AB InBev, Starbucks To Partner On Tea Distribution in the U.S.
June 02 2016 - 3:55PM
Dow Jones News
By Tripp Mickle and Julie Jargon
Anheuser-Busch InBev NV and Starbucks Corp. have reached an
agreement that will see the brewer distribute and possibly produce
Starbucks ready-to-drink tea in the U.S., according to sources.
The Belgium-based brewer's distribution network across the U.S.
will deliver Starbucks ready-to-drink tea to convenience stores and
supermarkets, sources say. It is the second major distribution
agreement in about a decade that Anheuser-Busch has struck with a
non-alcoholic beverage company. The first was with Monster Energy,
but that distribution arrangement has since ended.
The move will help Starbucks broaden its reach beyond coffee, a
push the company has been making in recent years in an effort to
find new avenues of growth.
AB InBev declined to comment. Starbucks couldn't immediately be
reached for comment.
Starbucks in 2012 bought Atlanta-based tea retailer Teavana
Holdings Inc. for $620 million in cash, its biggest-ever
acquisition. Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz at the time
said his company would try to bring a Starbucks-like experience to
Teavana, a mall retailer that sold most of its tea in loose-leaf
form for home consumption. "We will do for tea what we did for
coffee," Mr. Schultz told The Wall Street Journal at the time.
It wasn't immediately clear whether the new bottled tea drinks
would be sold under the Teavana brand or another name. Starbucks
entered the tea business in 1999 with the $8.1 million acquisition
of the Tazo brand.
Starbucks has increasingly been moving into supermarkets and
convenience stores with packaged products in an effort to broaden
its reach and reduce its reliance on its cafes, which also have
begun selling more food and non-coffee beverages.
The Seattle-based company has a joint venture with PepsiCo Inc.
in the U.S. for ready-to-drink coffee. PepsiCo is the industry
leader in ready-to-drink tea in the U.S. through a partnership with
Unilever PLC's Lipton brand.
Mike Esterl contributed to this article.
Write to Tripp Mickle at Tripp.Mickle@wsj.com and Julie Jargon
at julie.jargon@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 02, 2016 15:40 ET (19:40 GMT)
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