Starbucks Coffee Company released a new drink nationwide on Jan.
8, and as it exposes consumers to more than the average cup of
coffee, executives are hoping people will start to wake up and
smell the drinking chocolate.
As students sampled the new beverage, called
“Chantico,” at the two Starbucks located in Westwood,
reactions ranged from smiles to grimaces.
Starbucks is a global conglomerate with licensed locations
everywhere from Saudi Arabia to Malaysia, but for the UCLA students
who come to study and socialize at the coffeehouses in Westwood,
those statistics are abstract.
Marketing experts and financial gurus within the coffee company,
nevertheless, often keep students and consumers in mind as they
come out with new lines and products. Among those products are
specialized CDs and new beverages, such as Chantico.
The coffee chain already offers a variety of chocolate
beverages, including mochas and hot chocolate, but this new drink
is a different type of “romantic experience,” said
Kristine Jimenez, a spokesperson for the company.
The new drinking chocolate is a decadent concoction of pure milk
chocolate, with those sampling the beverage making references to
Godiva chocolates and truffles. Named after the Aztec goddess of
hearth and fire, Chantico is based on Aztec traditions of drinking
chocolate, which can now also be found in cafes all over
Europe.
“We’re introducing our customers to the pleasures of
drinking chocolate ““ transforming the way consumers think
about chocolate, just as we transformed the way consumers
experience coffee,” said Senior Vice President of Category
Management Michelle Gass in a Starbucks press release.
Nadia Sanchez works at the Starbucks at the Citadel in Commerce
and explained the beverage was “specially suited for
chocolate lovers.”
Sanchez said the drinking chocolate piqued the interest of
consumers throughout the weekend, and baristas were told to warn
consumers of the drink’s richness.
“We were told to tell customers to “˜just try it as a
sample first’ … some of them didn’t like it and said
it was too much like chocolate syrup,” Sanchez said.
Melody Hernandez, a third-year biochemistry student, tried
Chantico on Sunday evening at the Starbucks located on Weyburn and
Broxton avenues.
“It’s the perfect drink for moody women craving
something sweet,” Hernandez said enthusiastically about the
chocolatey beverage.
The new drinking chocolate debuts just as the company’s
less than stellar December same-store sales figures were
released.
Many financial analysts were predicting a double-digit percent
increase after November’s solid figures. But, on Jan. 5,
Starbucks reported only an 8 percent increase concerning same-store
sales statistics.
But referring to the coffee conglomerate as anything less than
successful would be foolhardy, financial economists say. Starbucks
is constantly innovating its lines, Jimenez said, in an attempt to
expand.
“We are innovating new drinks for the summer. We’ll
be introducing new line extensions on our popular frappuccino, for
example,” Jimenez added.
According to Fiscal 2005 Targets for the coffee company,
Starbucks plans on opening 1,500 new stores worldwide and hopes to
increase net revenue growth 20 percent.