Starbucks Corporation, known for its variety of Italian espresso drinks, will now introduce French cuisine to their stores. The company recently bought a San Francisco-based company called Bay Bread, the parent company of the La Boulange bakery for $100 million. The coffee chain has also hired Pascal Rigo, a reknown French pastry chef, according to a press release.
Starbucks, which is based in Seattle, Washington, sells a food item in nearly 1/3 of every order in the United States. This adds up to an estimated $1.5 billion a year in food sales.
Customers can expect to see La Boulange items in Starbucks cafes beginning in early 2013 in the Bay Area. Then, the rest of the country will notice the change, but it will happen slowly. "We'll take it one store at a time, starting in metropolitan areas around the U.S. where there's demand," said Cliff Burrows, president of Starbucks Americas.
In acquiring the bakery, the coffee chain is now in position to compete with places like Panera, which offer freshly baked breads along with soups and salads.The CEO of Starbucks, Howard Shultz said in a statement, "After more than 40 years, we will be able to say that we are bakers too."
In recent years, Starbucks has expanded far beyond coffee. The Huffington Post reports that Starbucks brand has entered the consumer market wtih ice cream and Tazo-branded K-Cup portion packs. Later this year, the company will begin selling its own brand of single-cup coffee machines called Verisimo.
With all of these new developments to look forward to, it's easy to let other things slip, like the concept of geography. The Guardian, a British publication, is reporting that the corporation sent out a Tweet in honor of the Queen Elizabeth's 60th year on the throne -- a celebration known as the Diamond Jubilee -- asking followers to "show us what makes you proud to be British." The message would have been fine, had it not been mistakenly sent approximately 2,000 of Starbuck's Irish followers on the Starbucks Ireland account (@Starbucks.IE)
Hours after the mistake -- following complaints on Twitter -- Starbucks issued an official appology and a statement on the mistweet.
