IN MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, ON THE GROUND FLOOR OF AN OFFICE BUILDING, THERE'S A COFFEE SHOP THAT'S EASY MISS.
When you walk in, there's no menu, just a metal riser supporting drinks waiting to be picked up, and in back, some plush banquettes and tables. Display cases are stocked with tidy packs of sushi and sandwiches, and shelves feature gas-station staples like Red Bull and Kettle chips. To access any of this, you have to pass through a turnstile that scans your palm and logs in to your Amazon account. The coffee and food can be paid for without uttering a word to anybody. A sign by the door suggests, Start with the apps.
Marketed as “a completely different Starbucks built on effortless convenience” when it opened last November, this store-called Starbucks Pickup with Amazon Go-is the first of three that the coffee company plans to debut in New York. It is also a striking symbol of Starbucks's quiet brand transformation from warm gathering spot to tech-enabled caffeine depot and of the challenges the company faces today. Starbucks clearly recognizes that it's at an inflection point: The company announced in March that its CEO of five years, Kevin Johnson, was stepping down. (Starbucks's stock rose 7% on the news.)
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THE NEW RULES OF BUSINESS TRAVEL
In the era of hybrid teams, everyone is a road warrior-not just sales teams and C-suite execs. It's part of why business travel spending is expected to finally reach, and perhaps surpass, pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year, according to Deloitte. But, as with everything, work trips are not what they were in 2019. From airlines to banks, companies are finding new ways to make business travel easier-and even a little fun.
INTELLIGENT IMPACT
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SO MANY WAYS TO LOSE
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10/10 - THE 10 MOST INNOVATIVE PEOPLE OF THE LAST 10 YEARS
In honor of Fast Company's 10th Innovation Festival in September, we identified 10 industrious leaders whose groundbreaking efforts defined the past decade in business. We spoke to them about their extraordinary achievements in tech, medicine, entertainment, and more. And we explored how the impact of their work has withstood passing fads, various presidential administrations, a pandemic, and many, many quarterly reports.
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The Fast and the Furious
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Lost in Truncation
Lost in Truncation Generative AI was supposed to unleash our creativity. Instead, it became our cultural trash compactor. Welcome to the age of summarization.
Campus Radicals
Welcome to UATX, Austin's new well-funded and controversial anti-woke university.
