The change, announced during a Webcast of a company meeting, comes as Starbucks is building new billion-dollar brands sold outside its cafes, said a Reuters report.
"Even though we have been, and always will be, a coffee company and retailer, it's possible we'll have other products with our name on it and no coffee in it," CEO Howard Schultz said on the webcast.
The company, [image-nocss] based in Seattle, Washington, has not changed its logo since it went public in 1992.
Self-described Starbucks fanatics were not impressed, said the report, and hundreds of comments on Starbucks' website called for the company's name to be put back into the logo.
Executives said the logo, designed in-house, would be phased in, appearing first on paper products like cups and napkins in March. Starbucks declined to say how much it would cost to switch to the new logo.
Starbucks has come through a restructuring over the past few years, during which it closed almost 1,000 stores around the world and put more emphasis on brands like instant coffee Via and Seattle's Best Coffee.
Some brand experts questioned whether the logo change was a smart move. "I think it's nuts," James Gregory, CEO of brand consulting firm CoreBrand, told the news agency. "What's it going to be--the coffee formerly known as Starbucks?"
The new logo probably will not hurt cafe sales in the near term because most Starbucks customers are enthusiasts, he said. But, he added, a nameless logo was a bad fit for Starbucks products sold by grocery stores and other retailers. "There you're dealing with people who aren't enthusiasts. You're looking at something that's almost generic, and it's not shouting out as something that is Starbucks."
Robert Passikoff, president and founder of Brand Keys Inc., a consumer and brand loyalty consulting firm, said the action could prove wise if Starbucks moved more aggressively into a wider portfolio of consumer goods.
The company timed the debut of the new Starbucks logo to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the founding of the first Starbucks store in Seattle in 1971, said the report.
Last year, Starbuck's also rolled out a new logo for its Seattle's Best coffee brand. (Click here for previous CSP Daily News coverage.)
Seattle-based Starbucks, with stores around the globe, is a leading roaster and retailer of specialty coffee. In addition to its Starbucks retail stores, the company produces a wide range of branded consumer products globally, including ready-to-drink beverages, packaged coffees and premium ice creams. The company's brand portfolio features Starbucks Coffee, Tazo Tea, Seattle's Best Coffee and Torrefazione Italia Coffee.
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