School of Rice

Starbucks Clone

It was bound to happen, right? I mean, many successful chains and brands have to put up with people ripping off their designs or ideas. In-N-Out was ripped by Volks in Japan (which doesn't even serve anything you can get at In-N-Out), Dr. Pepper has Mr. Pibb, Dr. Grip pens were copied by PHD, but the mother of these has to be The Original Tommy's World Famous Hamburgers. I wish we had taken photos, but when I was 10 years old, Kohei, my dad, and I took a survey of the Los Angeles area looking for Tommy's knockoff restaraunts, and what we saw was a wealth of not-so-subtle immitation: Tommie's, Tammy's, Timmy's, Tomy's, Tom's, and Sammy's are just some of the "Original World Famous" hamburger joints where we ate at. The amazing thing is that the buildings all copied the look of a Tommy's joint, but they all lacked the funky soul of the real thing. By the way, if you don't know what I'm talking about, the next time you're in So Cal do yourself a favor and stop by here, or make your own with this recipe and if you truly want the authentic recipe, refer to FAQ no.4 on the official site.

Yes, love it or hate it, Starbucks is a very successful company which you wish you had bought stock for 10 years ago. I wonder how many people sit down here, leisurely sip their coffee and read their newspaper, and walk out, only afterwards noticing that this place isn't Starbucks but a place that uses a very similar font and color and goes so far as to immitate the circular mark of Starbucks, replacing the crowned Medusa mascot with a stylized cup of coffee. I wonder how many people never notice this and continue to believe that they are drinking at Starbucks, when in fact they are doing no such thing. This immitator isn't even the best one I've seen. That one is called something like "Coffee Factory" but I think it has a slight edge because they also dip into the boba drink market (that would be "bubble tea"). If you are driving down Bolsa Avenue in Little Saigon, it is in the strip mall with Taco Bell and Hair perfection. Not that I recommend this place, as I have heard that their coffee sucks, but if you're going to Taco Bell anyways...

Immitation is not the highest form of flattery- it is a justified form of slight theft. Parody, is an outright bitchslap.