Starbucks Invests in its Cold Brew Business

Starbucks Coffee Co. (Seattle) is partnering with Joyride Coffee Distributors (San Francisco) to provide draft cold brew coffee to its foodservice accounts at university and college campuses, hospitals, bookstores and offices, according to CNBC.

Joyride specializes in producing and distributing non-alcoholic beverage kegs that are capable of containing and dispensing Starbucks’ nitro cold brew coffee on tap, which produces a less acidic flavor and a velvetier texture with a foam head, much like a beer.

Starbucks currently offers the product in 1500 of its stores, but expects to grow its cold beverage business by nearly 50 percent by 2021, up from 35 percent of its share in 2013.

The company did not disclose the financial details of the deal, but commented that the decision was made because it does not see cold brew coffee as simply a fad, but rather, a trend that will continue to grow, CEO David Belanich told the outlet.