Starbucks has added something new to its menu. Aside from offering designer coffee, you can now enjoy designer yogurt at the giant coffee chain. The company announced its partnership with French yogurt maker Danone to make its own Evolution Fresh brand.
The Starbucks yogurt will be known as Evolution Fresh, inspired by Dannon. It will be sold in Starbucks shops by next year and in grocery store shelves by 2015. The first product out of the deal will be the ready-to-eat Greek yogurt parfait. Greek yogurt is strained to get rid of the excess whey to give it higher protein content than regular yogurt.
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The yogurt business is worth around $6 billion and has become the fastest growing snack food in the US. The Starbucks brand has been spreading across supermarket shelves.
Starbucks venture into yogurt is part of its strategic plan made years ago by its CEO Howard Schultz to evolve the coffee chain into a better-for-you brand. He wants Starbucks products to be purchased at a grocery store as often as they buy coffee from a Starbucks store.
The plan will put the Evolution Fresh brand into the spotlight as it goes beyond the juice business. Starbucks has recently ventured into the tea business with the acquisition of Teavana as well as the fine pastry business with its purchase of La Boulange.
Experts said that Starbucks is poised to succeed with its yogurt venture. Yogurt is now known as a healthy snack and the company has made an emotional level of believability that their stores are now a place you can get healthy meal or snack.
