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A recent article in the Seattle P-I written by Andrea James reports that Starbucks has announced that they are going to start selling smoothies in their coffee shops. “In April, Seattle-based Starbucks Corp. said that it hopes to expand its customer base by serving blended fruit and protein beverages, energy drinks and healthy foods.” While this may seem to be a deviation from their current business plan, it may be interesting to note that “Jamba Juice got its start with the help of Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz, who was an original investor and had served as board member of the company.” To date, Jamba Juice has grown to over 700 stores.

Although Schultz helped to start Jamba Juice, I don’t really see how smoothies fit in with his remake of the company. It always seemed to me that Shultz’s goal was to bring Starbucks back to the vibe it had 15 years ago when it was still a smaller company trying to make it big. He got rid of the delicious breakfast sandwiches because they were overpowering the aroma of the coffee. It would seem like each individual Starbucks would need a lot more room in order to accommodate a smoothie bar as well. Wouldn’t this also take away from the romance and niche of the coffee bar? I guess we will see.