Coffee to go: Countability 
24.08.2008
Starbucks has just lowered its outlook for 2009 and is restructuring its management. Many customers are drinking fewer frappuccinos and lattes and buying less packaged coffee. Starbucks is closing 600 company-owned shops. Is this the booming company that has been opening new outlets all over Germany and Eastern Europe? Is the Starbucks that is laying off 550 non-retail employees the same company that ranks among the top ten workplaces in the UK and the US?
Of course it is. 
We are in a recession, and crises are times that test the mettle of global players. CEO Howard Schultz and the board are responding to rising prices for key commodities such as energy and food that are causing consumers to act carefully across the board. Many customers have spent whole weekends, or at least all of a Saturday afternoon at Starbucks, making it "the third place" beside home and work. Surfing on wifi networks and listening to Starbucks' branded music, the customers have bought into its modern coffeehouse culture. So even if sales are down, the game is far from over. Starbucks is a global brand that plays in the top league. It's time to look back at the Starbucks story so far.
In this week's exercises, we focus on grammar issues of countability. So grab a coffee, if you like, and let's go.
Anne Hodgson
Geschäftsaussichten, hier: Gewinnprognose
Mischgetränk mit Cappuccino
Filialen
entlassen
nicht im Einzelhandel tätig
rangieren unter
auf die Probe stellen
Vorstand
wichtigste Verbrauchsgüter
durch die Bank
(infml.) glauben an, akzeptieren
sich nehmen, holen
