The company announced that the restaurant would open on November 15th, overtaking Tokyo to become its main production site. The four-story Chicago Roastery is 43,000 square feet in size and replaces an old Crate and Barrel location in the city's Magnificent Mile.
The roasteries are intended to be tourist attractions in themselves. They offer special coffees and teas, on-site roasters and massive coffee barrels containing freshly roasted beans. They also have bars with craft cocktails and serve more sophisticated cuisine than a normal Starbucks establishment.
When Starbucks announced the Chicago site in 2017, he said it would be a "fully sensory coffee environment" dedicated to roasting and preparing Starbucks coffees around the world. The location will also include the concept of craft bakery of the company, Princi.
Starbucks also uses Roasteries to test design concepts and menu items, and to double its promise to offer a "third place" between home and work, while focusing on speed and convenience.
Starbucks has always been "a more successful brand," Morningstar analyst R.J. Hottovy had previously told CNN Business. The Roasteries take it "even more upstream," he said.
In total, Starbucks has six Roastery branches around the world, including New York, Milan and Shanghai.
Starbucks once had ambitions of 1,000 reserve bars and more Roasteries. But CEO Kevin Johnson previously told CNN Business that there was no plan for new roasters beyond Chicago. "We are very happy with their performance," he said.
The opening begins at a moment of growth for Starbucks (SBUX).
The company is aggressively opening restaurants, improving technology, developing new products and expanding its rewards program. The tactic is paying off: sales in coffee shops open at least a year rose 6% in the third quarter, Starbucks said in its latest earnings report. Net sales also reached a record $ 6.8 billion. The stock is up 50% this year.
– Danielle Weiner-Bronner of CNN Business contributed to this report.
