The “king of coffee”, Starbucks, is taking a new spin on its beverages. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is developing a new concept in the world of beverages by shifting from coffee to something healthier and rejuvenating– juice.

  On November 10th, CEO Howard Schultz announced that he had bought a small juice making company named Evolution Fresh Inc. from Jimmy Rosenberg, the founder of Naked Juice, for 30 million dollars cash. CEO Howard Schultz said that he hopes to make Evolution Fresh into a 50 billion dollar company in the future. During an announcement in his press conference call, he also commented “Even though this is a small acquisition in size, it’s a significant strategic decision and direction for the company. Our intention is to reinvent this category in the same tonality that we have reinvented over the last 40 years the basic commodity of coffee. We see a lot of white space.”

  This new juice bar will kick-off in middle of the year 2012 on the West Coast to test out the new product at juice bars that resemble the small, Starbucks coffee shops. The products of these juice bars will be sold not only in its juice bars, but in major grocery chains too. The Starbucks juice bars are not only serving juice, but they are also incorporating healthier food items to go with the juices. Unfortunately, the beverages will not be freshly squeezed at the juice bar, but the selection is supposedly completely unique and independent of most products out there. Jeff Hansberry, president of channel development at Starbucks, says that the juices that are going to be produced by Evolution Fresh will go through a process called high-pressure pasteurization, which is a process that preserves the juices without heating them by using pressure. Therefore, the nutrients of the juices will not be lost in the process of pasteurization. 

  Although the mysterious names and logos of the spin-off company has yet to be revealed, the focus of the new Starbucks juice bar is to provide a product to a different customer. The customers in this situation are people who crave healthier options, people trying to lose weight, and people who need something refreshing and light while on-the-go.

  Taking a break from coffee won’t hurt, but will it last long enough to keep the Starbucks juice bar alive? Look out Jamba Juice.