Another idea sells

Drew asks me about my opinion on Starbucks selling oatmeal.
He's thinking about bringing it into Cafe Cento.

My initial reactions to the oatmeal thing was that it was kind of dull. They pulled a strategy in marketing where company A, B, and C are doing something and company D does something along the same "functional food-line" but not what company A, B, or C did.
Functional foods, provide nutrition. Trends today look to be in the functional food category with an additive.

yogurt, frozen yogurt, smoothies, but oatmeal?

Well, in 2005 :sales of ready-to-cat cereal were down for the fourth year.

At this time, carbohydrates were monsters- all we heard about was "The Atkins diet." Somewhere around the falling climax of the Low Carb Fad, Adkins himself died... And we all reintroduced carbs into our diets. From mentors, magazines, and news specials, we learned about "good carbs" versus "bad carbs" as we simultaneously watched Oprah slim down.

sO the fact that Starbucks decides to sell oatmeal as a "healthy breakfast food" does not surprise me. You know, I think Cafe Cento is unique in its own way. You should really try and bank off of what makes the cafe different from all others. I have a question---- What do the Italian's eat for breakfast?

Initially, I was curious with the new item in the top right corner of the pastry case, but in no way am I about to buy that stuff ! I mean, common - its instant oatmeal. It is no different than the Quaker instant - tear open - smell the sugar - add hot water. The only way I take oatmeal is non instant- with soy milk- honey- lavender - and a pinch of salt.

Also, you can buy pounds of oatmeal for like double the price of the portion.
Well, it is THE ONLY non greasy pastry there. It is warm. But- the reason why the oatmeal sold so much is because of the idea.
The name: "The perfect oatmeal" combined with the cute container is what did it.

I have always thought that the product launches at Starbucks are done quite well.

Although many partners don't care - every partner is given the opportunity to be knowledgeable ( a memo is sent to all stores about promotional items. Managers and shift managers are to make sure partners read it. Sometimes a quiz is issued as well!),

Coupons are made available, free bees & samples are handed out, partner recommendations, and point of purchase reminders all serve to make the sale happen.

I believe their efforts were successful by attracting the right people to "try the breakfast option" but I don't think oatmeal will stay on the menu as a top seller for that long.

That is my thoughts to the oatmeal at Starbucks...

This all started because Bucks said that it was the biggest source of sales last year... I would track down the source of that quote. It could be a number of things, like the oatmeal accounted for the item with the most growing sales.

Check last years biggest source of sales, and hmmmm... guess who we might find? The Starbucks breakfast sandwich. I would investigate further before putting oatmeal into the coffee shop.
My gut tells me that it's too late to jump on the same wagon.