Good news for all the Starbucks fans – sort of. According to Eater , one of the nation’s most popular coffee shops is expanding to now include meals. However, there is a catch. As of now, the meals are only being used as a test project in Houston, Texas. The meals are from a mini-chain based in Austin named Snap Kitchen. The company focuses on assembling healthy meals, with their meals varying in small, medium, and large sizes.
The small size contains 200-300 calories; medium size is 300-400 calories; large meals contain 400-500 calories. The meal portions are based on a 1,200-calorie lifestyle for women, and a 1,800-calorie lifestyle for men.
Snap Kitchen has a total of 53 locations in the United States, currently in cities including the aforementioned Austin, TX, along with Dallas/Fort Worth, TX, Houston, TX, Chicago, IL, and Philadelphia, PA. Although they are corporately owned and operated, the company is currently open to franchise ideas in other cities.
Although Starbucks has pushed to provide food sales for a number of years, one of the primary reasons they are making a stronger push now, according to Bloomberg , is due to meals and snacks now accounting for 20 percent of the overall sales. Bloomberg also mentioned that there is also a test market in about 100 locations in Chicago with a lunch experiment, named Mercato, that includes steak and mango salads, almond butter sandwiches, and cauliflower tabbouleh.
Today, @Starbucks launches new Mercato lunch menu in Chicago https://t.co/Iew4w5yqgy pic.twitter.com/2JuSio82r6
— Starbucks News (@StarbucksNews) April 11, 2017
Eater also provided a timeline of other attempts Starbucks tried to include food on their menu. These included purchasing La Boulange for $100 million, but pulling back on the investment and closing all the freestanding locations due to customer complaints (2012), adding waffles, french toast, and baked french toast at some locations (2016), and introducing avocado toast in 2017.
For many years, most Starbucks locations include the typical pound cakes, coffee cakes, scones, bagels, and muffins. Also, breakfast sandwiches, paninis, salads, and sandwiches (turkey, egg, and chicken) are also included on the menu.
Finding the best first bite. #SproutedGrainVeganBagel pic.twitter.com/jpsuu4DuDe
— Starbucks Coffee (@Starbucks) April 24, 2017
However, with McDonald’s now offering all-day breakfast, Taco Bell’s breakfast lineup, as well as a host of other fast food locations having an array of breakfast items, the market is being much more competitive for Starbucks.
[Featured Image by Gene J. Puskar/AP Images]
