Starbucks has big plans for food innovation, which Sharon Rothstein, executive vice president and global chief marketing officer, said represents the largest growth opportunity for the business.
“We have already grown the food business by 1.5 times since 2013 and looking forward we plan to double the business by the year 2021,” she said. “The significant growth will come across all day parts and can be achieved by offering our customers delicious, high-quality food; driving enterprise-wide innovation that leverages both our accessible footprint and the significant store traffic we have; and filling our customers’ needs for convenient health-and-wellness-forward meals and snacks.”
Breakfast sandwich sales have nearly doubled in the past four years and now account for close to 40 percent of total food sales, she said. Starbucks will enhance its morning menu with new Sous Vide Egg Bites beginning in January and a certified gluten-free breakfast sandwich in the spring. Ingredients are placed in an airtight bag and cooked in a water bath at a consistent temperature.
“We always believed that there was an opportunity for a delicious, handheld product that better addressed health-and-wellness demands, and we are excited to say that this January we will have a breakthrough innovation platform to address this very opportunity: Sous Vide Egg Bites,” Rothstein said. “They are grab-and-go, wheat-free, wholesome, an excellent source of protein. They are unbelievably delicious and we think they will be a massive opportunity for us.”
