Bob CollinsMinneapolis-based Caribou Coffee today Caribou Coffee announced that comparable coffeehouse net sales decreased 4.7% for the last 13 weeks.
Michael Tattersfield, President and new CEO and Timothy Hennessy, CFO are holding a conference call now, which I’m monitoring and will pass any pearls along. They say they won’t be talking about the financial picture, however, and these days, what else is there?
Is the bloom off the coffee rose?
A recent survey of coffee shops in Red Wing, for example, seemed to mirror Caribou’s results; fewer people are stopping in for the high-priced blend. “Coffee depends on people having money in their pockets,” one coffee shop owner said. And apparently, they don’t these days.
That didn’t stop Caribou, however, from raising prices 2.5% last month. The company has been in a decline for a few years.
Perhaps it’s only coincidence, but the decline in the coffee house business seemed to mirror the end of the Friends TV show.
