Starbucks Instant Coffee - part 2

I have thought about this issue some more (see Starbucks Instant Coffee - part 1 if you haven't already), Starbucks coffee may not be the cheapest, but is that why visits are falling? ...And is a cheaper, instant coffee the answer? We can be pretty sure that plenty of research has been done. Yet, as a customer myself, cheaper coffee elsewhere is not what's reducing my visit frequency.

On weekdays I like Starbucks because I pay £3 for a coffee and get a free meeting room for an hour. That's good value. Its a change of scenery to do some quiet work. A place to observe our clients customers or meet business partners. Perhaps more business focused messages like this could help to fill the quiet afternoon lull.

My own visits have fallen because of the price and range of snacks. A drink and sandwich costs the same as a 2 course hot meal in the Thai restaurant next door, and I could buy, or make, a whole cake for less than the price of that small slice. Perhaps my Scottish roots are catching up with me. If you're a customer too, write and tell me what you think.