Starbucks hopes its new Via coffee will have instant appeal

NEW YORK -- STARBUCKS/:Starbucks to unveil 'Via' instant coffee

Via will be available in Starbucks, Target and Costco stores in Seattle and Chicago March 3 and nationally by fall. It will also go on sale online March 3.

Via will come in single-cup foil packets about the size of an index finger, with a package of three selling for $2.95, and a 12-pack priced at $9.95.

Schultz said the beans are roasted just as they are for Starbucks brewed coffee, then "micro ground" fine enough to dissolve in hot or cold water in the patented process.

He says instant coffee won't tarnish Starbucks' premium image. The per-cup price of 83 cents to 98 cents is less than brewed coffee at a Starbucks store, but much more, for example, than the 39-cents-per-cup rate of a 19-pack of Folgers Coffee Singles ($7.59 on Tuesday at ShopRite in New Jersey).

"We realize this is a very tough environment," Schultz said of the economy. "But for less than $1 a cup, … people can have a cup of coffee that's the mirror image of Starbucks."

Via's ad theme will be "Not instant, instant," a slogan designed to "tell consumers what the product is, not hide from it," says Michelle Gass, executive vice president, marketing.

Starbucks hopes for revenue growth in the $16 billion global instant-coffee market, especially Japan and the United Kingdom, where it will roll out March 25. In the U.S., where instant sales are just $1 billion, Via will compete against brewed coffee consumed at home and other retail outlets. Starbucks' results for the latest quarter showed sales at stores open at least a year off 10%. It has said it will close 900 stores, 800 in the U.S., and lay off 1,370.