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Starbucks (SBUX, news, msgs) is trying to woo back morning customers by sprucing up its breakfast offerings.
The Seattle company has added five new permanent "healthy" breakfast options to its menu: oatmeal, a fruit-and-nut bar, a protein plate, an apple bran muffin and a star-shaped tart topped with berries and oats called a "berry stella."
The new items are touted as being high in whole grains, fiber and Omega-3 fats and lower in calories, which could appeal to customers in areas like New York City, where the mandated posting of calorie counts for traditional pastry offerings has been jarring to many people.
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Food is a hot-button topic at Starbucks. The company recently spent a fortune installing ovens in stores to serve warm breakfast sandwiches. This idea flamed out because it distracted the company from its core coffee mission and because the smell of the sandwiches clashed with the coffee's aroma.
The move is the latest in a series of steps from the beleaguered coffee-shop operator to turn around operations amid worries about oversaturation, high costs and a slumping economy.
Starbucks has announced job cuts and store closures and has said executives from the vice president level up the chain to Chairman and Chief Executive Howard Schultz won't get raises in the next fiscal year.
In a recent Portfolio magazine profile, Schultz said he was "embarrassed" by the food at Starbucks and that it would be "completely reinvented by fall."
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McDonald's (MCD, news, msgs) has stepped up its premium-coffee offerings and has vowed to install coffee bars in its restaurants. The value-oriented hamburger chain has also seen success with its extended breakfast offerings.
Dunkin' Donuts has long supplemented its trademark coffee with espresso-based drinks, and it has recently introduced egg-white flatbread sandwiches.
In today's announcement, Starbucks said research showed that 75% of Americans would change their routine (get up earlier, shower at night instead of in the morning) to get a convenient, healthful breakfast.
Maybe what it really means is that Starbucks coffee isn't enough to lure people into stores anymore.
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