Starbucks Loses Taste Test

Move over Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts has better coffee. No suprise. I'm not a coffee drinker but my friends who are have been telling me this for years.

If Dunkin Donuts' coffee is so good why are we just hearing about it now? Well, to answer this let's look at Starbucks' feng shui first.

Starbucks' Success direction has the Disaster Star on it this year. The result for them could be that they continue to lose money and close stores OR they could go through a corporate transformation that benefits them in the long run. It's their choice and decisions they've made in the past year will ultimately determine which direction they go.

Even more troubling for the coffee chain is the Robbery Star on its Relationship direction. People have already cut back on their cafe lattes due to economic changes but the Robbery star indicates that these cut backs are likely to escalate. Expect Starbucks' revenue to drop even more this year which compounds the problem of the Disaster Star on their Success.

2009 is going to be a very tough year for Starbucks to say the least.

Dunkin Donuts, on the other hand, has much better feng shui this year. In fact they have the Long-term Abundance Star on their Relationship direction meaning their customers will be more loyal than Starbucks'.

They could also get sold (again) with the buyers making the current owners (Thomas H. Lee Partners, Carlyle Group and Bain Capital LLP) an offer that's very good over the long run.

On top of that the Relationship Star sits on Dunkin Donuts Success direction meaning more customer support for their success and great relationships with vendors, suppliers, investors and potential interested buyers of the company.

Since 2010 will bring a loss of money and conflict to Dunkin Donuts (the feng shui energy changes from year to year) they should enjoy their success while they can.