Starbucks , the United States-listed coffee shop chain, is closely following developments in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and could soon announce its entry into the growing market.
The world-renowned company expressed interest in the NFT sector for the first time this week and announced plans to enter the sector later this year. The announcement came from billionaire entrepreneur and Starbucks founder Howard Schultz, who was speaking during an Open Forum on Monday to a group of more than 10,000 employees.
Schultz, who has been the chain’s CEO for many years and is taking up the role again this April, gave a speech at the event sharing his vision for the future of the company just over 50 years ago. During that speech, the founder mentioned NFTs.
“How many of you have followed what has been happening with NFTs? Schultz asked the audience, continuing with another question to gauge general interest. “ How many people have participated and invested in NFT?”.
The newly appointed CEO then revealed Starbucks plans to enter the NFT market before the end of 2022. Schultz said the company is in a good position to enter collectibles.
If you look at the companies, the brands, the celebrities, the influencers that are trying to create an NFT digital platform and business, I can’t find one of them that has the treasure trove of assets that Starbucks has, from collectibles to the entire estate. of the company.
” At some point before the end of this year we are going to be an NFT business, ” added the businessman.
Starbucks will enter NFTs
The news was first shared by reporter Jordan Zakarin, who posted a video of the moment of the conference in which Schultz advances the plans. Starbucks also confirmed these goals in a blog post that transcribes some of the announcements made by the founder during the recent event.
And Starbucks has been burning *a lot* of money on trying to stop @SBWorkersUnited. Breaking lots of labor laws, too.
Here’s our latest investigation into their illegal tactics: pic.twitter.com/PMYbXrehzI
— Jordan Zakarin (@jordanzakarin) April 5, 2022
While there isn’t much information at the moment about the coffee giant’s intentions within the collectibles sector, the development could be related to Schultz’s future vision for Starbucks and broader innovation ambitions.
“ We have to reimagine the customer experience ” , the founder commented on his future vision for the company. Schultz emphasized that the physical experience of users who go to the chain’s stores has changed around the world after the COVID-19 pandemic and capacity limitations.
“People don’t use our stores in the same way. So all those stores that we have with big lobbies, may not be as relevant tomorrow as they have been in the past. We have to redefine, redesign our experience in stores”, he added.
The announcement also comes as the company faces multiple challenges, including dissatisfaction from some employees, higher prices due to rising inflation, and challenges in its key market of China, as noted by CryptoNews .
Starbucks hasn’t been particularly open to digital assets, though the company took a crucial first step in 2021 when it partnered with Bakkt to enable nearly 500,000 customers to pay for their coffee, sandwiches and other chain products with Bitcoin directly . from that firm’s digital wallet app. The adoption was part of an early crypto payment integration program.