(Hotel restaurants are not eligible in this category)
Specialty Coffee
Starbucks Coffee
STARBUCKS COFFEE
Multiple locations
Working the Sahara showroom recently, venerable comedian Jackie Mason offered an interesting slant on Starbucks' formula for success:
Open a stark place with uncomfortable seating, sell "burnt coffee" in paper cups with no change back from a bill, charge people for refills and post written instructions on how to do your own cleanup when you're finished. Jitters finished a respectable second.
Our Pick:
STARBUCKS COFFEE
Hey, it was a joke, right? Like another comic sage, Kramer on "Seinfeld," Starbucks has made us a nation of jittery latte junkies who know better than to bite the hand that feeds us.