Yesterday morning when I went to Panera (St. Louis) Bread to get morning bagel, I noticed they raised the price from 89 cents to 95 cents. I can fully understand the pressure they are facing: the rising wheat, diary, and energy cost.
Today Starbucks came out with earning, and understandablely a disappointing outlook (bloomberg).
SBUX and PNRA are hit on two sides: the rising costs of raw materials; and shrinking pockets of US consumers.
Long term, I do believe Starbucks will do very well in China, and other emerging markets; but right now, the sales from China is just too small to overcome the difficulty in the US…So I will NOT try to be hero at this time.