Chef's Line Chicken Stock

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Starbucks VIA Ready Brew Flavored Coffee Now Available in US and Canada

Beginning today, Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) VIA Ready Brew Flavored Coffees are available in Starbucks stores throughout the U.S. and Canada. To celebrate the newest addition to the Starbucks VIA portfolio, Starbucks invites customers to come in and discover their favorite flavor. For a limited time, October 6 – 9, customers will receive a free tall (12 fl. oz) beverage of their choice when they purchase any of the four new flavors — Vanilla, Mocha, Caramel, or Cinnamon Spice — at participating stores in the U.S. and Canada.

“Starbucks VIA Flavored Coffees are inspired by some of our most popular beverage flavors and are the perfect balance of arabica coffee, natural flavor and sweetness,” said Annie Young-Scrivner, Starbucks chief marketing officer. “We believe our customers will soon find their favorite on-the-go flavor once they taste the smooth sweet vanilla, rich mocha, buttery-smooth caramel, or the aromatic cinnamon spice blend.”

Starbucks is the first company to offer a nationally branded instant coffee in the U.S. that uses only natural flavors and cane sugar — no artificial ingredients. Unlike other flavored instant coffees, Starbucks VIA Flavored Coffee consists of a blend of 100 percent natural roasted arabica coffee, sugar and natural flavors. Available in 6-packs $6.95 USD (six 8 fl. oz servings) and $7.95 CAN (six 8 fl. oz servings); each packet makes a wonderfully balanced cup of coffee and is ideal for life-on-the-go.

Ten months after the debut of the company’s VIA instant coffee, sales for that product have hit the $100 million mark.

VIA was trotted out in the middle of the worst recession in recent history, a lower-cost product meant to protect the coffee giant from competitors that focus on a lower-end market.

Starbucks sells the slender packets of instant coffee in boxes at its cafes. VIA is also available at some grocery stores and general retailers, such as Target.

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No question, the technology provokes oohs and aahs. Now to the bigger question: Will restaurants be impressed enough with the gizmo to help Coca-Cola meet its ambitious goals of covering the country with the machines?

Coca-Cola plans to put 2,000 Freestyle machines in about 15 markets this year, up from about 120 machines in use now. About 20 Freestyle machines are built every day. The machine has reached restaurants in Atlanta, Dallas and southern California. Coming soon: Chicago, Orlando and cities yet to be announced.

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The oil that began to spew after the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig about 120 miles southeast of New Orleans has not directly affected the city, except emotionally. But local chefs are scrambling to find new sources of oysters and other seafood as old ones close, then open, then close.

Eating is a big part of New Orleans, both for locals and visitors: Local restaurants have annual sales of as much as $2.8 billion, said Wendy Waren, vice president of communications for the Louisiana Restaurant Assn.

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Called the FlatwareSaver, it’s a flip-top container lid that fits over a standard industrial-size trash can and is embedded with small metal detectors. When busy busboys or waiters dump a plateful of food into the tray, the sensors emit a loud beep, alerting them that silverware, serving dishes and other items are among the trash, Pacheco said.

“Restaurants in the U.S. spend about $500 million on lost silverware and ramekins — which are the small serving dishes used to hold sauces,” Pacheco said. “The first time I heard a restaurant supervisor call it ‘the cost of doing business,’ I knew I was onto something.”

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The latest trick the beverage giant has up its sleeve is called Freestyle. It’s a fountain drink dispenser that resides in fast food restaurants, but it’s hard to believe what it does. This high tech gadget actually allows customers to mix their own flavor concoctions from more than 100 Coca-Cola drink brands.

Coca-Cola unveiled Freestyle to awe-struck attendees at the National Restaurant Association show that ended yesterday, but the company has been test marketing the device for months; in fact, Freestyle has been in the development stage for five years.

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Starbucks said Wednesday it will to increase availability of the brand from 3,000 locations to 30,000 by the end of the year.

