Starbucks and Coinstar to Blanket Country With Seattle's Best Coffee Vending Machines

All the joys of fresh brewed coffee without having to talk to a real life human being: that's the promise of the new Seattle's Best Rubi Kiosks, which grind and brew coffee drinks to order around the clock. The result of a partnership between Seattle's Best's parent company, Starbucks, and the spare change/vending machine company Coinstar, 500 Rubis will be in "grocery, drug and mass merchant retail channels" by the end of the summer. Coffee and "specialty drinks" (mochas, vanilla lattes) start at $1.00 each.

And they won't stop there: according to Dow Jones Newswires, Coinstar wants to install 15,000 of these things across the country. With each machine bringing in $11,000 to $12,000 a year, that spells massive amounts of money: potentially $180 million a year. Coinstar also operates the DVD vending machine Redbox, which brought in $1.56 billion last year. So it seems they know what they're talking about. Here's a press release:

COINSTAR, INC. AND SEATTLE’S BEST COFFEE SIGN EXCLUSIVE AGREEMENT TO ROLL OUT THOUSANDS OF THE NEW RUBI KIOSKS IN GROCERY, DRUG AND MASS CHANNELS AGREEMENT IS FIRST TO BRING CAFE?-QUALITY EXPERIENCE TO SELF-SERVE COFFEE KIOSKS NATIONWIDE

BELLEVUE, Wash. and SEATTLE — June 5, 2012 — Coinstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSTR) and Seattle’s Best Coffee, part of Starbucks Corporation (Nasdaq: SBUX), today announced an exclusive agreement to roll out Coinstar’s new RubiTMcoffee kiosk in the grocery, drug and mass merchant retail channels featuring Seattle’s Best Coffee® beverages. The Rubi kiosk marks Coinstar’s latest innovation in automated retail. For Seattle’s Best Coffee, the agreement adds another strategic channel of distribution for its premium coffee offering. The kiosks will begin rolling out this summer with approximately 500 kiosks serving Seattle’s Best Coffee expected by the end of the year and thousands of machines in the next several years.

"We are delighted to introduce the Rubi kiosk, our third automated retail business. Just as our Redbox® movie rental and Coinstar® coin-counting kiosks reimagined retail, we believe our coffee kiosk reimagines the coffee experience for consumers,” said Paul Davis, chief executive officer of Coinstar, Inc. “In addition, we are very pleased to work with Seattle’s Best Coffee, one of the country’s premier coffee brands. Together, we will deliver the kind of quality, convenience and value that we know coffee drinkers on-the-go will appreciate.”

On the heels of a successful pilot, Coinstar and Seattle’s Best Coffee have identified a coffee solution that fills an unmet consumer need within the $40 billion U.S. coffee market. The new Rubi kiosk provides a unique offering by grinding and brewing fresh whole beans in a single cup process on demand and around the clock. The Rubi kiosk serves brewed coffee and specialty drinks including mochas and vanilla lattes with price points starting at $1.00. It occupies approximately nine square feet and provides increased foot traffic and a turnkey solution for retailers, creating operational efficiencies.

“This relationship is a logical next step in our strategy to bring great coffee to new and unexpected locations where it’s traditionally been hard to find great coffee,” said Jim McDermet, senior vice president and general manager of Seattle’s Best Coffee. “Our Seattle’s Best Coffee fans will be delighted to find their favorite coffee now available around-the-clock at the places they visit regularly each day.”

??The additional kiosks will add to an already substantial Seattle’s Best Coffee footprint, which today includes more than 50,000 points of distribution at restaurants, convenience stores, cruise ships, movie theatres, airlines, offices, universities and retail locations, as well as packaged coffee offerings in more than 20,000 places where groceries are sold.

Based on surveys conducted among consumers using the Rubi coffee kiosk while in test, 90 percent indicated they were satisfied or very satisfied with the experience, and 60 percent said they would recommend the Rubi coffee kiosk to a friend or colleague.
The Rubi coffee kiosks serving Seattle’s Best Coffee will initially be installed in the northeast and west coast regions of the United States at grocery, drug, and mass merchant locations. As Coinstar expands geographically with its coffee kiosk, it will also pursue additional channels as part of an ongoing roll-out.

· COINSTAR, INC. AND SEATTLE’S BEST COFFEE SIGN EXCLUSIVE AGREEMENT [Press Release]
· Starbucks Signs Five-Year Deal with Coinstar for Seattle's Best Kiosks [Dow Jones]
[Photo: Seattle's Best]