Starbucks has a great 2009
In the middle of this month, Starbucks -a public company traded on the Nasdaq- reported its fourth quarter results for 2009 to close out the year. Amidst news almost a year old now of Starbucks shutting down many US locations and most Australian locations, how did they do? Very well.In somewhat of a surprise for investors, Starbucks showed many promising signs of recovery, including the success of...its instant coffee? Where Starbucks is a premium brand and instant coffee is not widely respected among coffee drinkers, the launch of Starbucks' VIA brand instant coffee was met with much skepticism, including by yours truly. You might remember by Starbucks VIA taste test where I was challenged to identify which was the instant and which was the drip-brewed Pike Place blend. I admitted while I could identify which was which that the VIA was the best instant coffee I'd ever had, for what it's worth.For Starbucks, it's been worth plenty. A net income increase of almost 300%, and a sales increase of 4%. But where sales increased 4%, store traffic increased by only 1%...meaning roughly the same number of people are paying more or buying more at the cash machine. That is a healthy sign for the Starbucks brand.Starbucks customers are apparently enjoying the VIA coffee, which is sold not only in Starbucks locations, but also in Target, Amazon, and Costco. CEO Howard Schultz was excited about VIA, pointing out that people can enjoy it wherever they go, as a single-serve option that "does not require costly proprietary brewing equipment." That sounded to me like a crack against the one-shot pod coffee machines out now, like Keurig's.Starbucks share value soared 162% in one year. I don't own shares of Starbucks but I am a regular Starbucks customer and happy to see that their decisions are being supported by great results. It means I should be able to count on the same quality and consistency, and the occasional new product like the VIA - I still have one pouch left from when I originally bought some