Starbucks to roll out coffee machines

By John Reynolds, marketingmagazine.co.uk, Monday, 10 September 2012 08:54AM

Starbucks is aping rival Costa Coffee by rolling out thousands of coffee vending machines, called Starbucks On The Go.

Starbucks: readies UK machine roll out

The first machines will be introduced in four Sainsbury's stores next week. They will then be installed at petrol stations, followed by a country-wide roll out. Starbucks said it was initially just being rolled out on a trial basis.

The move marks a significant push by Starbucks into a new area and comes just 18 months after Costa bought Coffee Nation, which operates 900 coffee machines.

The Starbucks On The Go machines will make the coffee in less than a minute and offer more than 200 different drinks.

The vending machine has a touchscreen interface, which allows customers to play a game while waiting for their coffee.

All Starbuck's Tall drinks will cost £2.10 and Grande will be priced at £2.40. Extra shots and syrups will not cost extra.

The move comes at a busy time for Starbucks. In July, Starbucks announced it was launching a chilled coffee product called Refresha and a range of commercial tie-ups.

In an interview with Marketing, Starbucks' top UK marketer Ian Cranna described how the Starbucks brands is changing and evolving to compete with market leader Costa and McDonald's.

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk