For example, Mr. Alstead said the company has high expectations for Starbucks Refreshers, beverages that combine fruit juice and green coffee extract. Starbucks Refreshers will launch this summer in the United States and select global markets.
“It is a product that is at the core of what we do because it is a green coffee-based product, but it tastes nothing like the coffee experience anyone would have had historically,” he said. “It is centered very closely at the refreshment category — a huge opportunity for us. This is a marketplace where we really don’t have an inroad into very meaningfully today.”
Other opportunities include the scheduled fall launch of Versimo systems, the company’s at-home single-cup machine, as well as the planned acquisition of La Boulange and subsequent integration of the brand’s products into Starbucks stores, Mr. Alstead said.
“We are very excited about (the La Boulange acquisition),” he said. “It is to close here just in the next quarter. So we are very much in the early days. It will be a rollout that will progress over the next couple years, but it is something that I think elevates our capability significantly and I think the context around this is this is not so much a $100 million acquisition for Starbucks as it is an investment in a $1.5 billion category that we fundamentally believe can be a billions of dollars category.”
