CHICAGO (AP) — The company that added “venti” and “frappuccino” to American vocabularies is making a push throughout North America to convince connoisseurs to sample what many see as a down-market drink — instant coffee.
Nearly eight months after Starbucks Corp. began selling its Via instant coffee in Seattle and Chicago, the company on Tuesday will begin offering the dissolvable drink to the rest of the country and in its Canadian stores.
Backed by the company’s first-ever television ads, along with large-scale distribution to about 1,500 sites outside its stores, the Via launch shows just how determined Starbucks is to own a stake in the $21 billion worldwide instant coffee market.
“Based on the success we’ve had, we feel strongly that we’re sitting on a very big opportunity,” said Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said during a conference call with journalists. “What’s going to sell Via at the end of the day is that (it) delivers in the cup. Most people will not be able to tell the difference.”
I think it’ll get panned because it’s Starbucks more than because it’s instant. It seems it’s all in vogue now to pretend you’re too good for the ole Starbucks mermaid in this “I like the mom and pops, maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan” climate.
Starbucks is questioned constantly about their practices, their sourcing of coffee, and so on, and meanwhile there are savage animals running coffee shops in New York City with dirty establishments, illegal aliens working for slave wages, and coffee that comes from God knows where.
But hey, they’re local, right?
It’s so ridiculous that in Seattle, the only place in the universe where Starbucks can actually be called local, Starbucks has to create new shops that are “local” so the idiot “locavores” will feel more comfortable. That’s how idiotic the “local” movement is. “It’s corporate maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan,” seems to mean more than “they were built right next to you, stupid.”
Is Via a great product? I have no idea. Haven’t tried it yet. I promise you, though, a lot of people are going to crap on it just because of who it comes from.