Business Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz calls new olive oil coffee drinks 'transformational' - Starbucks interim CEO Howard Schultz said the new olive-oil coffee line will be a "market-maker."

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz calls new olive oil coffee drinks 'transformational'

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said the new olive-oil coffee could disrupt the market.

www.cnbc.com

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz touts new olive oil coffee

archived 22 Feb 2023 03:11:20 UTC

archive.ph

Rebecca Picciotto

• Starbucks interim CEO Howard Schultz said the new olive-oil coffee line will be a "market-maker."
• The drinks will launch in Italy before arriving in some U.S. markets this spring.
• Schultz is stepping down from his interim CEO role in April and will be replaced by Laxman Narasimhan.

Starbucks' new line of olive oil-infused coffee drinks could disrupt the industry, interim CEO Howard Schultz told CNBC's Jim Cramer on Tuesday.

"This is a transformational moment in the history of our company creating a new category, a new platform," Schultz told CNBC's "Mad Money." He said Starbucks' new olive-oil coffee, which he conceived after an inspirational trip to Sicily, will be incremental to the business over time.

The drinks debut Wednesday at the company's 25 Italy locations. Schultz believes it will be a "market-maker" in an industry that has felt the squeeze of tightening consumer demand. The "Oleato," which is named after the Italian word for "with oil," will come to the U.S. this spring, starting in California.

Alongside olive oil coffee, Starbucks is also unveiling an Oleato espresso martini, which will be available in select locations in Italy, as well as Seattle and New York.

Schultz is launching the new coffee line ahead of his April departure as interim CEO. Incoming chief executive Laxman Narasimhan will take over the position, though Schultz, 69, will maintain his board seat and act as an ambassador for the Oleato brand.

"I'll carry the Starbucks flag and the American flag all over the world for Oleato," said Schultz, who will be concluding his third tenure as chief executive. "But make no mistake, Laxman is the CEO and at the annual meeting on March 23, there's only one leader at Starbucks. It's going to be him."

Starbucks' olive oil coffee comes as the company continues to navigate a tough macro environment, though Schultz has maintained optimism. He noted that the company has added roughly $40 billion to its market cap since he started as interim CEO.

To be sure, Starbucks has raised prices about 5% to offset inflation, but Schultz said he does not expect any more increases.

"I'm not worried about inflation going forward, and I might be the only CEO in America that feels like we're going to have a soft landing," said Schultz.

The company has seen sagging international sales after a resurgence in Covid cases in China led to shrinking demand in that market. Going forward, Schultz is anticipating a rebound for China and for consumer demand at large.

"The wind is at our back," Schultz said.

 

[God of Nothing]

You make eggs with butter, nigga. There's no excuse for this kind of heresy.

super fucking fattening, man
love that shit on my toast, but at that point, i'm basting protein in fat

 

[Matt Damon]

super fucking fattening, man
love that shit on my toast, but at that point, i'm basting protein in fat

Uh, exactly what do you think olive oil is?

 

[God of Nothing]

Uh, exactly what do you think olive oil is?

....oh no

 

[demicolon]

Dude just spike the coffee with cocaine like Coca Cola.

 

[WelfareNiggerQueen]

Howard drank the coffee with real olive oil so it mixed with the milk very well and tasted sweeter. What everyone else is going to get is hot vegetable oil that settled to the top.

 

[870EVO]

What Starbucks is going to do is buy cheap-ass olive oil and pretend its extra virgin and charge you an extra 2.50 for the privilege. Which is why basically everyone is correct. They take culture, cheapen it and make a mockery of it.

The few times I went to Starbucks I was pretty shocked. The tin of discount instant coffee I got from the supermarket was less bitter than this. It was like they spent extra money to ask a guy to scour the world for the shittiest sack of coffee beans sitting the corner of a decrepit warehouse they were about to demolish with a bulldozer.

 

[King George III]

Once you've been to an actual café, you'll never want an American latte ever again. What Fagbucks calls a Macchiato is an egregious insult to the real thing.

 

[Niggernerd]

Sounds like a bad time on the john

 

[Executive Petrel]

The few times I went to Starbucks I was pretty shocked. The tin of discount instant coffee I got from the supermarket was less bitter than this. It was like they spent extra money to ask a guy to scour the world for the shittiest sack of coffee beans sitting the corner of a decrepit warehouse they were about to demolish with a bulldozer.

starbucks coffee is disgusting on purpose so you have to buy a latte or any drink more expensive to avoid tasting this mess.

