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Showing posts from November 8, 2011

Java battles: Fast food coffee takes on Tim Hortons, Starbucks

Chris Nuttal-Smith Globe and Mail November 8, 2011 Picture: Courtesy of Kevin Van Passen/The Globe and Mail Call it the revenge of the burger titans. For most of Canada’s history as a nation of drip coffee drinkers, only the desperate bought their daily cup at a fast food hamburger joint – we’ve tended to go to doughnut shops or specialty coffee chains for our fix. McDonald’s struck back in 2009 with the introduction of its McCafé brand – which it’s now rolling out across Canada. The company also revamped its drip coffee blend; it expects to serve 200 million cups of it this year, and its share of the country’s $3-billion quick-service (counter-service and drive-through) coffee market is growing. Where as recently as 2007 McDonald’s accounted for just 3 or 4 per cent of all quick service coffees sold in Canada, today it claims nearly 11 per cent, said Kenric Tyghe, an analyst with Raymond James Ltd. who follows the coffee world. And that’s just the brewed stuff – ...

Zero Hour in Coffee Clash: Greenlight vs. Green Mountain

Einhorn Piles Criticism on Green Mountain Ahead of Earnings, Due Wednesday By Steve Eder and Julie Jargon The Wall Street Journal November 8, 2011 Greenlight vs. Green Mountain, hedge fund against coffee company, is about to reach a boiling point. Hedge-fund manager David Einhorn, of Greenlight Capital Inc., has pushed to deflate the highflying shares of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc., criticizing them recently at a prominent investor gathering. For its part, Green Mountain has kept mostly silent, citing a quiet period ahead of its earnings release. Those figures are due Wednesday. Mr. Einhorn, whose Greenlight Capital holds a "short" position betting against Green Mountain stock, got in one last jab at the company before it breaks its silence. In a Nov. 7 letter to its investors, Greenlight defended the 110-slide presentation Mr. Einhorn delivered last month criticizing Green Mountain's accounting and business practices and all but dared ...