Starbucks is entering Whole Foods. The café company will not be opening new cafes inside Whole Foods, but will be selling its Evolution Fresh juice.
Starbucks recently purchased the juice brand Evolution Fresh and they will now be appearing in Whole Foods Market stores across the nation. Whole Foods will also sell Evolution’s line of trail mixes, fruit bars and snack bars known as Evolution Harvest.
For the Seattle-based Starbucks, it is a big step in its way to becoming a giant in consumer products. While for Whole Foods, it is an opportunity to tie up and prosper with a huge retail giant whose customer base feels and looks similar.
One analyst said that Whole Foods could perhaps be the only mainstream retailer with the ability to pass along Evolution Fresh’s high price points.
The juices cost between $2,99 and $6,99 for just a 15.2 ounce container, which makes them quite pricey, but still below some super-premium juices on the market.
Evolution Fresh, unlike most of its competitors in the super-premium juice category, is not heated as it’s bottled. Instead, it is bottled with a technology using ultra-high pressure helping to retain the vitamins inside the vegetables and fruits.
Evolution Fresh will have 14 different flavors in Whole Foods, including two unique ones to the chain: Organic Sweet Burn and Organic Ruby Roots.
A member of management for the Evolution Fresh brand said that one bottle of vegetable juice was made with over two pounds of fresh produce.
The two companies are planning to have more products on the shelves of Whole Foods, but do not expect Starbucks Coffee there anytime soon.
