By Zanub Saeed
Starbucks stores in Chicago will begin to see a few additions to its menu at the later hours of the day: a Woodfield branch of the store will begin to sell beer, wine, and small plates of food this week, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Starting after 4:00pm local time, customers at Starbucks will be able to purchase an assortment of eber, wine at prices from $7 to $15, and up to $50 a bottle, the Chicago Tribune said, and snack on foods like warm rosemary cashews, bacon-wrapped dates, flatbreads, and chocolate fondue.
"This concept is trying to deliver the same atmosphere and the same service that everybody's grown to love and expect from Starbucks," Rachel Antalek, director of new concept development at Starbucks Coffee Co told the Chicago Tribune. "We're constantly innovating and trying new things, and this is something our customers have asked us for that in a lot of ways hearkens back to European coffeehouse heritage."
The difference with these news Starbucks stores is that they will have more of a café and restaurant feel, where customers will be have limited table service by staff, said the Chicago Tribune, as well as feature live music and poetry readings, to add to the "no stress book club" atmosphere, Antalek told the Chicago Tribune.
Seven Starbucks stores so far in the pacific northwest area of the United States have expanded their menus to beer and wine, and have also seen a double-digit same-store sales increase after 4:00pm, said the Chicago Tribune. Not a great deal of advertisement was done to promote the new items, Antalek said, except through social media networks and signs posted at the cafes.
The beer and wine menus for Starbucks will continue to expand throughout Chicago this year, as well as Atlanta and Southern California, like Los Angeles and Orange counties, the Chicago Tribune said.
Antalek said that with the addition of alcoholic drinks on the menu, there shouldn't be problems of consumers coming in to have too much to drink, and that Starbucks has a comprehensive alcohol training program available, noted the Chicago Tribune.
"We don't find we have customers coming in to overindulge," Antalek told the Chicago Tribune. "They're not using the space that way."
