The world’s largest coffee chain, Starbucks Coffee Company, announced today plans to introduce wine, beer and “premium food” to a handful of its stores in the United States by the end of 2012. Starbucks stores in Atlanta, California and Chicago, have been “carefully selected” in response to “customer feedback for more options to relax in the evenings” for the new menu additions. These stores, along with several others recently announced for the Chicago area, will be the first stores... ...Read more »

The world’s largest coffee chain, Starbucks Coffee Company, announced today that it has bought American-based premium fruit juice company Evolution Fresh for US$30 million (A$29 million). Announcing the takeover deal today, Starbucks’ President Howard Schultz unveiled plans to establish a chain of juice bars. He said, “With Evolution Fresh, Starbucks will bring a unique, premium juice product to the marketplace, similar to what Starbucks did 40 years ago with coffee. “Not only are we able... ...Read more »

McDonald’s UK is the latest multinational chain to display the calorific content of items on its UK menus. Australian Food News can reveal that McDonald’s Australia plans to follow suit by displaying the kilojoule content of items on its restaurant menus across Australia later this year. McDonald’s UK is supporting a UK government initiative to tackle obesity by introducing calorific content information to its UK restaurant menus. Others supporting the UK initiative include KFC, Pizza Hut and... ...Read more »

Kraft escalates Starbucks dispute: injunction Kraft Foods has announced that it is seeking a preliminary injunction in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York against Starbucks Coffee Company in an attempt to stop Starbucks’ planned termination of the distribution agreement between the two companies. The agreement has given Kraft exclusive rights for the sales, marketing and distribution of Starbucks roast and ground coffee in grocery and other retail outlets for the past... ...Read more »

US chain Starbucks Coffee has responded to the recent dramatic increases in the price of green arabica coffee, currently close to a 13-year high, as well as significant volatility in the price of other key raw ingredients, including dairy, sugar and cocoa. Starbucks announced that while it has no plans to raise prices of beverages or packaged coffee sold in Starbucks U.S. or international stores across-the-board, it does plan to implement targeted price adjustments on certain beverages in certain... ...Read more »

Nominations are closing at the end of September for the RSPCA’s Good Egg Awards, which celebrates medium- to large-scale organisations in the food service, hospitality, manufacturing or supermarket sector who have switched, or are planning to switch, to cage-free egg products. The Good Egg Award began in the UK, with international award winners including McDonalds UK, Subway, Starbucks Coffee, Unilever’s Hellmann’s Mayonnaise, Microsoft, Google and Sainsburys supermarkets. Retailers... ...Read more »

Starbucks has extended distribution of its instant VIA Ready Brew line to include a total of over 55,000 grocery stores across Japan, Canada and the UK, after successful sales of the instant ‘stick coffee solution’ in Starbucks stores. Supermarkets such as Walmart, Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsbury will carry the Starbucks instant coffee sticks. “We are continuing to drive steady increases in Starbucks VIA distribution — channel by channel, country by country,” Schultz said. “We have... ...Read more »

Consumer advocacy group CHOICE has awarded Michel’s Patisserie top honours in a review of ten of Australia’s coffee chain stores. CHOICE brewed and reviewed espressos made from the standard beans used at ten of Australia’s top coffee chains. Michel’s Espresso beans came out ‘a clear winner’, with a taste test score of 80%. Reviewers commented on the ‘good colour’ of its crema, its ‘smooth’ flavour and ‘pleasant’ aftertaste, with... ...Read more »

Starbucks has congratulated the winners of the betacup innovation challenge, designed to look for ways for the company to reduce paper cup usage. The winning idea, Karma Cup, suggests a simple chalkboard by the counter, marked once for every reusable cup brought in, with every tenth customer winning a free item. Starbucks Coffee Company sponsored the contest as part of its aim to serve 100% of its on-demand beverages in reusable or recyclable cups by 2015. the betacup is a development of Colaboratorie... ...Read more »

Starbucks yesterday announced a new strategy of strategic growth and expanding coffee sales after a disastrous two years of economic downturn. The company’s new plan, announced at the company’s annual shareholder meeting involves expanding sales of Starbucks’ instant coffee brand, VIA Ready Brew, and licensing its secondary brand, Seattle’s Best Coffee, for sale at a variety of fast-food chains, including Burger King, Subway and Taco Bell. The company will also expand its... ...Read more »