Starbucks, which has been doing its best to provide its consumers the best coffee out of their homes for the past 41 years, is now offering people more opportunities to brew a nice cup of coffee at home. The brand goes beyond packs of grounded and instant coffee and announces the Verismo system, the first at-home premium single cup machine. The new coffee-maker, which allows to craft Starbucks-quality espresso beverages, from lattes to americanos at home, is arriving in stores this fall along with a variety of Starbucks coffees (in all roast ranges) and milk pods.
Starbucks
Starbucks opens a new concept store in Amsterdam tomorrow, on March 8. Called ‘The Bank,’ the concept store features a ‘Slow’ Coffee Theatre, Dutch design, community gathering spaces and a bakery. The concept store is a part of total Starbucks chain renovation that has already started in North America.
Apple, Google and Amazon are the leaders of the World’s Most Admired Companies 2012 chart, unveiled as result of the new survey conducted by the Fortune trade publication and the Hay Group consultancy—a total of 698 companies from 32 countries were included. The companies, which top most of lists of the most successful businesses, are followed by Coca-Cola, IBM, FedEx, Berkshire Hathaway, Starbucks, Procter & Gamble and Southwest Airlines correspondingly. The first two leaders hold their positions for several consecutive years—for instance, Apple heads the chart for the fifth year in a row, Google was the second most admired company in 2010 and 2011 as well (see the last year’s list here).
Remember the hilarious Starbucks Cup Magic app, released by the coffee giant before Christmas? Ahead of Valentine’s Day, Starbucks is launching a new version of the app in the US to help spread love across the nation and ‘Celebrate everylove.’ Just like the X-mas version, it brings to life the limited edition cups with holiday symbols (now they are hearts) and special targets with an augmented reality twist. The new Valentine’s Day application, which allows to create and send a personalized animated valentine or a festive Starbucks Card eGift, will be available to download from here for eleven days, February 6-16.
Starbucks has finally introduced My Starbucks Rewards in the UK and Ireland after launching it in the USA and Canada. Now, British consumers can get rewards by spending money loaded on their registered Starbucks cards, no matter what and when they buy in the chain’s stores. The new service kicked off yesterday, January 5, providing more Starbucks coffee drinkers with an opportunity to receive benefits by collecting stars with purchases they make using their Starbucks Cards.
Starbucks, which this year turned 40, marked the anniversary by updating both its logo (remember, the siren has been living without a circle around her for almost a year) and revamping the packaging. In October, the coffee giant optimized its range by dividing it into categories by roast to help consumers choose the right one—Blonde, Medium or Dark—quickly.