QuoteWhy would a company deliberately hide its best product?

Starbucks does.

Why would a company deliberately damage its best product?

Many hi-tech companies do that, and even my favourite local restaurant does.

It doesnt sound like a winning formula, but its at the heart of the way many companies do business.

Take the secret cappuccino, which you can buy in two of the leading coffee chains, Starbucks and Coffee Republic.

The sales assistants know what the drink is and they have a little button on their cash tills to ring it up. Its cheaper than the other drinks on offer, but it doesnt appear on the menu.

Starbucks claims thats because they dont have room on the menu board. Coffee Republic doesnt even have that excuse: theres a blank space with no price where this drink should be listed.

Its called the "short cappuccino", and its smaller, cheaper and better than the smallest size on the menu, the "tall".