First we were encouraged to take our coffee in the car, but reinventing an old idea, Starbucks now want us to drive our car through the café.
The first drive-through Starbucks has been launched today in Colorado USA, and it arrived ...on a truck pre-built and LEED certified!
As architectural experiments go, there is nothing particularly new about bringing a modular building to site ready made, nor is the concept of drive-through new either. But Starbucks gained traction in the market by encouraging you to linger, read a newspaper or check your email whilst enjoying the coffee, so this is a big change.
Starbucks put the change in emphasis down to the product itself becoming worth the trip out, rather than the café being a place to stop on the way to work, or when you are out shopping. People are apparently now prepared to to go out specifically to get the coffee!
Nor does it end there. Not only has the café de materialized as the drive-through is so much smaller than the usual outlet, but soon even that could vanish completely as the company have produced its own brand of coffee capsule and machine.
For those prone to this form of indulgence, you won't even have to leave home!
