So Starbucks in Kuwait decided to increase their prices! All items are up by 50-150 fils.

So I ask an employee for the reason for this price raise, and he said that its bcz they havent changed their prices in the past 9 yrs. I didn’t really think much about it, figured prices of coffee must have gone up in recent years so they decided to raise prices. Then I go and ask a couple of other employees about the increase, and I was told that it was only done in Kuwait!

That annoyed me!

I admit I am a regular at starbucks, at least once a day, but this kind of turned me off for a while!

To be fair, Costa’s coffee is much worse and is way more expensive that Starbucks, so it still is a better deal in terms of comparison. I remember buying an iced latte from Costa for 1.300KD, and the cup was like those tiny sample cups u get, plus it sucked!! At Starbucks, now its 1.300KD for a grande latte, which is better than Costa in terms of price, but still sucks at principal!

Im sure Starbucks in Kuwait is making more money than most Starbucks outlets in the world, so why mess with a winning formula?!?

So I thought, ok, the only other explanation is that they see some kind of inflation and they want to adjust their prices for that. If that’s true, then I should expect them to lower their prices when the economy goes bust?!?

I personally think its a case of “Kuwaitis can afford it….if we lose 5% of our business bcz of that, we’re already increasing near 10% margins, so just raise the price!”

I cant wait for Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf to open in Kaifan! Thats the only alternative, but its only in Salmiya for now, and I think will open within a couple of weeks closer to this side of town in Kaifan!