In a bid to fuel its growth and get more customers, popular coffee chain 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 told Bloomberg.
The rollout, which can help boost sales, is expected to take several years.
“We’ve tested it long enough in enough markets — this is a program that works. As we bring the evening program to stores, there’s a meaningful increase in sales during that time of the day.” – Troy Alstead.
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.
Introducing alcohol and more items on its menu is just the next stage in Starbucks’ goal of getting customers to swing by not only in the morning, but at all times of the day.
Starbucks has more than 20,100 locations worldwide, including about 11,500 in the U.S. Alcohol is currently being sold in 26 locations across the US, but it will spread to about 40 by the end of the year, and to over 1,000 stores nationwide “eventually,” according to Starbucks spokesperson Alisha Damodaran. Starbucks will still remain predominantly a coffee store
There are no news yet on when alcohol will come to the menu of international outlets.
Starbooze, anyone?
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