Starbucks got the coffee right. Now, it is trying to do the same with the food.
The world’s largest coffee chain announced on Monday plans to acquire for $100 million a small artisan bakery chain, Bay Bread and its 19-unit La Boulange bakery brand.
The move comes just months after Starbucks (SBUX) purchased the tiny Evolution Fresh juice brand and at a time Starbucks is pushing hard to expand beyond coffee and vastly improve its baked goods and other food offerings. Food is one of the chains fastest-growing businesses, now accounting for $1.5 billion in revenues even as its sales have grown by double digits over the past two years.
“After more than 40 years, we will be able to say that we are bakers, too,” says Howard Schultz, CEO at Starbucks.
via USA Today
The bakery chain, La Boulange, reminds me a lot of Le Pain Quotidien.
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