Starbucks signs ice cream deal with food giant Unilever

Unilever -- its brands include Ben & Jerry and Klondike -- will make and distribute Starbucks ice cream. This won't affect anything in the Starbucks stores. A company exec says: "This relationship will enable us to introduce exciting new products and extend the Starbucks Experience to a larger base of consumers." Read the AP story || Read Starbucks' press release

Comments

[AG]

That's right...fatten em up BEFORE they get to the store. Excellent.

[snagger]

The ice cream now made by Dreyer's is great!Don't fix it if it isn't broken.Doesn't Unilever makes soap and toothpaste.Another move like hiring the Walmart specialist Jim Donald.

[P.R.I.D.E.]

I hate to say this, but I used to be a HUGE fan of Ben and Jerrys a few years back, and then I had been obstaining from ice cream for health reasons. The other day, I picked up my first ben and Jerry's ice cream in a few years, and it....was....horrible. Not the same quality at all- I couldn't imagine what had happened that caused their once YUMMY ice cream to taste so, different.

And yes, I love our Java Chip ice cream too, so I hope that Ben and Jerry's fate doesn't become ours...

[Ken]

another move to get "back to the basics" I see.

[Ken]

I've always called Starbucks more of a fancy milk shake shop then a coffee shop, maybe this is a good move accually.

[non-fat americano]

"This won't affect anything in the Starbucks stores."

Phew! For a moment I thought I was going to become an ice cream scooper

[inthe317]

Glad Starbucks is sticking to the "wellness" concept so well! Can't wait to run out & get some Vivano flavored ice cream!

snagger: In case you've been living under a rock, Dreyer's is under the Nestle brand umbrella. Nestle also holds the Purina brand, so you probably ought not be too concerned about Unilever's other products if you aren't worried about your ice cream company also making dog and cat food.

[truth]

The headline is misleading. Agreements like these were signed long ago, when Howie was fighting for the company.

The reality is that this is simply an announcement of what many know to be old news.

Stay tuned for many, many more announcements like these, all of which will be dilutative to the mermaid's brand.

[name withheld]

truth! we've missed you!

[PumpkinSpice]

Folks - this ice cream has been in grocery stores for ages. It is not a dilution of the brand, because it's not a new release. It also has nothing to do with the Brick & Mortar entity that is Starbucks.

This is like worrying that TGI Friday's frozen mozzarella sticks in your grocer's freezer somehow have a bearing on the TGI Friday's restaurant chain. Outside of the branding, they are completely separate businesses.

[Chris Clifton]

Hey, I'm all for ice cream...one of my favorite foods, but how does this help Starbucks "get back to their roots?" SB keeps talkin' simplification and keeps expanding in all kinds of areas...I'm just saying - choose one or the other.

[Kate]

Oh for heaven's sake, people. This has nothing to do with the "wellness" campaign or "fattening people up." People who want and enjoy ice cream are going to buy ice cream and eat ice cream regardless of what is going on at Starbucks. Maybe you're getting your nonfat latte and protein plate in the morning so you can have a bowl of ice cream at night.

This is just Starbucks flavoring and packaging on something that people are going to be buying anyway. Just because Starbucks stores are going through a "wellness" thing in their stores doesn't mean they're going to take their name and logo off of anything that isn't healthy. If that were the case, we'd be done serving white mochas.

[Sheik]

I can see it now......

Customize your Frappuccino with a scoop of ice cream for only $1.00

[spence]

Anything that makes our name more common and more in the face of a customer is great with me.

[snagger]

UniLever a British company!Perhaps Howard only now trusts those with English accents.The heads at International and US, Martin and Cliff both speak that special tongue that can't be found in Seattle or the USA.SBUX is going WASP.

[spence]

My husband was doing weight watchers for quite a while. They suggested Starbucks ice cream bars as evening snacks because they tasted great but are only 2 points.

[CD]

I expect more and more of this sort of thing in the months to come as SBUX looks to divert attention from same store sales and generate new revenue streams to satisfy the Wall Street Monster.

truth - what say you? Do you have any more insight/specifics?

spence- you might want to clarify that it is the lowfat starbucks ice cream bars (akin to sugar free fudgcicles flavored with Starbucks coffee) NOT the Starbucks mud pie ice cream bars. I agree the low fat bars are good, but the mud pie ice cream bars are DEFINITELY not just 2 points.

