STiR coffee and tea magazine

Volume 3, Number 2

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24 STiR tea & coffee industry international United States Trending, By the Season Seattle's specialty coffee giant and official host sponsor of the 2014 Specialty Coffee Association of America trum- peted 12% growth in first quarter revenues. Howard Schultz, chairman, president and ceo of Starbucks Coffee Company, stated, "Holiday 2013 was the first in which many traditional brick and mortar retailers experienced in-store foot traffic give way to online shopping in a major way. As our solid traffic growth and record Q1 results demonstrate, Starbucks unique combination of physical and digital assets positions us as one of the very few consumer brands with a national and global footprint to benefit from the seismic shift underway." Starbucks has indeed used its marketing muscle to find niche or seasonal markets and capitalize on them. Bringing back favorites from long ago, like Caffé Verona and the Gold Coast Blend both developed when the chain had fewer than 20 stores, is one way of keeping customers engaged. The company is also making limited time offers involving single-origin coffees like its Guatemala Casi Cielo and Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Espresso in whole bean, K-Cup, and Verismo pods being simultaneously available in coffeehouses and online. Not immune to taking advantage of seasonal health trends, Starbucks continues to add to its instant coffee line as well with products like Caramel Flan Latte. The latest announce- ment for its line of VIA latte products touts the "inherent benefits of calcium, vitamin D, protein, and a balance of other nutrients." Capturing the interest of a younger demographic is as important as executing seasonal product marketing tactics. Use of social media tools like Instagram to engage with consumers appears to be but one piece to the company's larger strategy in this. Recent shifts in senior leadership signal that Starbucks will continue to experiment with new ways to keep growing its customer base. Learn more: http://news.starbucks. com/ A Bakery Break-up? Shortly before releasing fourth quarter and year-end earnings, Mondelez International announced the addition of Nelson Peltz to the company's board of directors. Low prices of green coffee moderated the impact of flattening sales in that beverage category. On the year as a whole, coffee revenue was down by .8 percentage points though the Tassimo brand continued its double digit climb. Coffee sales in Russia also continued an upward trend. The company reported that "coffee and biscuits" drove this growth. Meanwhile, news that the company is closing its Philadelphia bakery has drawn criticism from union leaders. By 2015 the plant, which employs 350, will close. Mondelez reiterated it plans to invest $130 million in updating equipment in its Fair Lawn, N.J., and Richmond, Va. Bakeries. John Lazar, president of Bakery, Tobacco & Confectionary Workers' Local 492 told a Philadelphia reporter the union suspects the company is moving cookie and cracker production to a new bakery being built in northern Mexico. Will the company take Peltz's advice and spin off its snack operations? Learn more: http://www.mondelezinterna- tional.com/investors Collaboration for Inspiration Caribou Coffee launched its new Real Inspiration Blend, created through collaboration with its fans on Pinterest. According to the company, the blend is "created to help fans pause and catch a moment of inspiration." Caribou took the collaborative element of branding its new blend off the internet and created a 64-foot tall "Living Pinterest Board" at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn. This combination of online inspirational image pinning with real-life activities designed to let fans capture the launch experience is a new way for the brand to engage with customers. Real Inspiration Blend is the first-ever Caribou coffee to launch simultaneously across coffeehouses and grocery stores. For more information about Caribou Gold Cost Blend Guatemala Casi Cielo Starbucks Via Latte Packages Coffee Report Jenny Neill

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