not familiar with it will go to a chain. If I am in my home town, it would be independent.

I think the OP is under the assumption that all people go to these places because they are 'trendy' when in lots of cases, it isn't.

I think Starbucks was 'trendy' back when it first opened when it was something new?! Now it's just one chain among many.

deedee I recommend a JocoCup (reusable travel coffee cup), the only problem with them is that the kid just rests on spine you've finished your coffee you need to rinse it out before putting it back in your bag.

Argh typos! The LID just rests on TOP SO WHEN you've finished...

deedee If I know I'm going to be out I'll either use my travel cup/reusable cup or try to drink in. I occasionally get caught on the hop but try to minimise this as much as possible.

IME independents tend not to offer decaf or skimmed milk. That's why I go to Costa.

Starbucks coffee is shit & tasteless IMO. As if they have taken a "normal" amount of coffee for a "normal" size cup & then diluted it to homeopathetic nothingness in a giant bucket.

Costa is tolerable, Caffe Nero is better. I'd rather go to an independent place & tend to order tea as it's more predictable.

I like Gregs. Cheap fast food for my son, if he wants a cake they have a vast selection, if he wants a sausage roll or like wise they have plenty of choice and the sandwiches are pretty good too. Why the snobbery?

It's a worldwide chain so when a student in the US post on social media about going to Starbucks it's understood internationally. Same with McDonslds, and to a certain extent Nando's.

Nothing amazing about Nando's or Starbucks or McDonald's but you know what your getting, which can be a relief when travelling, especially abroad. After a week of figuring out foreign time time tables and bus routes and conversing in a language I barely speak, and being severed shots of coffee so strong it turns your teeth black, feel free to point and laugh if I seek refuge in a predictable latte.

*more predictable - as in I think it's harder to fuck up a cup of tea as the customer is left in charge of it. I only order coffee if I know it's going to be good.

The chains are predictable - that is apparently their appeal

I love the coffee at Starbucks - I go and get a take away every morning before work and most lunchtimes. Best way to start the working day!

LynetteScavo exactly, sometimes you just want what you already know, you know when you order a BigMac you are getting a BigMac. It's easy.

Starbucks tea. It's revolting. Like someone has put a squirt of anti bacterial hand soap in.

Could you just rinse it in the toilet sink? Or ask the coffe shop the rinse it for you? Or failing that, put a hankie in the cup to absorb drips?

I've tried really hard to past year to always carry water in a flask or hot drinks in a flask. Once you get the habit, it's easy to do. As is carrying around a reusable cup.

I never order tea, no one can make tea just the way I like it except me! Also in coffee shops the water for the tea is never quite boiling, so it doesn't brew properly. That's what I find anyway!

There's plenty of places I don't like to eat or get a hot chocolate from, so I don't go..

Well, I'm most likely to be getting a coffee between 6.30 and 7 in the morning so none of the independents are open near me so the choice is costa or Starbucks. I would rather go without coffee than drink Starbucks. It's rank. So costa it is. I agree on the food though. Overpriced and bland. They don't even warm their croissants ffs. Pret is better. A lovely Indy has opened recently which does open at 7. However I can only have black coffee as they don't have skimmed milk. I can't abide full fat so it's a chain if I want a cappuccino.