Starbucks賣酒? - 星巴克討論

From USA Today: http://tinyurl.com/m5hcju

Starbucks experiments with new name, adding alcohol to its menu

Don't expect grande wines or venti beers anytime soon at your local
Starbucks. (SBUX)

But in a move to attract hard-to-find evening business, the struggling
coffeehouse chain is about to test the addition of wine and beer to the menu
at one of its Seattle stores, which it has even given a new name.

The store, opening next week, is called "15th Ave. Coffee and Tea inspired by
Starbucks" — a reflection of the neighborhood in which it's located.

Starbucks plans to create two more similar stores in the Seattle area at
locations that aren't currently Starbucks stores. And if the concept works,
it could be tested in other cities, says Major Cohen, senior project manager
at Starbucks.

For Starbucks, which has suffered a humbling mix of closed stores, employee
layoffs and same-store sales declines during the recession, the move is an
attempt to extend the brand into the evening, when business is typically at
its slowest.

The first store, which will look very different from a typical Starbucks,
will serve a half-dozen kinds of beers and wines — most with connections to
the Northwest. A bottle of beer or a glass of wine will sell for $4 to $7,
Cohen says.

Beer and wine will not be sold to go because of state law, he says.

"We'll be equally as proud of our beer and wine as we are of our coffee,"
Cohen says. He says he didn't yet know if this concept would be incorporated
into all Starbucks stores if it's successful.

"If you stop innovating, you're dead," says Scott Bedbury, CEO of consulting
firm Brandstream and former marketing chief at Starbucks. While Bedbury likes
the move — which he says is common for European coffeehouses — it also
could twist the chain's hard-earned image, he warns. "The reason Starbucks
became the number one place to go for a blind date is because women are
comfortable there — and the men aren't drunk."

The test move to sell alcohol is clearly an attempt to fight off growing
competition from McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts, says Ron Paul, president of
Technomic, a restaurant consulting firm. "But if I were sitting in Seattle,
I'd go after the evening snack and dessert business, not alcoholic beverages."

簡單翻一下:

Starbucks計畫下禮拜在Seattle開設兩家含酒精飲料的咖啡店，被命名為15th Ave.

酒的價格在$4~7，另外，酒類不提供外帶，根據州法。

此舉是為了測試menu加入酒精飲料的可能性，吸引更多的夜晚消費，

以及在McDonald's，Dunkin' Donuts瓜分市場中增加競爭力。

目前還不確定，如果成功的話，是否把這觀念引進Starbucks。

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我看到這篇是因為有個新聞的標題是 I'll take a Venti Beer!

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