 

[DamnWolves!]

Because who wants olive oil taste in their coffee?

I could see it as like an additive for fresh, black Italian espresso, which already has some floral scents. A lot of people add lemon; I imagine the olive oil is similar.

But definitely not with the burnt to shit coffee Starbucks sells. I feel like I'm drinking mud everytime I go there.

You are the scum of the earth if you drink from Starbucks. Tim Hortons all the way.

Tim Horton's is worse, and has been for 15 years; right around the time the brand replaced their teenage workforce with a shitskin one.

The Arch Deluxe didn't work

Wasn't that just a QP with lettuce and tomato? I was young when it came out, but IIRC, it was like McDonald's' version of the whopper. It was OK.

Typically virgin and extra virgin oils are used to make sauces rather than cook with since they're so expensive.

Also because their smoke points are much lower. I rarely cook with any kind of olive oil because the temperatures you need for searing burns the oil.

What Starbucks is going to do is buy cheap-ass olive oil and pretend its extra virgin and charge you an extra 2.50 for the privilege.

Worse, because the US has zero standards for olive oil labeling--it'll be cheap ass oil of unspecified nature with an artificial virgin olive oil smell.

 

[WelperHelper99]

Dude just spike the coffee with cocaine like Coca Cola.

Putting Coca-Cola in would probably taste better than this cheap ass olive oil

 

[Return of the Freaker]

It doesn't sound that different from that keto "bulletproof" coffee where you add butter and/or MCT oil to black coffee. I've tried it once.. wasn't bad as long as it is mixed well. And let's not pretend those cheap creamers aren't already full of vegetable oil.

I remember ages ago wondering just wtf powdered creamer was. Looked at the label and it was mostly cornstarch or something similar

 

[Stoneheart]

I just put a drop of good olive oil in a cup of freshly made coffee and I have to say its nice. its fruity and just a little sweet, much better than sugar or milk.

 

[Matt Damon]

Wasn't that just a QP with lettuce and tomato? I was young when it came out, but IIRC, it was like McDonald's' version of the whopper. It was OK.

And they reportedly spent hundreds of millions of dollars developing and marketing it.

 

[WhatInTheActualFuck]

The few times I went to Starbucks I was pretty shocked. The tin of discount instant coffee I got from the supermarket was less bitter than this. It was like they spent extra money to ask a guy to scour the world for the shittiest sack of coffee beans sitting the corner of a decrepit warehouse they were about to demolish with a bulldozer.

That's just because they roast all the flavor right the fuck out in the name of "consistency".

 

[SpergioLeonne]

They're trying to market bulletproof coffee which is coffee with oil and butter. It's disgusting, but it's apparently a good way to get calories in with paleo/keto.

Medium chain triglycerides added to coffee has been a health food craze. It’s super keto because regular old milk has sugar in it naturally.

This is a retard move that ignores MCTs and just does a little cargo cult thing trying to copy the idea of the bulletproof concept without the substance

 

[Local FloRida-man]

I know some recipes use olive oil for the texture, as a thickening agent. But you could just make better coffee instead.

You make eggs with butter, nigga. There's no excuse for this kind of heresy.

Laughs in crisco

 

[frozen_runner]

There are many, many different flavors of olive oil that would surprise most people. Genuinely delicious stuff that can dramatically transform the look and taste of your cooking.

But I am not drinking any of it.

 

[WTBOnlineFather]

That's just because they roast all the flavor right the fuck out in the name of "consistency".

Is that the excuse they use? Consistency? Explains why they're consistently dogshit lol.
I'm not even surprised their artificially flavored milk drinks with trace amounts of coffee are so popular, I too would hate black coffee if bucks was the only option.

 

[Super Guido]

They're trying to market bulletproof coffee which is coffee with oil and butter. It's disgusting, but it's apparently a good way to get calories in with paleo/keto.

Coffee with butter sounds more tolerable than olive oil. I can't imagine most coffee tastes good with real olive oil considering the ones I know range from mild to peppery or grassy. It's not a particularly appealing flavor profile for coffee, and I don't trust a company like Starbucks to know good pairings when they burn the shit out of their coffee.