Starbucks is trying to make grabbing your favorite brewed beverages a little bit easier. On Thursday, December 13, the coffee giant announced its plans to expand its door-to-door delivery service in the coming year, according to a report from the Verge .
In a statement outlining its upcoming delivery service plans for 2019, the company wrote that it will be extending its current partnership with popular food delivery service Uber Eats to make its Starbucks Delivers service accessible to even more customers. The service will be available at nearly 2,000 of the company’s U.S. locations in the new year.
The brand has experimented with delivery on a smaller scale in the past. In September 2017, the company tested its Starbucks Delivers service at over 100 locations in Miami-Dade and Broward, Florida.
“It’s something that we’ve been obsessed with,” J.P. Restrepo, general manager for Uber Eats in Florida, said, according to Miami.com . He went on to say that the entire process takes less than 30 minutes after the order is placed.
In that same month, the company also launch the service in over 2,000 stores across 30 cities in China. The coffee company has also been testing Starbucks Delivers in some parts of Tokyo.
The option to have Starbucks items delivered isn’t a new one. Customers have been able to order and have Starbucks delivered to them via Postmates, but this is the first service directly from the company and will be specifically tailored to delivering its coffee. According to Bustle , the service will likely come at a lower fee than the Postmates option.
JUST ANNOUNCED: We are bringing Starbucks Delivers to nearly a quarter of our U.S. company-operated stores beginning in 2019. Excited to be partnering with Uber Eats! $SBUX pic.twitter.com/QXxBIIwwna
— Starbucks News (@StarbucksNews) December 13, 2018
The company will also be taking extra precautions to make sure customers receive their coffee in the same way they would in-store, minus the hassle. In China, the company has been utilizing spill-proof beverage lids, insulated containers to keep drinks hot or cold, and a dedicated team of drivers assigned to always pick up from the nearest Starbucks location to ensure timely deliveries. It’s possible that this same model will be recreated in the U.S.
“Coffee is one of the fastest growing beverage categories globally and our over 350,000 partners around the world who wear the green apron are now serving 100 million customer occasions a week,” said chief executive officer Kevin Johnson.
“We have long been performance driven while staying true to our mission and values to create positive change and global social impact. The leadership team and I believe Starbucks is better positioned than ever for continued success.”
