I don’t drink coffee but I’m a fan of Starbucks. The company is in the process of implementing several new strategies under the watch of CEO Laxman Narasimhan. One such strategy is using third-party partners to help expand its last mile capabilities. The company reached nationwide coverage with UberEats in 2020 and achieved the same goal with DoorDash in March 2023. Starbucks and Target also let shoppers include Starbucks orders when they utilize curbside pickup at nearly 250 Target locations.
According to reports, Starbucks has also partnered with CloudKitchens, a ghost kitchen led by Uber founder Travis Kalanick, to expand its last mile capabilities. CloudKitchens rents small kitchen bays that can be used as pickup-only facilities for delivery drivers. CloudKitchens also leases kitchens of different sizes where any type of food can be cooked.
The strategy makes sense. But is that it? Making it easier for customers to order and receive their drink orders? There are nearly 16,000 Starbucks in the United States, and Starbucks serves millions of customers daily. How is increasing delivery Thinking BIG?
A weakness at Starbucks is the food they sell inside their stores. In a word, the food is…lacking. I believe food is a massive opportunity for Starbucks. For example, imagine if Starbucks acquired HelloFresh and tasked the chefs to create new food choices inside Starbucks stores. I’m confident that the food would greatly improve.
I’m confident Starbucks customers would be interested in receiving HelloFresh meals at home especially if there was a reward program they could use towards coffee and other in-store products.
Another option is opening ‘Virtual Food Halls’ in collaboration with CloudKitchens.
An interesting option is leveraging HelloFresh to provide airlines with meals and of course, Starbucks coffee. That’s millions of new customers annually.
Acquiring HelloFresh would also provide an opportunity for Starbucks to lead community efforts to provide much healthier eating options in communities with food deserts. Federal grants could cover the cost of shipping meal kits direct to homes. Starbucks could also partner with the leading health insurance companies to sponsor, “Health Through Nutrition.” Millions of people could potentially be helped by Starbucks. Frank F. Britt
Whatever happened to a partnership with Amazon? Why isn’t there a Starbucks Amazon rewards program? Is Starbucks going to collaborate with Amazon to create a replacement for Visa, MasterCard, and other credit cards? An Amazon Starbucks card with no processing fees would save Starbucks hundreds of millions, and eventually billions, in merchant fees. Making the card part of the Starbucks rewards program for customers should be explored. A Starbucks Amazon low-cost pharmacy program via PillPack would be interesting.
I wish Starbucks the best.
