Coca-Coffee?
TEXT OF STORY
BOB MOON: You might want to bring along some extra change if you’re headed for Starbucks. The ubiquitous coffee chain is brewing up higher prices: Five cents more a cup and about 50 cents extra for a pound of coffee beans. Meantime, Coca-Cola is moving into the brewed beverage arena. It plans to sell a new brewing system for high-end coffee, espressos and lattes. And today they’re opening an experimental store in Toronto where the brewing system will get a tryout. Ashley Milne-Tyte reports.
ASHLEY MILNE-TYTE: The store is meant to immerse customers in Coca-Cola’s new coffee brands, so when they recognize the same brands elsewhere they’ll make a beeline for them.
Why would Coke move into hot drinks? Rick Joy is an analyst with Standard and Poorsa€¦
RICK JOY:“It really comes down to the fact that y’know Coca-Cola, their lifeblood is innovation.”
Joy says soda sales are pretty flat, but coffee and tea are growing.
The company has some rivals in the convenience store space, but Gary Hemphill of Beverage Marketing Corporation says Coke already has a leg up.
GARY HEMPHILL:“A lot of these outlets, convenience stores, gas stations and others, are already Coca Cola customers.”
So when the system launches in the US in a year or so, he says, it has a good chance of taking off.
I’m Ashley Milne-Tyte for Marketplace.
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