Cold Foam

[topher]

Ok so Starbux is now offering cold foam for their iced beverages. They put low a fat milk in a blender with cascara for sweetness. I just don't get it. Seems like a lot of work to sweeten foamed milk. Do you think they will gain traction with this? We use coffee iced cubes in our iced coffee. Customers swear by it. It is such a pain though...you can't freeze coffee in an ice maker. It has to be done by hand. Then again, thinking of the labor that is involved in the iced coffee "Cubsta's" maybe they will make a go of it.

 

[Musicphan]

I've never heard of it... interesting that they are using a cascara extract...

Ingredients
Brewed Coffee, Ice, Cascara Cold Foam [Milk, Cascara Syrup (Water, Cane Sugar, Coffee Cherry Extract, Organic Coconut Sugar, Citric Acid, Xanthan Gum, Potassium Sorbate)], Vanilla Syrup [Sugar, Water, Natural Flavors, Potassium Sorbate, Citric Acid], Cascara Topping [Sugar, Coffee Cherry Extract].

 

[PinkRose]

Topher,

Are you seriously thinking of giving the sweetened cold-foam idea a try?

The labor involved in making your coffee ice cubes is enough of a treat for any iced coffee lover. Many people prefer to add the milk and sweetener by themselves, anyway.

Maybe it would better to hold back, and not jump into the sweetened cold-foam idea just yet.

Starbucks has a way of trying out new ideas, and then suddenly giving them up when they flop. It will be interesting to see if this idea flops, too.

Rose

 

[topher]

Oh no...I am not going to try it. Cubes are enough of a challange.

 

[irobinsonmark8]

hmm i will try it here..

 

[JoeConiglioArmenia]

Time will tell with this charbux idea.

Why can't you automate your "Cubsta's" ?

 

[topher]

If you run coffee through an ice machine it freezes only the water and leaves a foam (coffee) behind. We have tried it on several different brands and same result. I wish we could though

 

[JoeConiglioArmenia]

That sucks, I am scratching my head, as you probably have been for years. I will be in south FL this weekend I will see if I can try one, seems many of your clients love them. I can only imagine how labor intensive this process is for each location, or is it centralized then sent frozen?

If you run coffee through an ice machine it freezes only the water and leaves a foam (coffee) behind. We have tried it on several different brands and same result. I wish we could though

 

[topher]

Each store has a walk in freezer and produces their own cubes. I feel bad for the people who crack the cubes. Im sorry I haven't responded to your email...going to right now.

 

[JoeConiglioArmenia]

So each store individually produces at the quantity demanded by that specific location. No worries, it looks like I have some free time Saturday morning if that works for you, awaiting your email.

Each store has a walk in freezer and produces their own cubes. I feel bad for the people who crack the cubes. Im sorry I haven't responded to your email...going to right now.

 

[SusanMangum]

Anyone tried this?

 

[Musicphan]

When i drove out for Denver Coffeefest a few weeks ago... my only option was Starbucks. I decided to give this a shot and I have to say, it wasn't bad. As topher suggested, it was a lot of effort for little value. Basically its their cold brew coffee topped with this mixture from the blender. Although Cascara is the trendy word in coffee now... I couldn't perceive any flavor impact from the Cascara. It was simply sweetened whipped milk.

 

[Mr.GreenBean]

If you look at the SWOT analysis of Starbucks, you see the following list of their key competitors within their marketplace. That should answer your question about any new products they introduce. An "ours is better" sort of invention to counter something that the other guy had success in launching.

The following companies are the major competitors of Starbucks Corporation:

Caribou Coffee Company, Inc. (Ticker: CBOU)
Costa Coffee
Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc. (Ticker: DNKN)
International Coffee & Tea, LLC
J.M. Smucker LLC
McDonald's Corporation (Ticker: MCD)
Mondelez International, Inc. (Ticker: MDLZ)
Nestle USA, Inc.

 

[Mr.GreenBean]

My apologies... That SWOT analysis is like 2 years old. Apparently Starbucks merged a portion of their product line with Nestle last month in a $7 billion deal.

 

[JoeConiglioArmenia]

That deal Matt was for retail packaged products only FYI