Starbucks to stop carrying Jones Soda

The soda, which has been sold in US Starbucks stores since March 2004, will be gone by the end of the month. Starbucks says it wants to use the space Jones Soda occupies in coolers to expand its cold-food offerings. Starbucks will continue to sell Izze, a sparkling fruit juice that sat right next to the Jones Soda products in some stores. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

Comments

[stuckINtheDRIVETHRU]

*sigh* this makes me very sad. Even though we never carried any of their best stuff. We did have Green Apple for a while which I bought our entire supply of, haha.

[FLMomarista]

Jones is so hometown Seattle. Just goes to show how the company is getting away from its roots.

I remember that during a trip to Seattle there was a Jones truck that stopped near the park by the Space Needle. Free Jones Sodas for all, just pick your flavor.

After that whenever I saw Jones Soda in our SBUX, it made me happy that SBUX, Seattle's big company, was looking after their little brother of a neighbor. Local bottling plant made big after being taken under their wing and spread cross country along with SBUX.

Very sad to me to see this. As Prince says, it's a "Sign O' the Times".

[4]

It's sad that the bux would hold on to their Pepsi product (Izze) and kick out a home grown, Seattle company. Does anyone know the real reason for the move? Were Jones sales slowing down?

[jenOOOOOOOOO]

Maybe it's because consumers can buy Jones Soda at so many retail locations now...but I rarely see Izze any place other than SBUX.

I would love to see cold foods expanded to veggies/dip, veggies/pnut butter, more cheese and fruit selections.

My morning Sbux stop in the Milwaukee area has none of those. Though, I recently was in a store with the fruit and cheese tray. A little pricey, but I expensed it on my company travel account. Not bad. Fruit fresh and cheese pretty tasty.

[raleighdon]

Well, have no fear. Jones just beat out both Coke and Pepsi for the vendor rights at Safeco field. Might not be at bigbux, but we'll have it at the ball game.

[Andy barista]

Bah. Jones was (originally) one of Starbuck's non-corporate accomplishments. Izze is yicky. Atreat grapefruit, one of my hometown (Allentown, PA), is far superior and about 1/5 the price per ounce.

My store only has nasty Izze pomegranate and nasty izze grapefruit... and once is a while Clementine,

Our Jones was not replaced by cold food, but another beverage, Vitamin Water.

[Erieshift]

Our store will be replacing the Jones soda with the new Apple Juice drink boxes. I am not sure who they are trying to market these to but apparently they think this is going to be a big hit, because they are making us order a ton of it in advance. I seem to remember seeing that we are going to be getting something else, but I just cant remember what it is right now.

[4]

Replacing Jones with Apple Juice drink boxes? Who is making these decisions? From the stupid movie marketing to the warmed over breakfast to the plastic chairs...I've kinda had it.

Honestly! None of the changes that Starbucks has made in recent years, from selling CD's, books and movies to plastic furniture to most of their "same old frapp base with a different syrup" drinks has made me more likely to go there for anything other than a cup of coffee or a bag of whole bean. In fact they make it worse as brewed coffee and keeping fresh beans have become secondary to the marketing machine. Apple juice is for toddlers. Is that who they're trying to market to now?

[Donald W. Pfeffer]

I can't be the only who who thinks this is a smart decision. Then again, maybe this stuff actually sells at other stores. It sure doesn't sell at mine. We've gone through maybe a case in the past year. One case. I'd also love to see them get rid of the bottle fraps as well. I can understand selling those in grocery stores, but in stores where you can order an actual frap from a blender? Where's the logic in that. Then again, maybe they sell in other stores. They sure don't sell in mine.

Also, I hate Jones soda. It tastes like flat syrup. It's disgusting. It's the only soda that has become successful simply because they have trendy labels on their bottles.

[baroosta]

I really like the Jones Root Beer...so much better than A&W or Barq's! What about the stores that don't have cold food in the RTD&E case?

These things NEVER sell at the store where I work.

