Coffee And A Salad, $12 bucks??!!??

Just in case you thought management at Starbucks (SBUX) just did not seem to get it when they went into the music biz, they made sure today. Starbucks announced today that they will add prepared salad's to their menus. It will add a tomato mozzarella salad and a "fiesta salad" with grilled chicken, roasted corn and black beans, to its lunch menus nationwide. Regional additions will include white chicken curry with couscous, albacore tuna penne, "champagne pasta salad," bowtie pasta with goat cheese, and Asian sesame noodle salad.

The price tag for one of these gems? $5.50. So now I can get my $5.75 Carmel Macchiato which is about as healthy as a Big Mac at Mcdonalds (MCD) and even it out with a $5.50 salad? Why won't I go get a quality coffee and salad at McDonald's for half that and not have the 17 grams of fat the Macchiato delivers?

If anything, Starbucks need to find a way to not be "the more expensive and less convenient" option to McDonald's which is what they are today. I can only imagine how slow the lines are going to be now as folks ponder what salad choice they are going to make. Plus, a salad needs to eaten sitting down. How many folks actually sit in a Starbucks vs. get a coffee and walk out? If their muffin sales which are very mobile are not getting it done, (again, high price and they are a heart attack inducer) this idea will flop on it's head also.

this is ironic in the wake of Howard Schultz's memo in which he feared the company has gotten away from what made it great. Every action they have taken since then has moved the company even farther away from it's roots. Peculiar.

I haven't seen a company push this hard in the wrong direction in a long time.

This is just a bad idea....