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Starbucks takes health tack in breakfast overhaul

Starbucks takes health tack in breakfast overhaul

SEATTLE In a move likely to intensify the competition for breakfast patrons on the go, Starbucks is adding new morning food options while cutting the calorie and fat content of its basic beverage and bakery items.

The new breakfast choices include hot oatmeal that can be customized with brown sugar, dried fruit or nuts; a Power Protein Plate that includes a hard-boiled egg, a whole-wheat bagel, peanut butter, cheese and fresh fruit; an Apple Bran Muffin made with whole-wheat flour, oats and wheat bran; a Chewy Fruit & Nut Bar with oats, fruit, nuts, seeds and honey; and a multigrain roll with such spreads as almond butter and strawberry preserves.

Another healthful item on the revamped menu, the whole-grain Berry Stella pastry, was introduced in July. None of the new items contain artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners or high-fructose corn syrup, Starbucks said.

In addition, Starbucks officials said they have reduced the number of calories in core beverages by 14 percent and reduced fat by 36 percent.

Core bakery items also have been slimmed down with an average reduction in calories of 5 percent and a 15-percent reduction in fat. In North American stores, milk with 2-percent fat will be the standard for beverages, and artificial trans fats have been removed from all menu items, officials said.

Starbucks Corp. chairman and chief executive Howard Schultz told USA Today last week that the morning menu overhaul would be followed by the addition of more healthful items to the coffee chain’s lunch and dinner offerings.

Starbucks is hardly alone in redoing its menu in hopes of landing a bigger piece of the quick-service breakfast market, one of the sector’s major areas of growth. Jack in the Box, for instance, recently added breakfast bowls, and McDonald’s has cited a chicken biscuit sandwich as a significant sales contributor.

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