[SeattleShift]

think about it, do you ever actually SELL a jones soda? i like them as much as the next guy i guess, and i root for the hometown company, but i sell maybe one a month...MAYBE. the space in the RTD case is going to be used for the organic apple juice boxes for the kids and for the Tazo diet giant peach, but also for the two new yogurt parfaits, and for the chilled meal program, which does include veggie dip (in some regions) as well as more vegetarian options. plus, as far as a money standpoint, these items are going to cost us less and sell more. you can only hang on to a bad business decision for so long just to be nice...i'm sick of people expecting sbux to lose money just because they think something is nice. plus, if you're an ACTUAL partner, you'll notice that the sbux stock has been dipping, which affects all of our futures, so it's about time some changes and streamlining was done...

^in fact I'd say we've poured 500% more cups of apple juice for customers to give to their kids than we've sold Jones. It's too bad too.

[Broyling Water]

I actually can't remember the last time I sold a Jones soda..Seriously, I drink the Black Cherry Jones Soda, and it's great, but we don't sell that many to non partners..

[Rebecca]

i love jones, personally, but when i walk into a starbucks, i'm much more likely to get a coffee. i think i've bought a jones soda in a starbucks once. i'm upset about it, but i can see why they've decided to stop selling them.

[shiftingnorth]

That's weird. We just got some new Jones flavours that replaced the cream soda and sf black cherry. We are no longer received Izze anything. Just selling off our remaining stock. Can't even order it.

[Andrew]

No love lost for me. I've never bought one from there, and don't think I've seen anyone else buy one either.

[Zhairista]

The summer 2 workbook says we're getting rid of Jones in order to phase in further additions to our cold lunch sales. This includes (depending on region) a vegetarian plate with dip and fresh vegetables, some cold pastas, an asian noodle concoction, and some other items I don't recall off the top of my head. We're partnered with Pepsi since they sell our bottled frappuccinos - of course we're not going to get rid of *their* product over someone else's. That's just good business sense.

I'm excited about the new cold meals. They're packed in containers that are rather bulky, hence the need for space. The containers are, however, made from corn husk (or something like that?) and are biodegradable. They'll compost, which is *great*. Doesn't seem so bad to me. Jones is doing just fine.

[thirsty]

But once again, what about those of us without any cold food...you can only stock so many ethos!

[(The Original) BNbarista]

Since Jones just signed a contract with the Seahawks and Qwest field and are being considered for other NFL contracts, I think they'll be okay without Starbucks' support.

At B&N, we dropped Jones soda from our stores about a year ago, although we do still sell the Jones Naturals juices. We continue to carry IBC soda in our beverage case and we have Pepsi products as fountain beverages, neither of which sell very well.

Our primary focus should be on coffee beverages. It seems to me that the new beverages are being designed without coffee in mind. Blueberry in a latte? That says Creme Frappuccino all over! Simplify and focus on coffee drinks and products that pair with coffee. Seattleshift, you said it: "Streamlining".

[LMR, who <3s Jones]

I'll miss the Jones! I like to get a hot drink from the bar, and then something out of the cooler to take with me to my desk for later. I was so sad when my local Bux took the Odwalla Superfoods out of the cooler, but this too? Le sad.

[Sbuxnewbie]

We do OK with the Izze drinks, although the pomegranate - our best seller - has been discontinued.

As for the Jones sodas, I think we still have the original cases from when we opened last year.

I used to like Jones soda, then they replaced the sugar with corn syrup. Other than tasting the Turkey Dinner selection last Thanksgiving, I haven't had any since.

[KM]

We never sell Jone's soda at my store, so I don't think they're really going to be missed much.
What I miss is the apple Izzie's soda. That stuff was great.::sigh::

[SeattleShift]

if you don't like these minor changes, then you may be in for a rough road ahead. i'm hearing that there's going to be massive restructuring of the whole brand in order to simplify the stores and return to the "soul" of sbux. no more 4 week promos with 5 drinks in them. that doesn't allow any time for drinks to catch on and makes it harder for baristas to be knowledgable about them. also, look for a shift in merchandise. i'm hoping no more felt tic tac toe games and sippy cups...expect big changes by holiday season...

Good. Jones just takes up room and nearly never sells, about one or two bottles a week.

[Tall Drip]

As a customer I like this..much prefer the Izze. For a while, a few months back, I didn't really see the Izze, and was told they were no longer selling that, but that was obviously not so.

