Starbucks Expands Delivery Service to Six Cities

SEATTLE — Starbucks Coffee Co. is expanding its Starbucks Delivers service to pilot in six additional cities across the United States.

Through a partnership with Uber Eats, the expansion kicked off Jan. 22 in San Francisco, with Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C., to follow in the coming weeks. In total, Starbucks Delivers will be available in seven U.S. cities this spring and the company remains on track to bring the service to nearly one-quarter of U.S. company-operated stores, Starbucks said.

The U.S. expansion of Starbucks Delivers follows the successful pilot in Miami last year. The test saw strong demand, including repeat business throughout the day and positive feedback from customers, according to Starbucks. The expansion also coincides with the kickoff of a new pilot, due to begin later this month, in which London will be the first European city to trial Starbucks Delivers.

According to the coffee roaster, Starbucks leverages Uber Eats' expertise as a quick and reliable delivery provider that is already well-established in offering customers a premier experience in a growing mobile and on-demand economy. The partnership will also allow Starbucks to reach new customers who are using the Uber Eats platform, as well as offer existing customers a new method for including Starbucks in their daily routines.

"We know we have untapped customer demand for Starbucks Delivers in the U.S. and starting today, we're expanding our best-in-class experience to our customers both in and out of our stores," said Roz Brewer, group president and chief operating officer for Starbucks. "We're building on key learnings from past delivery pilots and by integrating our ordering technology directly with Uber Eats, we’ve unlocked the ability to bring Starbucks to customers for those times when they’re not able to come to us."

Customers in the pilot cities can access Starbucks Delivers through the Uber Eats mobile app, available on iOS and Android devices. Key features of the Starbucks Delivers experience include:

• Quick, reliable delivery: Powered by the Uber Eats platform, customers can follow orders within the mobile app, tracking progress and location of their Uber courier to ensure proper delivery of their food and beverage items within 30 minutes. Starbucks has also developed packaging solutions to help ensure the quality of hot and cold menu items.
• Customization: With approximately 95 percent of core menu items available directly from the Starbucks menu, customers can customize their orders just as they would when ordering on Starbucks mobile apps. Delivery orders will come with an initial $2.49 booking fee.

"At Uber Eats, we're always looking for new ways to offer people the widest selection of food they love. That's why we’re so excited to deliver Starbucks fans their favorite food and beverages in a way that’s as easy as requesting a ride," said Jason Droege, vice president and head of UberEverything. "Be it breakfast delivered straight to the soccer field or afternoon lattés to the office, we know this partnership will delight our customers."

Global Expansion

Starbucks Delivers represents the next evolution of the company's approach to delivery and expanding its digital relationships with customers, according to Starbucks. In addition to the pilot in Miami and a pilot in the Empire State Building in New York City, Starbucks previously tested delivery in Seattle in 2015 for members of the company’s Starbucks Rewards loyalty program.

Starbucks Delivers was first announced in August 2018 in China through a partnership with Alibaba and on-demand food delivery service Ele.me. By the end of 2018, delivery services had expanded to 2,000 stores across 30 cities in China, while also being introduced to select stores in Tokyo and Miami.

The limited pilot in London will be the first of its kind for Starbucks in Europe in which a small number of company-operated stores will test and learn from the experience as it looks to scale this option to licensees, according to the company. Additional global markets with delivery initiatives include India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Mexico, Colombia and Chile.