New York - Starbucks plans to sell cookies made by a French bakery at some of its coffee shops in New York, part of a test that could be expanded.
Cookies from Michel & Augustin, a company based in the Paris area, will be offered at 25 Starbucks locations in Manhattan.
The partnership was signed on Friday after officials from the French company visited Starbucks Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz in Seattle, according to Charlotte Cochaud, Michel & Augustin’s brand content manager. The rollout may extend to coffee shops in France and the UK later this summer, she said.
“We had a meeting with Howard where we talked about entrepreneurship, changes in life and taking risk,” Cochaud said. “He was very impressed with our trip, so they decided to do it and distribute our recipes.”
Haley Drage, a spokeswoman for Starbucks, confirmed that the products would be sold at the 25 locations.
The deal with Michel & Augustin comes less than a week after Starbucks announced plans to close all 23 of its La Boulange bakery cafes by the end of September. Starbucks acquired La Boulange and its recipes for $100 million in 2012 to make its food offerings more upscale.
Even as it shuts La Boulange’s locations, Starbucks plans to continue using the brand to sell food at its coffee shops.
Starbucks’ food sales rose 16 percent in the most recent quarter, and the company wants to double its revenue from edibles to $4-billion by 2019.
Michel & Augustin had its American debut in 2014, when it began selling products in stores and cafes around Brooklyn, Manhattan and Long Island. It’s available in about 200 locations in the New York area, Cochaud said.
The company, founded in 2004, has about 80 employees. It posted revenue of 30 million euros ($34-million) in 2014, she said.
Bloomberg