Starbucks Drives Single Tea Brand Strategy with Teavana; Sells Tazo Brand to Unilever
November 02 2017 - 4:03PM
Business Wire
Starbucks to sharpen its focus on its
up-leveled tea strategy with Teavana, furthering its growth and
innovation in the super premium tea category
Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) today announced entry into a definitive
agreement for Unilever to acquire the assets of the Tazo brand
including its signature recipes, intellectual property and
inventory for $384 million. In turn, Starbucks will drive a single
tea brand strategy and focus with its super premium tea brand,
Teavana.
Founded in 1994, and purchased by Starbucks in 1999 for $8.1
million, Tazo is an iconic tea brand sold primarily in grocery,
mass and convenience channels, offered in formats including
packaged teas, K-Cup® pods, and bottled ready-to-drink teas.
Starbucks will continue to invest in the growth, innovation and
development of the Teavana brand of teas in its stores and in
channels outside its stores. The tea category in Starbucks stores
continues to grow double-digits globally, with Starbucks well on
its way to building the Teavana business to over $3B over the next
five years. In the past 12 months alone, Starbucks has sold more
than $1.6B of Teavana beverages in Starbucks stores, launched
ready-to-drink premium Teavana® Craft Iced Teas through its
partnership with Anheuser-Busch InBev and plans to enter the
packaged tea category in 2018.
“Over the past five years, we have established Teavana as our
primary global brand focused on the premium tea segment. With our
growth strategy for premium tea exclusively focused on Teavana, we
are pleased to transition our Tazo business to Unilever,” said
Kevin Johnson, president and chief executive officer, Starbucks.
“We continue to see significant growth in our tea business through
our Teavana brand, and this transition supports our strategy to
elevate the premium tea experience for our customers.”
The transaction is expected to close during the fourth calendar
quarter of 2017, with complete transition between the two companies
by the end of calendar year 2018, subject to regulatory
approval.
About Starbucks
Since 1971, Starbucks Coffee Company has been committed to
ethically sourcing and roasting high-quality arabica coffee. Today,
with more than 27,000 stores around the globe, the company is the
premier roaster and retailer of specialty coffee in the world.
Through our unwavering commitment to excellence and our guiding
principles, we bring the unique Starbucks Experience to life for
every customer through every cup. To share in the experience,
please visit us in our stores or online at
www.starbucks.com and www.news.starbucks.com.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171102006585/en/
Investor Relations, Starbucks:Tom Shaw,
206-318-7118investorrelations@starbucks.comorMedia,
Starbucks:Linda Mills, 206-318-7100press@starbucks.com
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