Dive Brief:
- Starbucks and DoorDash announced a national delivery partnership Tuesday. The companies will offer delivery through DoorDash’s app and website in Northern California, Texas, Georgia, Florida and other select markets starting Tuesday, and will expand delivery nationwide by March.
- This expanded partnership follows market tests in Atlanta, starting in June, and Houston and Sacramento, California, in September, involving hundreds of units. The companies began offering delivery in New York City, Seattle and Portland, Oregon, in October, DoorDash said in an email to Restaurant Dive.
- Starbucks said it would offer about 95% of its menu items for delivery on the DoorDash app, and has found packaging solutions to delivery issues posed by coffee and cafe products.
Dive Insight:
Starbucks has offered widespread delivery through Uber Eats for years, but DoorDash has eclipsed Uber Eats’ delivery market share, according to Bloomberg Second Measure data. This broad reach makes DoorDash an attractive partner for nationwide delivery.
“Delivery continues to represent a significant growth opportunity for Starbucks, and we’re excited to reach more customers by partnering with DoorDash, a company known for their best in-class service,” Brooke O’Berry, Starbucks senior vice president of digital experiences, said in a statement.
Starbucks’ 2022 10-K describes increasing delivery sales as a strategic opportunity aligned with efforts to grow customer loyalty, digital and mobile ordering.
The coffee giant said customers can still customize orders placed through DoorDash as they would customize other orders, and said it developed stickers to prevent spills and tamper-evident packaging for delivery operations. In an email, DoorDash told Restaurant Dive that its ordering system was directly integrated with Starbucks’ POS, making fulfillment and preparation seamless.
For DoorDash, the partnership offers the opportunity to deliver a major national brand in large markets and eliminates one of Uber Eats’ advantages, as both platforms will offer national delivery of Starbucks menu items now.
