Ooh là là! Starbucks in Paris?

Is this another sequel of the "punish france" policy of the American
administration?


"It's an absurd idea," said Jean-Paul Bedel, a regular at Le
Firmament, a cafe around the corner from the Place de l'Opéra where
Starbucks, according to a French property market magazine, will open
its new outlet in the first quarter of next year.. "The whole point
about cafes in France is that you can sit over a coffee as long as you
like, read the papers ... taking away a coffee in a Styrofoam cup is
anathema, unthinkable. It's the kind of thing you'd only think of
doing at a railway station."


http://www.guardian.co.uk/internatio...049942,00.html

(laurent) quoted:

"It's an absurd idea," said Jean-Paul Bedel, a regular at Le
Firmament, a cafe around the corner from the Place de l'Opéra where
Starbucks, according to a French property market magazine, will open
its new outlet in the first quarter of next year.. "The whole point
about cafes in France is that you can sit over a coffee as long as you
like, read the papers ... taking away a coffee in a Styrofoam cup is
anathema, unthinkable. It's the kind of thing you'd only think of
doing at a railway station."

No, I bloody wouldn't. Not styrofoam, not ever. Not even at a railway
station.

But that's just me and my pernickety ways. The rest of you may feel
free to drink your coffee any way you like.

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED

"laurent" wrote in message
om...
Is this another sequel of the "punish france" policy of the American
administration?


"It's an absurd idea," said Jean-Paul Bedel, a regular at Le
Firmament, a cafe around the corner from the Place de l'Opéra where
Starbucks, according to a French property market magazine, will open
its new outlet in the first quarter of next year.. "The whole point
about cafes in France is that you can sit over a coffee as long as you
like, read the papers ... taking away a coffee in a Styrofoam cup is
anathema, unthinkable. It's the kind of thing you'd only think of
doing at a railway station."

Maybe it's time to revisit the French sentiment when McDonalds were first
proposed for Paris.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/internatio...049942,00.html

"laurent" wrote in message
om...
Is this another sequel of the "punish france" policy of the American
administration?


"It's an absurd idea," said Jean-Paul Bedel, a regular at Le
Firmament, a cafe around the corner from the Place de l'Opéra where
Starbucks, according to a French property market magazine, will open
its new outlet in the first quarter of next year.. "The whole point
about cafes in France is that you can sit over a coffee as long as you
like, read the papers ... taking away a coffee in a Styrofoam cup is
anathema, unthinkable. It's the kind of thing you'd only think of
doing at a railway station."


You can't go broke underestimating the taste of the general public,
including the French general public. They think Jerry Lewis is funny. Case
closed.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/internatio...049942,00.html

"Peter L" wrote:

You can't go broke underestimating the taste of the general public,
including the French general public. They think Jerry Lewis is funny. Case
closed.

But they missed the joke with Benny Hill.

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED

"Magda" wrote in message
news
On Thu, 4 Dec 2003 14:44:36 -0800, in rec.travel.europe, "Peter L"

arranged some electrons, so they looked like this :


... You can't go broke underestimating the taste of the general public,
... including the French general public. They think Jerry Lewis is
funny. Case
... closed.

Stupid/false ideas die hard... I bet you believe that JFK killed himself,
too.


The French don't think Jerry Lewis is funny? You can go broke
underestimating the taste of the general public? JFK killed himself by
shooting himself from the Texas Book Depository? What are you saying?

In article ,
"Peter L" wrote:

"laurent" wrote in message
om...
Is this another sequel of the "punish france" policy of the American
administration?


"It's an absurd idea," said Jean-Paul Bedel, a regular at Le
Firmament, a cafe around the corner from the Place de l'Opéra where
Starbucks, according to a French property market magazine, will open
its new outlet in the first quarter of next year.. "The whole point
about cafes in France is that you can sit over a coffee as long as you
like, read the papers ... taking away a coffee in a Styrofoam cup is
anathema, unthinkable. It's the kind of thing you'd only think of
doing at a railway station."

Maybe it's time to revisit the French sentiment when McDonalds were first
proposed for Paris.

And the American architect, IM Pei, and his pyramid at the Louvre too.

jay
Thu, Dec 4, 2003






http://www.guardian.co.uk/internatio...049942,00.html



--

Legend insists that as he finished his abject...
Galileo muttered under his breath: "Nevertheless, it does move."

On Thu, 4 Dec 2003 16:00:33 -0800, "Peter L" wrote:

JFK killed himself by
shooting himself from the Texas Book Depository? What are you saying?

No, JFK was the guy on the grassy knoll.

laurent writes:

"It's an absurd idea," said Jean-Paul Bedel, a regular at Le
Firmament, a cafe around the corner from the Place de l'Opéra where
Starbucks, according to a French property market magazine, will open
its new outlet in the first quarter of next year.. "The whole point
about cafes in France is that you can sit over a coffee as long as you
like, read the papers ... taking away a coffee in a Styrofoam cup is
anathema, unthinkable. It's the kind of thing you'd only think of
doing at a railway station."

Jean-Paul does not reflect the general population in France.

The tremendous success of businesses like McDonald's (which does better
in France than in any other market it serves, even the United States)
demonstrates that there is a market for certain types of allegedly
"American-style" food services. In reality, it's not their American
origin that makes them successful, so much as the fact that they address
markets that are gradually developing throughout the industrialized
world. McDonald's, for example, addresses a market for quick,
inexpensive, simple food that exists everywhere in the West, not just in
the U.S. (although the market first developed in the U.S., many decades
ago).

While some French people spend time moaning and whining about American
incursions, no French people bother to try to develop competiting French
solutions to address the same markets. And so, when the Americans move
in, they are unopposed.

Thus, when Starbucks opens, it will have an untouched market to tap.
And I can pretty much guarantee that no French company will even try to
compete; instead, the French will just moan and whine, even as they
stand in line at Starbucks for the coffee that they cannot obtain
anywhere else.

--
Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.

Peter L writes:

Maybe it's time to revisit the French sentiment when McDonalds were first
proposed for Paris.

That sentiment still exists among many clueless French people. But the
rest of the French population flocks to McDonald's in droves--even more
so than Americans do at home. I see the French buying dinner for the
entire family at McDonald's, and I even see schoolchildren being brought
to McDonald's for lunch on field trips (they reserve in advance!). So
whatever the minority of whiners might say, places like McDonald's are
well accepted in France, and they do quite well.

The fact is, times change, even in France, and younger generations of
French people do not share the prejudices or preferences of their elders
in many ways.

--
Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.