Starbucks, the coffee shop renowned for its seemingly limitless coffee varieties, is opening a new chain of juice bars in response to the growing health trend towards unprocessed and whole foods. In late 2011, the coffee giant also brought out Evolution Fresh, a juice company. Health foods now represent a $50 billion industry, and Starbucks has been very public about their intent to expand into the market and establish themselves as a major player.
Getting down and raw
The juice bars will offer fruit and vegetable options which can be mixed according to consumer preference, or in tried and true menu options like "Spiced Carrot" - carrot, blueberries, and cinnamon - to produce natural fruit juices that are high in dietary fibre, vitamins A, C, and E, and antioxidants.
Thicker smoothies can be supplemented with protein ingredients such as juiced wheat grass and nut butter, to help provide customers with a more nutritionally balanced meal. Healthy foods and snack options, including a wide menu to support vegetarian and vegan lifestyles will be available. The juices are all raw, having been pasteurized using a new method that doesn't rely on heat, to preserve the maximum possible nutritional content while still providing a degree of protection against pathogens.
The evolution of health trends
The juice bars were projected to open in mid 2012, but the first has already opened, months ahead of schedule, in Washington. Starbucks calls the expansion a lucrative investment by citing the easy financial returns and success of even small independently run juice bars. They think the market demand is high enough to warrant its own set of chains, not just an extra few fruit options on the menu at their coffee shops.
While they recognize that the market is smaller than that for coffee, Starbucks points to consumer spending trends that shows the increasing concern with health, including the raw juicing movement, as more than just a passing fad. The amount of money being spent on soda has been on the decline over the last several years. Despite this being a more risky investment than those to which Starbucks shareholders are accustomed, dollar market shares of the company are steadily rising, showing wide support for this move.
Over the past few years, the fresh fruit smoothie industry has bloomed into a billion dollar industry. Customer demand can be seen in the number of people purchasing bottled mixed vegetable and fruit drinks, seeking dietary reparation or preventative health measures against a wide array of illnesses. Growing numbers of people are turning to juicing for detox solutions. There is more than enough demand to support a major industry.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com
http://www.reuters.com
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com
http://www.inquisitr.com
About the author:
Raw Michelle is a natural health blogger and researcher, sharing her passions with others, using the Internet as her medium. She discusses topics in a straight forward way in hopes to help people from all walks of life achieve optimal health and well-being. She has authored and published hundreds of articles on topics such as the raw food diet and green living in general. In 2010, Michelle created RawFoodHealthWatch.com, to share with people her approach to the raw food diet and detoxification.
Replies
MAKES A BIG CHANGE FROM COFFEE..COFFEE..COFFEE
spotlight..................i like that
Raw Vegan Juice Bars are much better then coffee bars.
raw vegan anything is much better than alternative/opposite energy
money is not enemy, it is what you do with it that counts
I welcome it too for the same reasons you just mentioned
...........^.............it makes no difference if it is for money considering that countless folks will actually be exposed to healthy drinks and its benefits en mass..........................................and I bet countless more will get healthier and away from junk, animal based diet................
sure..., but i didnt say that it makes any difference... i just said they are in it for the money....
and since money is involved, it is very possible that the so called "healthy foods", will not stay very healthy in the long run...
i mean they can tamper with healthy organic foods, to make them not so healthy when money is involved.... not that they do it... but it is always possible...
money is involved in every facet of our current lifes and becouse of it I doubt people were, are and will be turned away from health foods or will not stay healthy in a long run. United States gained 10 more millions vegetarians in last decade. I've been one for 17 yrs and cost of organic food did not turn me away and I can speak for countless more who tasted health.
More so, more and more folks start growing their own food or sprouts which cost about a $1 a day. So there are plenty of monies left for some sturbucks or or raw/vegan restaurants. I know that almost every such restaurant thrives, I know, I've been to many of them to see a full house almost every time.
..of course it is obvious they are in it for the money, and not the health....i hope at least we dont see any new revelations in the future, that all these healthy foods, were not so healthy after all, cause they were coming from corporations like Monsanto or what have u...