Starbucks Looks to Jolt Tired Sales with Premium NYC Store, Delivery Pilot
*By Carlo Versano*
For many harried New Yorkers, the perfect Starbucks experience is getting in, caffeinated, and out. Starbucks is hoping it can change that.
The coffee giant opened its brand new 23,000 square-foot Reserve Roastery on the cusp of Manhattan's Meatpacking District this week ー the fourth of its kind and second in the U.S.
Cheddar visited the new location, which takes up most of a city block and has more in common with a hipster coffee shop on steroids than any typical Starbucks ($SBUX) outpost. The New York Roastery includes a cocktail bar, where professional mixologists craft coffee and tea-based libations, two full coffee bars featuring different brewing methods, an attached bakery, and ー true to its name ー a roaster, with a giant wooden cask for storing beans.
For Starbucks, the roastery concept represents an attempt to move into a more premium, experiential segment of the market as its same-store sales lag and its flagship Frappucino brand is spurned by more health-conscious consumers. Former CEO Howard Schultz was [reportedly](https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/12/14/what-starbucks-ny-roastery-is-really-brewing.aspx) enamored with the high-end concept, since it draws higher check totals than average Starbucks transactions.
On Thursday, the eve of the Roastery's grand opening, Starbucks reported earnings and announced several other changes meant to fend off slowing growth. For one, the company will expand its delivery pilot to a quarter of its U.S. stores in the coming months through a partnership with UberEats ーmeant to appeal to those who don't already visit a Starbucks. It did not indicate which cities would get delivery, or how exactly it would work, though a Chinese delivery pilot has shown success.
The menu will expand, too, with Nitro Cold Brew rolling out to every store in the coming year, and new iced drink offerings, which executives see as a growing market. Some of those new drinks will be crafted and tested at the Roastery locations, which act as real-world test labs for the company.
Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson noted in a press release that its successful Draft Nitro, Cold Foam, and Juniper Latte drinks all began as Roastery experiments.
To retain the 60 million customers who visit a Starbucks every week, the company announced it was streamlining its operations to give staff more time to interact with customers. Part of that involves moving the cleaning process to the end of the day.
The New York Roastery joins 350 Starbucks locations in New York City, including one that was once the company's [largest store](https://news.starbucks.com/facts/starbucks-in-new-york-city-timeline). It intends to expand the premium brand to more large cities in the future.
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Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
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Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
