Starbucks expands alcohol, snacks in U.S. menu to thousands of stores

Starbucks, one of the leading franchised coffee chains, will expand its menu with alcoholic beverages and light snack menu in thousands of stores across the U.S., Bloomberg news reported, quoting the company’s chief operating officer (COO).

The rollout will take several years.

The rollout will take several years, according to Troy Alstead.

“As we bring the evening program to stores, there’s a meaningful increase in sales during that time of the day,” Alstead said.

The move is part of Starbucks’s long-term growth programme under which the company’s market value will double to $100 billion. The franchise company wants to focus on selling more non-coffee products and will introduce an Oprah Winfrey-branded chai tea in North America. It will also introduce a mobile application for pre-ordering.

Starbucks currently has an evening alcohol and light bites menu in about 40 stores to test the market. The coffee chain first put booze in the menu in October 2010 at a Seattle store and in the beginning of 2012 it expanded the list of locations to 25.

According to Starbuck’s COO, the evening food and drinks menu will not work equally well in all units.

Starbucks’s successful business was established in 1965. It has grown to over 20,100 locations in nearly 100 countries worldwide, more than half of which operate in the U.S.