Starbucks is making room for cold drinks. The coffee shop chain launched its limited-time fall menu last Thursday and features a heavy emphasis on cold drinks, as three of the company’s five seasonal drinks are offered cold by default, and customers can request cold versions. hot. Starbucks notably offers an espresso with iced oat milk or a chai latte with iced pumpkin cream. Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew and Apple Crisp Otamilk Macchiato are the other drinks rounding out Starbucks’ fall menu, but they’re offered hot by default.
Questioned by the American agency Bloomberg, the vice president responsible for marketing at Starbucks, Thomas Prather, justifies this orientation by a strategy of alignment with customer expectations:
Social Media Growth Factors
And with good reason, demand for cold items now accounts for 75% of Starbucks beverage sales, up from just over half before the pandemic. “This is a significant shift for the company that popularized espresso in the United States and then launched the pumpkin spice trend with its latte,” recalls Bloomberg. As Les Echos points out, cold espresso is the star drink, with sales increasing 13% year-on-year in the last quarter, while cold foams are among the fastest growing customization options.
A welcome approach for Starbucks, as cold drinks are also the most expensive, as they tend to include more paid options. Altogether, the sugary bombs of syrups, extra espressos, sauces and other additions add up to a billion-dollar windfall for the coffee shop chain.
Social networks would play a not insignificant role in the renewed interest of consumers for cold drinks from Starbucks. “The clear glasses, bright colors and various toppings on the frozen drinks make them very attractive for social media posts,” Dorothy Calba told CNN earlier this month. Two years ago, the icy white mocha, garnished with sweet cold foam and a drizzle of caramel, went viral on TikTok.
Source: BFM TV
