Starbucks recently announced the opening of a Reserve Roastery location in New York, which officially opened last month. This marks Starbucks’ fourth roastery location – its second in the U.S. behind Seattle, Shanghai and Milan. Future locations are planned for Tokyo and Chicago for 2019. The roastery spans nearly 23,000 square feet, and includes a working coffee roastery with small-batch roasting of single-origin coffees and blends called Starbucks Reserve.
“We designed the Roastery as the pinnacle experience around all-things-coffee, and there is nothing else like it in the world. With premium coffees, teas, mixology and the iconic Milanese Princi Bakery, it serves as a Starbucks brand amplifier and a platform for future innovation,” CEO Kevin Johnson said. There is an interesting dichotomy emerging in the restaurant industry right now: Chains are putting forth a lot of effort and investment behind in-store upgrades while off-premise occasions continue to grow.
Starbucks announced that it’s aggressively expanding its delivery presence through a partnership with Uber Eats to meet the growing number of consumers who just want to stay home. But the purpose of the company’s roastery locations are significantly different from speed or convenience. They’re designed specifically to be experiential destinations. This appears to be a savvy investment Euromonitor International predicts experiential spending by consumers will hit $8 trillion by 2030.
At this new Reserve Roastery, consumers can sample coffee flights at the experience bar and explore the scoop bar, where consumers can take home bags of 14 rotating coffees from farms around the world. The format also includes the first Arriviamo Bar — a craft cocktail bar where mixologists serve drinks featuring coffee and tea.
Each roastery also features a unique piece of art. In the New York location, this is a 10-foot, 2,000-pound copper siren created by Brooklyn artist Max Steiner. These features on their own should, at the very least, generate curiosity-induced visits and digital-minded consumers hungry for Instagrammable food and locations.
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