I was surprised to see the familiar Lee's Sandwiches logo at Costco this weekend. Two gents were giving out samples and hawking cà phê sữa đá, Vietnamese iced coffee. But apparently, according to their Facebook page, they've been doing these roadshows since the summer. On offer were six pack of bottles for $15.99, each bottle constituting 3 servings.
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Since their product doesn't last much longer at Costco than their
weekend-long demos, you figure that Lee's isn't really trying to
permanently displace Starbucks' bottled Frappucinos from Costco shelves.
Rather, it seemed more like a good way to get the Lee's name out there,
to entice those who may not yet know the brand with a gateway drug that
can get them in the door.
I heard one of them say to a guest, “I must warn you sir: once you taste this, you'll get hooked!”
Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.