Starbucks Partners with Evolution Fresh
With the demand for healthy products on the rise, Starbucks has created lower calorie and sugar food and drinks and even switched their default milk from whole to 2%.Started by the founder of Naked Juice, Evolution makes fresh fruit and vegetable juices, and has products that are sold at Whole Foods, Safeway, Costco and other retailers on the West Coast. It is one of the few larger juice companies that still cracks, peels, presses and squeezes its own fruits and vegetables rather than using artificial ingredients. Starbucks sees this as an advantage over others like Naked Juice and Odwalla.
Starbucks predicts that the cafe’s will be around the size of a traditional Starbucks and will launch on the West Coast. They also plan to upgrade existing stores to make more room for the juices.
Schultz goes on to dismiss concerns that this new venture is en route to becoming the next Jamba Juice, which is struggling with low sales as consumers have cut back on extra’s like smoothies. Schultz explained that it will be nothing like other Juice chains and is excited for this new chapter of the chains booming business.
“We understand the beverage business better than anyone else we are replicating the understanding we have about beverage capability and adding the theater and romance (of our coffee stores).”
What do you think about this new venture? Has Starbucks taken a positive route in expansion, or do you think it is becoming just too corporate?