That includes a new agreement with AMC Theaters, which will serve Seattle’s Best Coffee in 300 AMC Theaters nationwide beginning in July.

Seattle’s Best will also be offered at all Burger King restaurants by September.

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The soda fountain has been the touchstone of Coke’s business since 1886, when a pharmacist John Pembertoncreated the secret-recipe syrup and mixed it with carbonated water. But the technology hasn’t changed much since the 1950s, as a line of nozzles spit out big-name sodas.

Coke’s new Freestyle machine is housed in a curved metal shell created by the designers of Ferrari race cars, and features a touch-screen menu. Inside, technology common in measuring tiny doses of chemotherapy drugs is used to release digitally-controlled amounts of concentrate flavor from dozens of plastic cartridges.

But the Freestyle’s complicated technology and expense—Coke charges 30% more for it than traditional fountains—have slowed its way into stores. Five years after the company began developing the Freestyle, it’s still only in tests in a handful of stores. Coke declined to say how much it charges for the machines or how much it has spent on the project.

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Wayne E. Chaplin, President and Chief Operating Officer, Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc., said, “As part of our long-term strategy, we are now focused on building a strong and highly-experienced statewide management, sales and operations team for Indiana. Gerry’s appointment is a key part of our unceasing commitment to bring the highest levels of talent to our markets of operation, ensuring superior brand-building excellence, customer service and operational efficiency to our supplier and customer partners across the State of Indiana.”

Brad Vassar, Executive Vice President, General Manager of Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc., said, “Gerry is an extremely capable and savvy Southern GM, and he will begin immediately to recruit the best and brightest sales, marketing and operations personnel for our new statewide enterprise in Indiana. Gerry’s proven leadership skills and record of professional achievement have been honed throughout his career. He showed business acumen and competitive grit in various on- and off-premise sales positions in Southern’s Tampa, Florida operation early in his career. To these qualities, he added vision, disciplined management and personnel motivation skills after his move to Miami in 1999 into the leadership role of VP, General Sales Manager for Southern Wine & Spirits of Florida. All these experiences and capabilities make Gerry the ideal candidate to manage our entry into Indiana and oversee the establishment of a world-class organization there. We are confident he will build a truly-second-to-none operation staffed by a local team of talented, experienced professionals.”

Mr. Vassar added, “We are now focused on total success in Indiana—success in recruiting the best and brightest; success in expanding our valued supplier relationships; and, most importantly, success in delivering world class sales and service support to Indiana’s retailers. Immediately, we will begin initiating our recruiting and hiring, and we will communicate the details about the process, which will include live and web-based applicant assessments (www.southernwine.com).” Mr. Vassar concluded.

Prior to Mr. Rivero’s appointment in Indiana, he served as Vice President, General Manager for Southern Wine & Spirits of Florida’s Coastal Wine & Spirits selling division. Mr. Rivero was promoted to this position in 2004. Mr. Rivero earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Montevallo in Birmingham, Alabama—where he attended school on a full, four-year baseball scholarship.

As previously announced, Southern has retained the commercial real estate powerhouse Cassidy Turley to provide site selection services and real estate expertise in the State of Indiana. The soon-to-be-selected, Indiana-based property will serve as the preferred location for Southern’s next state-of-the-art distribution facility. Details for the planned 200,000+ square foot office and warehouse distribution center are not yet finalized but site definition and facility design are underway.

About Southern Wine & Spirits of America:

Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc. is the nation’s largest wine and spirits distributor, with current operations in 29 states. The multi-state distributor currently operates in: Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia—as well as the additional seven states of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Utah through the Southern-Odom/Spirits West partnership. Southern also holds operating licenses and permits in Indiana, Nebraska and Texas. In Minnesota, Southern recently announced the establishment of a joint venture with J.J. Taylor Distributing Co.; the partnership becomes effective pending regulatory approvals. On a national basis, Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc. employs more than 11,000 team members. For more information contact: www.southernwine.com.