[BOSTON STARBUCKS REBEL]

I think Starbucks should remain true to itssoul, which are it's people and not sell them out.

[spence]

I haven't bought them for a couple years. I guess they didn't have "Mudpie" back then. But I'm sure I didn't buy "sugarfree" because I'm opposed to artifical sugar.

[Tim]

Espresso affogato, with a scoop of ice cream drenched in sweet sweet coffee, would be pretty awesome. Other than that, as long as I don't become a Baskin & Robbins clone, I don't care about the change.

Kudos to P.R.I.D.E. on the B&J comment, I totally agree. It's not the same. The cookie dough pint I had the other day was a total disappointment. It's because they're using more artificial fillers now... not cool with me! There's always Häagen-Dazs, I guess.

I used to think that Truth had some sort of inside scoop (no pun intended), but now I know that he/she is just blowing hot air. This particular agreement was not "signed long ago." If you're going to spew so called 'truths' do your homework.

Snagger, did you even read the AP story? It says right there that Unilever is a Dutch company. I'm not sure the Dutch and the British would be too happy you view them as interchangeable. Not that you had much of a point anyway...

[Pat Nerr]

I could see The Karate Man loving this idea...

[truth]

Maybe Taco Bell could do a "Karate Guy" bobblehead?

[sneaky]

Hay gang - There is a store in Culver City in L.A. that had Ice Cream when it opened years ago. The store was built with all marble counters and slide open freezers in the counters. The idea didn't work at all and was scrapped but the store has not been re-modeled so all the freezers are still on the floor (unplugged) and used for storage.

Go visit it, though. It's a beautiful location and you can see how the ice cream was set-up. Washington & Culver in Culver City.

After that debacle I seriously doubt anyone has to worry about ice cream coming back.

[Limey]

Karate man...we miss you

Seriously, I see some opportunities for co-branding. Change the sompany name to "Star-pepsi-lever-berry"!

[snagger]

Unilever is a dual listed multinational with headquaters in London and Rotterdam.Its company site lists London.As for my comment, I wonder why SBUX has such a hard time finding Americans or women to fill top corporate positions while employing mainly Americans and women in the stores.Is there something Howard find compelling about men with an English accent?Maybe he likes the way they say "Yes Sir!".

[Zing]

Why are we debating this right now? I'm sure TGI Fridays employees didn't start complaining when they started selling chips in gas stations. It's not going to effect us the most that will happen is we have ice cream pints in the RTD&E.

[Ken]

"I'm sure TGI Fridays employees didn't start complaining when they started selling chips in gas stations."

Do TGIF's employees had a forum like this? I would hope not!

[ocean jockey]

Been buying Starbucks coffee ice cream for about a year now. LUV IT...BEST COFFEE ICE CREAM EVER. About a week ago, I went to the local Schnucks grocery in Springfield, IL (affiliated with grocery chain Schnucks, based in St. Louis MO) where I always got it...only to find out they no longer carry it....something about Schnuck's supplier, i.e. EDY's ice cream, is no longer delivering it. Can't find it anywhere in Springfield. I'm addicted to it!!! HELP. WHERE CAN I GET IT??? WHAT'S GOING ON???

[Russ]

What's happened to Starbucks Ice Cream??? I live in Richmond, VA and two of our largest local suermarkets were carrying it - now just empty shelves with the Starbucks product labels on them. For months. No ice cream. This is very, very bad. I need a Java Chip fix in the worst way.

[Phil Angellis]

I am also addicted to Starbucks ice cream. My favorites are Java chip and Coffee almond fudge. I have been unable to find any Stqrbucks ice cream in my local supermarkets for about a month now. Happen to have a friend whose Mom works for the vendor that distributes the ice cream. She told me that they are changing the packaging: they are going to pint sized containers and will no longer sell the quart size. And that it will be a couple of months before it is back in the grocery stores. I'm not happy. I don't think this is a smart move. The quarts were expensive enough, Pints will be much more expensive. We need quarts! Please bring them back!!

[Sheri Petersen]

Don't change our starbuck's ice cream! It is the best and I've got about 30 people eating it regularly. We can't find it anywherwe right now and we NEED quarts.

[njghost]

I've been in MAJOR withdrawal since the Frappuccino bars disappeared. What I REALLY want is for them to bring back the Coffee flavor, but Mocha is a reasonable second choice.
Anyone know when they'll be available in NJ?

