via email from NY
Starbuck trooper!
He trekked 24 hours, drinking and eating at every Starbucks in Manhattan
Friday, July 20th 2007, 7:20 PM
In the ultimate caffeine jag, Mark Malkoff went to every single Starbucks in Manhattan - all 171 of them - in just 24 hours.
By the time he was done, he had:
- made 18 bathroom stops
- spent $369.14 - including an $80 bribe for a single piece of pound cake
- bought at least 50 caffeinated drinks
- 27 pieces of biscotti
- 24 bottles of water
- 12 cookies
- 1 Asian sesame pasta dish.
"By the end I was so delirious," said Malkoff, 31, of Astoria, Queens.
"My body was shutting down, and I went to the same store twice on five separate occasions. My eyes were wide open, my speech was impaired and I was shaking from the caffeine. The employees must've thought I was a crazy person."
Malkoff began his coffee quest at 4:30 a.m. June 29 and filmed his odyssey, mainly to disprove cynical friends who didn't think he could succeed.
The Starbucks circuit was hardly a spur-of-the-moment decision.
Malkoff, an aspiring comedian and filmmaker, bought a cheap bike and started training two weeks earlier, mapping his best routes and readying his body for the java jaunt.
Even the bathroom breaks were budgeted.
"Nothing about this was random," Malkoff said. "I even consulted medical professionals about whether to wear a catheter to save time. I decided against it and ended up making 18 stops throughout the day."
The schedule was to hit one Starbucks every seven minutes, buy something and consume at least some of it.
He knew the cups of Joe were working when he started hurtling past the speed demon bikers of the streets.
"I was flying by bike messengers, mostly because I was so desperate to make my goal, but also because I was hopped up on caffeine," he said.
His most expensive stop was the $80 cake at the 96th St. and Madison Ave. store. The shop had closed by the time Malkoff arrived at 11p.m. and the barista didn't want to reopen the register. A corporate rep said later the payment had been recovered and would be returned to Malkoff.
His favorite store?
The one at 42nd St. and 11th Ave. because of the lack of a line. "You can get right in," he crowed.
Starbucks took the stunt in stride. "We appreciate Mr. Malkoff's passion, and we applaud his creativity and commitment," said Dan Lewis, Starbucks regional spokesman.
The chain puts the number of its Manhattan stores at 174, but Malkoff counters the discrepancy is because a few stores, such as one in the Javits Center, are not open to the public.
So how much does Malkoff like Starbucks coffee?
Actually, he said, he doesn't usually drink coffee at all.