By Tom Gibbs - March 23, 2012 | Tickers: GMCR, MNST, NSRGY.PK, SBUX, WSM | 0 Comments

Tom is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinions of our bloggers and are not formally edited.

Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) has issued more game changing press releases in the past two weeks than most of its competitors have announced in the past year. Soon after Starbucks unleashed its plans to expand into the $8 billion premium single-serve coffee market, as well as its full launch into the premium juice market with its Evolution Fresh branded stores, the retailer has shown that it still has other tricks up its sleeve. In digesting the message from the coffee kings March 21st investor conference, it is clear that the relevancy of the Starbucks brand is swiftly growing.

Starbucks Refreshers

The retailers latest venture uses the extract of unroasted (green) coffee to create a light and, as the product name implies refreshing energy drink entry into the $8 billion industry. Refreshers, sweetened with stevia and lacking huge energy boosters like taurine and additional caffeine, will be a lighter competitor to popular market incumbents including Red Bull and Monster (NASDAQ: MNST). However, this should not imply that the product has little chance of success, as it will be targeted towards a more sophisticated, coffee-enjoying adult core group, and is intended to further boost the traffic that patronizes Starbucks stores in later day parts. Many of the corporations new product offerings, including juices, teas, expanded food menus, and even after-work alcoholic drinks (wine/beer) have acted to spread out the traffic at worldwide Starbucks locations.

Although more than three-quarters of the traffic has traditionally come in the morning day parts (5 am 11 am), an increasing percentage has been spread out into early afternoon and late night day parts. Refreshers are intended to further enhance this trend, evening out the number of employees the corporation needs on staff throughout the day, and creating a less crowded, more intimate Starbucks experience for consumers.

If Starbucks Refreshers enjoy even a fraction of the success as other entries in the market Monsters revenues have grown at a 30+% CAGR over the past decade the new venture should add a hearty revenue stream in addition to the corporations core offerings.

Deeper Penetration into Single Serve

The Starbucks/Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (NASDAQ: GMCR) pairing to co-produce Starbucks-branded k-cups for the Keurig machine has been a suitable first step into the premium single-serve market. Starbucks shipped more than 100 million branded k-cup packs during the first quarter of the year, and the retailers own venture into the market with its upcoming Verismo machine will give it further access to unlock the benefits of Green Mountains razor/blade sales model.

Being released during the holiday season alongside Starbucks Verismo is Green Mountains own high-pressure Vue machine. Similar to the existing low-pressure Keurig, Starbucks will continue its relationship with Green Mountain through the Vue machine, co-branding Vue packs for release in department stores and general merchandise retailers.

Continued here:
Brew-haha at Starbucks Investor Conference