[Laurabee]

Where is the Java Chip???!!! I cannot find it anywhere - Jewel, Dominick's, Meijer, Walmart - NO ONE has our favorite treat. I hope Starbucks isn't going to ruin perfection. BRING BACK JAVA CHIP!!!

[Phil Angellis]

UPDATE: My friend's Mom, who works for the local vendor that distributes Starbuck's ice cream, told her that the new ice cream in pints has arrived in their distribution center and that there are only 4 flavors. We should be seeing them in the store soon. But again, no quarts, just pints. As soon as I find out the flavors, I will post them. I did go into the grocery store recently and saw a quart of Hagan Daz ice cream labeled "New!! Java Chip". I though it was good but not as good as Starbucks.

[Phil Angellis]

Here are the 4 flavors of Starbuck's ice cream that you should be seeing in stores soon:

Coffee
Java Chip
Caramel Macchiato
Mocha Frappe

Pints only, No quarts. And no coffee almond fudge, my favorite Complain! I'm going to.

[oggjeri]

Starbucks Ice Cream is our FAVORITE ice cream and it just suddenly dissappeared from all of our grocery stores in our are in California. Then we were on Maui and they always had it there. Now they don't carry it. WHAT'S UP!!! Why aren't any of the grocery stores carrying it. To order it by mail, it cost $30 for shipping alone! The total cost by mail would have been over $50 for four quarts of ice cream!

[oggjeri]

Why doesn't Starbucks sell their ice cream in pints AND QUARTS in their Starbuck stores??? They're trying to branch out with more to sell, i.e.,breakfast and lunch stuff, etc. SELL THEIR ICE CREAM IN THEIR STORES!!! Just have a freezer with glass door - easy sell - not labor intensive like sandwiches and stuff. You have loyal consumers that are being treated badly. It should be sold in quarts too!

[oggjeri]

Why don't they just sell the ice cream in their stores???? They're wanting to branch out and sell more. Starbuck's ice cream is a no brainer. Put the freezer in the stores....stack the pints AND THE QUARTS and sell them. Geeeesh! I've tried other coffee ice cream and nothing comes close! I hope the ice cream will be the same. They have loyal consumers...I hope they appreciate that!

[sdlatl]

All Starbucks ice cream has disappeared from Georgia, so I can't even complain about the switch from quarts to pints. But so far, this looks like a huge mistake all around. It's too bad, because it was my favorite ice cream, by far.

[Debbie]

I'm addicted to Starbuck's Java Chip ice cream and it has disappeared from all stores in my area of Maryland. I, too, have seen a new Hagen Daz Java Chip, tried it and it is NOT as good as Starbucks! Why did they tamper with it? It is very popular and now it's gone!

[goldie-k]

I hope someone who cares about their customers is reading these comments--we too love the Java Chip and Coffee--why does everyone mess with perfection??? Maybe the result of the "glut" of locations selling their "expensive" coffee-- and now we have to suffer because they need to do something to recover losses--unfortunate sign of the times!

[Terri]

In my area of Upstate New York, Starbucks Ice Cream has returned to the grocery stores. It is now pints not quarts and the packaging is different. The Java Chip is now called Java Chip Frappuccino. The old ice cream was much better. It was creamier. I don't know why they changed it.

[Melody - reply to Terri]

http://mystarbucksidea.force.com/ideaView?id=087500000005I2oAAE

^ Terri you're not the first person to say the old ice cream was better. So, just so you know, the way that MSI works is that the more points a thread has the better, and the more attention it gets, and starting new threads is far less effective.

I am putting the ice-cream MSI thread as the link to my name for you too.

Also, please vote on this thread too:
http://mystarbucksidea.force.com/ideaView?id=087500000005G0GAAU
^ I just like the fundamental premise that Starbucks needs to be about the coffee still.

[Troyan Turner]

After seeing my Starbucks stock fall AGAIN it's clear that someone there is making bad decisions, which couldn't be more evident than changing the Java Chip Ice Cream. Arguably the best ice cream on the market. My guess is it's all about money. They probably have a more profitable deal with Unilever and since Deyer's made the last products, I'm betting the current Java Chip is a Deyer's recipe and a new one had to be made with Unilever. Or they're using cheaper ingredients.

[njghost]

A post above says there are/will be only 4 flavors... all of them pints.

No more bars?

[pjm]

Bring back the original Java Chip!!!! Nothing like it, why why why do you mess with a great product.