Starbucks Abandons Plan To Run Separate Retail Baked-Goods Shops

A Starbucks executive says the 23 La Boulange baked-goods shops it acquired three years ago will be shut down because they are a “distraction.” Instead, says Cliff Burrows, the company will expand the brand within its own outlets. Starbucks bought parent company Bay Bread in 2012 for $100 million, hoping to burnish its own lackluster food menu. Although the company said at the time that it planned to open more La Boulange shops, the idea quickly faded because they were “not a sustainable model for Starbucks long term." Food nevertheless is important to the company’s growth strategy as it seeks to transform itself INto something more than a retail coffee chain.