Jones is just another soda loaded with high fructose corn syrup. The Izze isn't so heavily sugared...much more refreshing.

Hmm, Jones sell very well at my store. Then again, the only people who are interested in those are young children.

[Seth]

Jones has Pure Cane Sugar not high fructose corn syrup. They are unique to the beverage world in that respect. Please try and appeal to SBUX management. Next time you are working pick yourself one up. If you don't do that then at least pick up an 8 pack of cans of Jones from Walmart (yes, cans or even their lower priced energy drinks from their also) and fall in love all over again. It is a great alternative for kids who want something different than coffee in our stores.

[Tank]

The label says "inverted cane sugar"

[ErieShift]

I just remembered that the Tazo Organic Black Tea is being discontinued as well and it is being replaced with something like Hansen's Diet Peach drink. Since our store does not participate in any of the warming programs we wont have to make way for the cold meal program. I do have to say that we sell way more Izze's at our store than we do of Jones Soda. We usually run out of the Izze's and there is always a ton of the Jones Soda left to take its place in the RTD case.

[atownsbuxrules]

The sugar-free black cherry made my diabetic father very ill; I haven't bought the stuff since and it sure doesn't sell to customers. *shrugs*

[SeattleShift]

i'm not in a warming store either and we're getting the chilled meal program...hence the name "chilled" meal program...

[BIGJIMBO]

As a beer brewer (we use inverted sugar in stuff some times) I can tell you that it means that the sugar has been boiled with citric acid and water. It turns it into a liquid stable form that will not form crystals overtime. By the way, that is the reason that HF corn syrup is used in beverages. It is liquid stable.

[BurntOutShift]

C'mon guys, read the workbook.

Jones is being discontinued to help make room in the case for the new lunch items. I believe they are the slowest selling of the RTD items, from my understanding.

The bottled black tea is being replaced with the Tazo Diet Giant Peach tea. It's basically black tea with peach flavoring, and probaby sweetened with splenda (didn't read into detail, I hate diet stuff)

We are adding the addition of apple juice boxes for "parents on the go", same as why we carry the little Horizon organic milk boxes. We'll get two cases in during the next few weeks for partner and customer sampling.

We are getting two new fruit & yogurt parfait flavors and the strawberry/blueberry is being discontinued. In it's place we'll get strawberry/banana and raspberry/peach.

When the new lunch stuff starts it will launch in new, slightly more bulky plastic containers that are completely recyclable. The problem with this is that many stores don't recycle so this won't make a difference.

Depending on your area, you will start to carry several salads in addition to the two core ones: Tomato Mozzerella Insalata and the Fire Roasted Corn and Chicken salad (basically a southwestern salad).

The other cold items are mostly chicken-based, with there being pasta salads, white curry chicken over cous cous, an albacore tuna salad, an asian noodle salad, and several others. I believe there's also an antipasto plate of cheese, salami, and various other meats, and a vegetable dip platter with hummus and some tasty veggies to dip it in.

In addition, just so the speculation is out of the way, summer promo drinks are:
Iced Blueberry White Tea (berryblossom white)/Tea lemonade
Vanilla Iced Coffee (just adding vanilla syrup)
Raspberry Mocha/Iced Raspberry Mocha/Raspberry Mocha Frappuccino/Raspberry Chocolate Creme Frappuccino

[SeattleShift]

ah yes, but there is summer phase three in july, and what i hear from the beverage team is that there WILL be a blueberry frap

[BurntOutShift]

With regards to conflicts of interest involving Pepsi/Jones, I highly doubt it.

Some stores are carrying Vitamin Water, which was just sold to Coca Cola.

[BurntOutShift]

>>ah yes, but there is summer phase three in july, and what i hear from the beverage team is that there WILL be a blueberry frap

Really? The quarterly calendar shows the next phase as being Fall 1.

[Lilith]

There's a Summer 2B phase before Fall.

And SeattleShift's earlier comment ...

[quote] if you don't like these minor changes, then you may be in for a rough road ahead. i'm hearing that there's going to be massive restructuring of the whole brand in order to simplify the stores and return to the "soul" of sbux. no more 4 week promos with 5 drinks in them. that doesn't allow any time for drinks to catch on and makes it harder for baristas to be knowledgable about them. also, look for a shift in merchandise. i'm hoping no more felt tic tac toe games and sippy cups...expect big changes by holiday season...
[/quote]

This is dead on from what I hear from my RVP. YEAH!!

