Cafe or theater?

A few days ago, Starbucks held its biennial investor conference in Seattle. On the one hand, it announced the brand's development plans to expand the variety of meals, the online mobile order function and the expansion of Chinese stores in the next five years; on the other hand, it also opened the first "original roasted Coffee experience (Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room)", bringing a completely different store design and consumer experience with a concept similar to the "Coffee Theater".

According to the five-year plan announced by Starbucks, the brand will vigorously promote food in the United States in the future, not only expanding the range of lunches, but also adding beer and wine to the dinner menu to boost sales, while its mobile payment function, which has been promoting, will also be upgraded on a large scale. As for the Chinese market, Starbucks said it would increase the number of stores in China to 3000 by 2019, which is equivalent to doubling the current number of stores.

In addition to the ambitious five-year plan, Starbucks' bigger move during the investor conference was a 1400-square-foot "original baked coffee experience", which Starbucks CEO even called "the new generation of Starbucks", while Liz Muller, who designed the store, compared it to the Chocolate Factory (yes, the movie Depp starred in).

The new store, near Capitol Hill, has two coffee bars, a theme store, a tall library and a transparent coffee roasting kitchen. Customers can see the coffee beans fed into the roaster, into a glittering copper stove about 10m high, and then to the completion of cooking, in the words of the brand, "subverting the retail experience and building a 21st-century storefront."

In addition to coffee, the store also offers seasonal pizza, desserts, salads and more from Tom Douglas and Series Pie restaurants that have won the James Beard Chef Award. The coffee beans baked here are also part of Starbucks' top-end selection series (Reserve), including pea-shaped coffee beans from Montebonito of Colombia and Lake Toba of Sumatra, which will be sent to Starbucks stores for sale.

In the future, Starbucks plans to open more such boutique experience stores in New York, Washington and other places, bringing the number to 100 within five years.