What Does It Mean That Starbucks Has Gone Instant?

It’s all over the news (well the coffee news) that Starbucks is getting set to launch instant coffee on March 3rd. The new coffee, called Via for no reason that can possibly make sense, is, however, not exactly the same thing as America’s Folgers or Europe’s Nescafe. Starbucks claims that it has spent a year developing the coffee to be as close to a cup of real coffee as possible. That’s all well and good, but Starbucks missed a really big trick with it. They are selling Via for the equivalent of $1 an 8oz cup. Since their regular coffee is $1.50 a cup and since if you buy beans and make your own you can get down to around 50 cents a cup even if you make strong, rich coffee, this doesn’t strike us as the smartest price point. And since I still need hot water to make it it isn’t exactly a true on the go option. And Folgers? A cup of that will set you back about 25 cents.

So who is going to buy this Via stuff? Some industry analysts expect it to sell well in Europe and especially the UK, as well as the Far East, where instant coffee is actually far more common than regular coffee. But surely a great deal of that has to do with price? Let’s just say that we think this is not likely to be the trick that pulls Starbucks back into growth mode. Incidentally, rival (but smaller) coffee chains like Peets and Costa Coffee reported growth in the last quarter – proving that there IS still a market for a good coffee experience.

Related posts:

1. Someone Had To Do It – The Starbucks Instant Taste Test.