Toast and (Traffic) Jam

The Washington Post explains why an additional morning stop at Starbucks wreaks havoc with the traffic pattern projections made by the U.S. Department of Transportation. That's because of the I'm-late-to-work-but-want-a-latte phenomenon:

Restaurants catering to the breakfast crowd usually make sure they're on the right side of the street for the morning traffic flow. In some cases, Starbucks will have two locations across the street from each other to accommodate traffic patterns in both directions.

I'm willing to admit my laziness, and that I routinely patronize the Starbucks that only requires a right turn, even though there's a closer location near my house. And that's the business justification for such real estate site selection: the majority of purchases are made before 10 a.m. In fact, Caribou Coffee reports that 65 percent of sales come before the hour of 10.

No wonder Starbucks is so hardcore about reducing wait time for service. And once Starbucks rolls out breakfast sandwiches on a nationwide basis, those commutes might be even just a little bit longer.