Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) and Publix Super Markets Inc. (OTCMKTS:PUSH) are partnering up to launch a coffee kiosk.
The supermarket chain has improved the quality of its products lately with organic goods and improved beer and wine departments. Now, it is replacing an in-house café in Tampa for a Starbucks kiosk.
The location will be on West Gandy Boulevard in the Southern part of the city. The coffee shop will be 286-square-feet and it will be adjacent to the supermarket’s products, which include freshly cooked rotisserie chickens and a deli.
“We are excited to begin testing Starbucks in our Gandy Shopping Center location,” Publix spokesman Brian West wrote. “It will be a great enhancement to the shopping experience for our customers,”
He added that cafes in other locations will be rolled out eventually, but they are still in development.
Starbucks recently announced an initiative to help the homeless and others in need get food from store locations that is unused by the end of the day. The FoodShare program kicked off in San Diego.
The company is also expanding its presence in the tea industry, adding a slate of high-end and exotic products to China. The Asian country has a tea market worth more than $9.5 billion, about 10 times the size of its coffee industry.
Coffee offerings are also being expanded by Starbucks, as the chain’s signature fall drink – the Pumpkin Spice Latte – now has a new rival in the Chile Mocha, which includes ingredients such as paprika, cayenne pepper and sea salt.
SBUX stock is down 0.1% Wednesday.
