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Sara Lee Corp. will not rush to make acquisitions in the U.S. coffee market, even as it revamps its business to focus on coffee and meat, its interim chief executive said.
Speculation about deals in the U.S. coffee business has circulated since earlier this month when Starbucks Corp said it wanted to end its distribution deal with Kraft Foods Inc, which has sold bagged Starbucks coffee at supermarkets for the past 12 years. Get the full story »
Starbucks Corp. plans to launch coffee machines in the U.S. to ensure growth in the consumer packaged goods market.
The Seattle-based coffee chain is looking to expand its presence in the U.S. consumer packaged goods arena and will sell single-service coffee machines and instant coffee pods to accompany them, Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz said in an interview Friday. The timeline for the product’s rollout hasn’t yet been determined, Schultz said. Get the full story »
(Charles Osgood/Chicago Tribune)
Kraft is apparently steamed by Starbucks’ announcement that it plans to fire the company as its grocery store distributor.
On Thursday night, Kraft Foods Inc. said its agreement to supply packaged Starbucks coffee to grocery stores “is perpetual…if Starbucks decides to exit its relationship with Kraft Foods, the agreement requires Starbucks to pay Kraft Foods the fair market value of the business plus, in certain instances, a premium.”
Starbucks fired back today with a company statement saying, “We consider it unfortunate that Kraft has chosen to make public statements that we believe mischaracterize the nature of the agreement between our companies, including the term of the agreement.” The statement went on to note that the companies’ agreement contains a clause for the resolution of disputes. Both companies maintain that regardless of how their relationship is terminated, customers shouldn’t expect service interruptions.
Starbucks Corp. informed Kraft Foods Inc. that it plans to end a more-than-a-decade-old deal under which Kraft distributes packaged Starbucks coffee to stores and other outlets.
Kraft, which also surprised Wall Street with its profit report, said it was too early to say what the impact of the lost agreement would be on its results. “We know this has been on their minds, but we haven’t entered into any specific conversations about the when or the why or the how,” said Kraft Chief Financial Officer Tim McLevish on a conference call with analysts. Get the full story »
Starbucks says its fourth-quarter net income nearly doubled as revenue spiked, beating analyst estimates, and it raised its targets for fiscal 2011.
(Reuters)
Four years ago, generous benefits and opportunities for advancement convinced Leigh Swanson to use her new master’s degree in human resources to manage a Starbucks cafe. She called it one of the best workplaces she had ever experienced.
Then, in 2007, with the coffee chain in the midst of a building binge, the worst downturn since the Great Depression hit, hammering Starbucks’ bottom line. Sharp cost-cuts, the introduction of corporate efficiency tools like scheduling software and an increased emphasis on pushing product sales have helped the company return to record profitability.
They also led Swanson to quit in May. The disappearing perks and the financial fixes dampened her enthusiasm for recruiting potential new partners, as Starbucks calls its employees. “I found it really sad. I was really invested,” said Swanson, who was in charge of a Starbucks in the Florida Panhandle. “I just didn’t feel proud anymore. I wasn’t in it to manage a McDonald’s.” Get the full story »
Crain’s Chicago Business | Starbucks has bought out the 50 percent stake of Earvin “Magic” Johnson in a venture designed to bring the coffee shops to underserved areas including Bronzeville.
Something new is on the menu at a renovated Starbucks in Seattle: beer and wine.
A store that reopened Monday is the first under the Starbucks brand to offer alcohol. Get the full story »
Baristas participate in espresso training at Starbucks, Feb. 26, 2008. (Keith Bedford/Handout)
From the Wall Street Journal | Starbucks customers could be stuck in longer lines now that the company has told baristas to slow down and only work on two beverages at a time. The Wall Street Journal reviewed company documents instructing employees to steam milk for each drink individually, rising pitchers after each use and using only one espresso machine. The changes are designed to address criticisms about assembly-line coffee. Get the full story>>
A Starbucks store in New York. (AP)
After declaring its resolve last month to absorb increases in the cost of green coffee, Starbucks Corp. said it will raise prices on some of its drinks.
The Seattle coffee giant said Wednesday that the price of green Arabica coffee, which is close to a 13-year high, and price volatility for other raw materials it uses, such as dairy products sugar and cocoa, have forced it to respond. Get the full story »
Last month Starbucks rolled out a “simplified” drive-through menu which removed the company’s small-sized drink, referred to as a “tall.” But the experiment will be short-lived. Starting Thursday, the company will update drive-through menu boards again, to indicate the tall size is still available.
“We want to be sure there is no confusion and that our menu reflects a range of price points,” spokeswoman Deb Trevino wrote in an email. “We listened to feedback and starting Thursday the 16th, stores will be updating their drive-through menu boards, highlighting that tall size is available.” Get the full story »
Starbucks Corp. said it isn’t just dropping its small-sized drink from its drive-through locations throughout the country, it’s preparing for the future.
In addition to removing the 12-ounce “tall” from its drive-through menus, the Seattle-based coffee chain has added images of some newer items. Starbucks maintains the changes are in response to consumer confusion over its many offerings, from hot chocolate to oatmeal, as well as highly customizable coffee beverages. Get the full story »
Starbucks is adding four flavors to its Via instant coffee portfolio — vanilla, mocha, caramel and cinnamon spice — beginning this fall.
Via launched about a year ago with two black-coffee flavors: Italian roast and Colombia. The company has since added decaffeinated and iced coffee versions. Starbucks is new to flavored coffee, having launched Natural Fusions, its first flavored coffees earlier this summer. Get the full story »
Coffee chain Starbucks plans to introduce the exotically-named Galapagos San Cristobal, the first in its new Reserve line, next Monday at 700 select stores. These coffees are characterized by “high quality, small quantity and unique stories,” said Anthony Carroll, Starbucks’ manager of green coffee quality. He flew in to Chicago Tuesday to offer an advanced taste of the special coffee at a Starbucks in the Loop.
Starbucks Corp. has no plans to hike prices, though higher coffee costs are expected to weaken profit in the upcoming fiscal year, the company said Tuesday.
The world’s biggest cafe chain repeated its fiscal 2011 profit target of $1.36 to $1.41 a share, which includes an expected hit of 4 cents primarily from higher coffee prices. Starbucks’ 2011 fiscal year begins Oct. 5. Get the full story »
