

Bruce Milletto, CEO of Bellissimo Coffee InfoGroup and a leading industry watcher, thinks the company's motivation is more basic: Starbucks is returning to its roots as a comfortable "third place," a living space that goes beyond the home and the office. "People want to have ‘their' coffee bar, and they want to have ‘their' coffee," says Milletto, who remembers when Starbucks was a hip chain of four or five shops. "Starbucks has realized that's a niche they're no longer filling."
Bruce goes on to say, "Once you have thousands and thousands of stores, it's difficult to have consumers look at you in the same way," Milletto says. "I think in coffee, the small independent will always win out if it's doing a fantastic job."

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But what about the behind-the-scene requirements it takes to open and
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The superautomatics can't adjust for all possible variables, though. Humidity changes coffee, said Bruce Milletto, president of the Bellissimo Coffee InfoGroup, a consulting company in Portland. "People are better off for home use in purchasing a traditional machine and using pods," he said. "A pod is a small sealed foil pouch that contains ground coffee that can be put directly in the filter basket for making espresso."