[BurntOutShift]

2B last year was just marking down merch in preparation for the fall and holiday months.

Thats probably all there is this time too.

there's a Summer Phase 3. Check your Q3 calendars they sent with teh Phase 2 workbook...geez

[Julie]

I totally think the Jones is gross and I'm really happy about the new food, but word is that Starbucks is REALLY going to get back to COFFEE. This I think is great.

[Thomas]

I might be dumb but what is Jones Soda?

[Jeff]

I seem to remember seeing that we were going to have a big push on Vitamin Water. I'm sure that's a non-starter with the Coke push.

Jones never sells in our store. Izze doesn't either.

i've heard that by this time next year We'll be carrying 50% less retail merchandise than we're currently carrying!!! That's FANTASTIC news, no more notepads, BARISTA BEARS, and other crappy crap!!! YAY

[Parting the Stars]

I made some BerryBlossom White ice tea lemonade just with the little tea bags last week. it was good, but not very much flavor. more lemonade-y than anything.

Jones was just kind of... there. new stuff could be funish. We are still carring it though from what I heard, just changed over our flavors...

[Herman M.]

Let this old timer take you back a ways and explain why the Pepsi issue is, in fact, a big deal.

The time is 1995. It is a world without Frappucino. It is a world without Starbucks Ice Cream. Heck, it's a world without those little packs of chocolate grahams.

In the Open Forums, several new items are introduced. The long gone partnership with Red Hook brewery, which was using our coffee in a stout. Quite nice, completely unavailable if still made.

A partnership with Edy's Grand to manufacture and distribute a super premium coffee ice cream with our name on it. Three wonderful varieties: coffee, coffee with fudge swirl, and coffee with chips (the original Java Chip!)

Chocolate covered grahams. They were not in two packs, but rather loose and arranged on trays in the case.

Frappucino. The world changed.

Our development slogan was "Two Thousand [stores] by 2000!" Beat that handily, even though at the time there were less than 1000 stores.

And finally, Mazagran. A carbonated coffee beverage in the style, we were told, of similar beverages popular in North Africa. Not really for North American tastes, and I only recall seeing it in stores briefly. But the key here is it was the first product of the North American Beverage partnership with Pepsi. Since then they have produced and distributed the highly successful (and much copied) bottled Frappucinos, though I must say the strawberry and mint varieties I could do without, Double Shot, and Iced Coffee. While it could be argued that these products have no need to take up space in the in store cooler, they are a key part of out brand awareness strategy along with coffee in grocery stores.

Just yesterday I went into a drug store across the street from one of our stores. On the counter at the checkout was a cooler of bottled Frappucino. I asked what that was about, and they told me that in the afternoons when the line backed up at Starbucks with people ordering frappucino, people would come over here to get the bottles. So they put them right up front were folks could get at them. That sounds like success.

So Our ties with them are more than 15 years old. If you think that won't weigh in to decisions, then I must say you are mislead. This is a partnership that has been long and profitable. Jones sodas, while "local" to Seattle, had only been in stores since 2004 and were consistent under performers.

[SeattleShift]

"I made some BerryBlossom White ice tea lemonade just with the little tea bags last week. it was good, but not very much flavor. more lemonade-y than anything"

You should have been autoshipped a bag of the Berry White Iced Tea in a recent RP order, the one you got the bottle of juicy rasp in. They bumped up the amount of berry in the tea, has a stronger flavor than just the hot tea bag.

[Taylor]

Glad some people are actually reading their promo materials.

Does Starbucks really need to sell soda? No. The image they are trying to recreate with the haul-over of the pastries and all the new "light" options is simply not supported by carrying soda. Izze is at least a carbonated fruit drink, and while it's not all that low in sugar either the perception is that it is healthier.

Burnoutshift is completely correct and everything mentioned is supported in our promo materials. There IS a blueberry phase of summer, coming up July/August.

If you do not have warming (we do not), then there is even more reason to get the chilled meal program.