"gossip" news and stories

Bethenny Frankel and Gwyneth Paltrow. Photo: Alberto Tamargo, JPIstudios.com | Jason Merritt, Getty Images

"Real Housewives of New York City" reality star, "Naturally Thin" author, and real-life chef, Bethenny Frankel, had some critical reviews for Oscar-winning Gwyneth Paltrow's recent roasted chicken how-to video she posted to her Web site, GOOP.

According to Access Hollywood, Frankel had some strong words about the "Shakespeare in Love" star's try at her own cooking special.

"I'd rather staple my eyelids shut than watch Gwyneth cook," Frankel candidly told the New York Daily News' Gatecrasher at the launch of her bottled Skinnygirl Margaritas at the Montauk Yacht Club in New York.

"Gwyneth is afraid to [reveal] who she really is -- she's so manhandled by publicists and managers," she went on. "Her show would be way too boring to watch."

The 38-year old reality star has reportedly been approached to star in her own cooking show.

Slashfood would love to see this battle resolved in an 'Iron Chef' celebrity showdown. Whose star-powered cuisine would reign supreme?

Earlier this month, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz wrote a company memo that expressed concern over what he termed the "Commoditization of the Starbucks Experience." StarbucksGossip.com first posted the memo online and its authenticity was later confirmed by Starbucks, then picked up by more traditional media outlets.

The memo basically said that because of the rapid and wide-reaching expansion of the company, as well as the desire to do so quickly and efficiently, there has been a "watering down of the Starbucks experience." For example, switching to automatic espresso machines removed "much of the romance and theater that was in play with the use of the La Marzocca machines (the manual machines the stores used to have)." Another issue Schultz had was with the store designs, which have become too standard, too sterile and, in some cases, too distanced from actual coffee.

Speed and quality are important to any food service business, but not at the expense of experience of the customers' enjoyment and Shultz is proposing that they start making some changes to recapture that coffee shop experience that Starbucks first offered. There won't be a full-scale reversal in company strategy in pursuit of this goal. Instead, changes will be implemented gradually to move the stores away from the cookie-cutter, fast food chain genre while still chasing a larger global presence. Examples of this include having baristas measure out freshly roasted coffee beans, rather than having them in prepackaged bags, and changing the merchandise to have more coffee-centric merchandise, like grinders and brewers, instead of stuffed animals.

The changes planned for now seem small, but getting the aroma of freshly roasted beans back into the stores is a step in the right direction.

Source

As if being addicted to the caffeine alone weren't enough, now you can get your Starbucks "fix" at a blog wholly dedicated to gossip about the coffee chain, Starbucks Gossip. Sort of like the Defamer or Gawker of the coffee world, but without the naughty pictures, I guess?

We've already heard recently about the complaint that a few employees in New York have filed about the vermin infestation and general unsanitary conditions of some Starbucks outposts in New York. The company, like many other large corporations, public figures, and "celebrities," will always be the target of accusations, public scrutiny, and general "talk," so Starbucks Gossip is the place to get it all. The best part of the blog is its tagline: "Monitoring America's favorite drug dealer." How sad, but so very true.