You’d think Starbucks would have learned its lesson. Just a few short years ago the company almost went belly-up because it grew way too fast and in too many ways. It opened more stores, expanded its menu offerings, etc. The result was undertrained, rude and dumb employees serving sh*tty products. The service was bad and the offerings were bad. Worst of all, the company’s bread and butter — its coffee — also suffered. Even CEO Howard Schultz admitted as much in a leaked company memo, saying that the company’s aggressive quest for growth had resulted in the Starbucks losing its “soul” by “watering down the Starbucks experience.”
Now, after a much-needed refocus helped to place the focus back on coffee and steady the ship back on course, Starbucks once again appears intent on trying to be all things to all people. It now, in addition to being the place you get coffee in the morning, wants to become your neighborhood bar at night by launching “Starbucks Evenings.” That’s right, Starbucks is going to start serving wine and beer after 4pm very soon.
From the Starbucks website:
The place you love during the day now has more reasons to love it at night.
We’ve always been your neighborhood spot where you can take a moment to unwind, grab a well-deserved treat, and meet up with friends. But sometimes, you just want a glass of wine and a delicious bite to eat without going to a bar or making a restaurant reservation.
Say hello to a new way to enjoy Starbucks after 4 p.m. Drop in after work, with friends, after yoga, by yourself, after a long day or after a great day.
The food is amazing. The wine selection is simple and smart. The chairs are just as comfortable as they are in the morning.
We hope to see you soon.
I guess this is what happens when you take a company public and then have to appease shareholders who only care about the company stock price growing. GROW GROW GROW!!!
Anyway, Bloomberg has more…
Starbucks will expand its evening alcohol and light bites menu, which includes bacon-wrapped dates and Malbec wine, to thousands of stores, Chief Operating Officer Troy Alstead said in a phone interview. The rollout, which can help boost sales, will take several years, he said.
“We’ve tested it long enough in enough markets — this is a program that works,” he said. “As we bring the evening program to stores, there’s a meaningful increase in sales during that time of the day.”
Starbucks has been focused on selling more non-coffee items, such as alcohol, juice, Teavana tea and food, to stoke U.S. growth. The company, which announced a long-term plan to almost double its market value to $100 billion yesterday, also is expanding and improving its rewards program and mobile applications. Earlier this month, Starbucks said it would soon test a way for customers to order items ahead of time with their smartphones.
Ugh, what’s wrong with just settling for doing something really well and being content with that?! Capitalism ruins everything. (Ducks under a desk and pulls his Che Guevara t-shirt over his head.