By October, Starbucks' most loyal customers may find themselves skipping that long line for their favorite "cup of Joe" as they will soon have the ability to make it themselves.
Starbucks this week began selling its first-ever single-cup machine, dubbed Verismo, on its website. The machines will be available in stores such as Williams-Sonoma and Sur La Table the first week of October and in Starbucks stores mid-month, with baristas demonstrating how to use them. The standard Verismo, made by Germany's Krueger GmbH & Co. KG, is priced at $199, with a larger version at $399.
"This is a big bet we're making," Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz said in an interview. He said the company is going to launch a multimillion-dollar ad campaign to promote Verismo, a word that refers to a style of Italian opera.
Mr. Schultz said Verismo works with pods containing espresso and milk that, when used together, can produce a latte. Nestlé's Nespresso machines make espresso, but people have to either froth their own milk or pour their own milk into the machine, depending on the type of Nespresso maker. Other single-serve machines, like Kraft Foods Inc.'s Tassimo, make espresso-based drinks using discs containing coffee and concentrated milk, but haven't made a big impact on the market.
Mr. Schultz said Verismo works with pods containing espresso and milk that, when used together, can produce a latte.
The single-serve phenomenon took off in the mid-2000s, after Green Mountain bought Keurig and began heavily marketing the machines. The initial rapid growth has begun to taper off, but the Vermont-based company says there is still room to grow.
Mitchell Pinheiro, an analyst with Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, said sales of single-serve espresso makers are likely to be incremental to the coffee companies since drip coffee still dominates in this country. But, he says, espresso "is the next evolution of the coffee culture in the United States."
Mr. Schultz said 75% of Starbucks customers don't own a single-cup machine and that he expects to make converts of them with Verismo.
The introduction of a single-serve machine is an expansion of Starbucks's strategy to offer coffee in as many formats and locations as possible. The company's first foray into single-cup coffee was in 2009 with the introduction of Via instant coffee. Last year, the company entered into a deal with Green Mountain to sell Starbucks brand K-Cups for use in Keurig brewers.
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