Starbucks Expanding Selection Of Healthy Beverages To Meet Customer Demand

By Megan Zielinski, contributing writer

Evolution Fresh, a natural juicing company acquired by Starbucks, will be adding more delicious flavors into their assortment of cold-pressed green juices and through partnership with Dannon, will be testing store-made juice smoothies made with Greek yogurt in select Starbuck locations, providing consumers with high-quality, great tasting healthy beverage choices in Starbucks and their local grocery store.

With more consumers becoming conscious of healthy options, the sales of green juices is far-surpassing the growth of the $1.6 billion super-premium juice category in total. Evolution Fresh has recognized this health food movement and has amped up the selection of their nutrient-packed green juices. Grocery stores across the U.S began carrying three newly-introduced Evolution Fresh cold-pressed green juices in the beginning of June—more than doubling the selection offered from two to five flavor options. “Now that our new state-of-the-art juicer is fully operational, I’ve been able to maximize innovation and production of cold-pressed juice,” said Chef Mark Satterfield, working with Evolution Fresh for nearly ten years. New flavors that will be joining Sweet Greens and Lemon and Essential Greens with Lime include, Coconut Water and Greens, a blend of coconut water, cool cucumber, leafy greens, and the sweetness of pineapple. New Smooth Greens, a mixture of dark green vegetables, cool cucumber, apple, pineapple and a tinge of smooth mint. New 100 percent Organic Sweet Greens and Ginger, a concoction of greens, lemon, crisp apple sweetness with an added ginger boost, a twist from the original Sweet Greens and Lemon version. All Evolution Fresh beverages are made with high-quality ingredients with 82 percent of produce grown within a 400 mile range from company.

“We hope our customers are as excited as we are about our new Evolution Fresh cold-pressed green juices and handcrafted smoothies created in partnership with Dannon, which also includes a new green juice-based option,” said Chris Bruzzo, general manager, Evolution Fresh.

Together with Dannon, Evolution Fresh began testing a new line of fresh juice Greek yogurt-based smoothies as of June 24 in 200 Starbucks located in San Jose, California, and St. Louis, Missouri. The test will continue through September and will roll-out to all Starbucks by next year. Consumer interest in Greek yogurt has soared over the years—with sales of Greek yogurt in 2009 making up 10 percent of sales in the yogurt category, escalating to nearly 50 percent of yogurt sales now. Starbucks has already replaced regular yogurt in their parfaits with Dannon’s non-fat Greek yogurt since Dannon and Starbucks announced their initiative July 2013. Evolution Fresh Cold-Pressed Juice Smoothies include, Sweet Greens, a vegetable and fruit mixture with a touch of mango and banana. Mango Carrot smoothie, a vegetable and fruit based option with a hint of pineapple. Strawberry smoothie, a fruit-based choice made with banana and apple. Customers will have the option to add Kale or extra protein-packed Greek yogurt to their favorite Evolution Fresh smoothies.

Evolution Fresh, leading company of green juices, was purchased by Starbucks in 2011. The company uses high pressure processing to bottle cold, fresh squeezed juice from vegetables and fruits—securing important vitamins and flavors that are lost with other processing techniques. Evolution Fresh products can be found in Starbucks stores, four company-operated Evolution Fresh locations, and over 9,300 grocery stores nationwide.