As top-secret code names go, the in-house corporate reference for Starbucks impending breakfast revamp is less than intimidating: “Morning Source.”
OOOOOOH…. Scary. Reportedly, however, that’s what they call it around Seattle these days, according to a revealing, read-between-the-lines type story in USA Today. The details are this: Next Wednesday, Sept. 3, Starbucks will start a wholesale retooling of that frightening doughnut-laden glass case in front of the baristas. There will be six new items, each of which will apparently be good for you — or as writer Bruce Horovitz shrewdly puts it, “better-for-you.” Look for “Perfect Oatmeal” (served in a cardboard bowl, with dried fruit) and energy bars (with oats and honey, $1.75) and whole-grain muffins and a “Power Protein Plate” ($4.95) that includes a hard-cooked egg, a cheese wedge, a few pieces of fruit and a pack of peanut butter. Nothing is weighs in at more than 330 calories. And Starbucks is doing this. . .why? Because A) the company is losing money (its stock is down 25 percent since this time last year and you take it for granted), B) a common complaint at Starbucks is that its food is not for human consumption. Oh, and because of C) CEO Howard Schultz went to the doctor. He tells USA Today that his doctor told him he was fat and his cholesterol was high.
So, it got him to thinking… maybe other people are worried about their health and can’t afford a private consultation with wellness doctors who appear on Oprah. And so now, soon enough, you too can eat oatmeal out of a cardboard bowl. (That’s how these things work.) He also mentioned the breakfast refiguring is the first in a series of food-centric tweaking. In 2009, Starbucks said it’s planning to relaunch its lunch and dinner menus. Which got us to thinking: Starbucks has a dinner menu? Anyway. Excited? (Reprinted from the Chicago Tribune)
