SEATTLE As Starbucks prepares to release this week third-quarter results that analysts expect to show signs of improvement at the beleaguered 16,000-unit coffeehouse giant, the company also will debut a new neighborhood-specific location that will serve beer and wine and host live entertainment and community events.
The new concept is dubbed “15th Avenue Coffee & Tea Inspired by Starbucks,” named for its location in Seattle. It is the first of three planned community coffeehouses that aim to test a re-thinking of various aspects of the Starbucks experience, according to Major Cohen, Starbucks senior project manager.
While Starbucks’ mermaid logo will largely be missing from the 15th Avenue location, the store’s own logo will include the “inspired by Starbucks” tagline. Cohen said the company is not trying to hide the unit’s connection to the global brand.
“It is a Starbucks, but it’s a different kind of Starbucks,” said Cohen.
The goal of the experiment is to elevate the coffee experience, to look at how employees interact with customers and to examine “community relevance,” said Cohen.
The new store is a return to roots of sorts for Starbucks in that coffees will be made by hand, coffee beans will be roasted at a nearby plant and delivered with short turnaround to the store, and only a few coffees will be available — including some limited-time offers that have never been served to domestic Starbucks customers. During opening week, for example, the 15th Avenue store will offer a coffee served only at Starbucks in Brazil, Cohen said.
In addition, 15th Avenue will feature a broader line of full-leaf Tazo brand teas, available by the cup, pot or ounce to take home, he said.
The new store will not have a kitchen, but food offerings will be brought in fresh by Essential Baking, a local company, Cohen said.
The menu might include fresh toasted breads with butter and jam at breakfast, French pastries, and snacks in the evening such as a locally sourced cheese plate, local smoked salmon or an open-faced sardine sandwich.
Starbucks brand ice cream, previously only available in retail stores, will be scooped at 15th Avenue, and guests can order Italian style affogato — or ice cream topped with a shot of espresso, said Cohen.
Asmall selection of red, white and sparkling wines will be available, as well as about five local beers and one imported brand. In the evenings, the location may host live music or theater performances, or serve as a venue for local student films.
The concept’s core will still be coffee, said Cohen, but the addition of alcohol and events will help build traffic during afternoon and evening dayparts.
Starbucks experimented unsuccessfully with the addition of beer and wine in the past, but Cohen noted that other coffeehouse operators now offer alcohol in Seattle, so the practice is more accepted.
Pricing at 15th Avenue will in some cases be slightly higher than a regular Starbucks, in part because coffees are hand made, he said.
“It won’t be so people see it as a high-end experience,” he said. “We’re not going to price ourselves out of the business.”
Locations have not been identified for the two other experimental units to come. Cohen said he is not sure when they will open, and that those units will be different from the first pilot store, designed to appeal to the neighborhoods where they are located.
Even as Starbucks tests its neighborhood concept, analysts anticipate that the Seattle-based company is beginning to benefit from its previously announced cost-cutting measures, including the closure of hundreds of stores. Sales, however, are expected to remain negative until the nation’s economic picture improves, they said.
Contact Lisa Jennings at [email protected]
