Starbucks is back on the wagon. According to the Associate Press, the company has announced that as of today, it will discontinue its Starbucks Evenings program in over 400 company-owed stores across the U.S. And with it goes the sale of beer and wine.
Started in 2010, Starbucks Evenings was a means for the company to drive sales in the later hours when coffee purchases typically wane. Along with beer and wine, the Evenings program offered a few small noshes like bacon wrapped dates and truffle mac and cheese. These too will be discontinued in the 439 participating U.S. stores now that Starbucks has put its six-year bender in the rearview mirror.
But the Bux isn’t entirely done with the hooch. The article notes that the Evenings program along with beer and wine sales may continue at nine licensed stores nationwide as well as overseas. There are also plans to implement a beer and wine program at high-end Starbucks locations, like the Roastery stores, no doubt focusing on natural wine and farmhouse beers as these respective trends near their mass-market apexes. (Wait, that was just a joke, but we know Starbucks is reading this and they will probably go and do it now, start hiring up for their new Artisanal Small Production Tipples 3-5 person *marketing degree required* Research and Go-To-Market Partner Department, and we just gave them that idea for free, oh fuck.)
So if you want to tie one on with your good friend the mermaid one last time for old time’s sake, you better get poppin’ because her New Years resolution totally starts tomorrow.
Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network.
