• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Skip to navigation
Close Ad

The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

  • Home
  • Podcasts
  • Events
  • Newsletter
  • Connect
    • Custom Events
    • Slack
    • RSS
    • Send us a Tip
  • Advertise
  • Consulting
  • About
The Spoon
  • Home
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Events
  • Advertise
  • About

Starbucks Will Power More Than 300 Texas Stores With Solar

by Jennifer Marston
April 16, 2019April 17, 2019Filed under:
  • Business of Food
  • Delivery & Commerce
  • Food Waste
  • Restaurant Tech
  • Waste Reduction
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

Starbucks made another move towards investing in green energy today when it announced a partnership with solar company Cypress Creek Renewables. In a post on the coffee giant’s Stories site, Starbucks noted that the two companies, along with U.S. bank, are “teaming up on a portfolio of farms across Texas.” The partnership includes two solar farms that will power 360 Starbucks stores across Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano, and Arlington.

The post also noted that Starbucks is investing in six other Cypress-owned solar farms in Texas, and predicts that the eight total farms will reduce the company’s total carbon footprint by 101,000 tons annually.

The Seattle-based coffee retailer isn’t new to solar initiatives. In April 2017, Starbucks invested in NC-47, solar farm in North Carolina to power around 600 Starbucks locations in that state as well as Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C. In September of 2018, Starbucks announced its Greener Stores initiative, which, among other things, aims to power all stores with 100 percent renewable energy by 2025. That includes solar as well as wind — in November of 2018, the company invested in an Illinois wind farm to power almost 350 of its locations.

Starbucks isn’t alone, either, in its plans to ramp up the sustainable side of business, for which the year 2025 is shaping up to be the key date for big-name quick-service brands. Wendy’s has its Squarely Sustainable program, which so far has included using more energy-efficient kitchen equipment and HVAC systems. The company also plans to reduce its overall energy usage by 20 percent by 2025. KFC will convert its packaging to renewable plastic sources, also by 2025. Meanwhile, McDonald’s has said it will source 100 percent of its packaging from renewable materials by, yep, 2025, and Dunkin’ has said it will do away with polystyrene cups by next year.

What will become clearer in future is which of these areas will help quick-service chains make the most positive impact on sustainability. From the perspective of a consumer, it’s easier to see that impact in compostable coffee cups and cutlery as replacements for polystyrene and plastic. Renewables are trickier in that they are a) harder for customers to “see” and b) have a long way to go in meeting long-term climate and sustainability goals. However, that doesn’t make them any less important, and as we inch towards 2025, we’ll see more of these initiatives from more chains, both in the U.S. and globally.


Related

How Starbucks’ “Greener Stores” Project Could Affect Other Coffee Retailers

Of all the details crammed into last week's monster press release about Starbucks' "Greener Stores" project, one in particular sticks out: that the coffee giant will open-source this new initiative in the hopes that other retailers will take similar steps to create "a new standard for green retail." Making retail greener…

Starbucks Expands Its Delivery Program to Be Big(er) in Japan

This week Starbucks announced big expansion plans for Japan, which include 300 new stores and a delivery program through Uber Eats (hat tip to Nation's Restaurant News). Over the next three years, Starbucks will open 100 new stores per year in Japan, according to a press statement. That’ll bring the…

Starbucks Pledges to Cut Carbon Emissions, Water Usage and Landfill Waste by Half by 2030

Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson announced in a letter Tuesday that the company aspires to become resource positive within the next decade.  To meet that aspiration, Johnson set three goals for Starbucks: reducing carbon emissions from its direct operations and supply chain by half; replenishing half of its water usage with…

Get the Spoon in your inbox

Just enter your email and we’ll take care of the rest:

Find us on some of these other platforms:

  • Apple Podcasts
  • Spotify
Tagged:
  • KFC
  • McDonalds
  • renewable energy
  • Starbucks
  • Wendy's

Post navigation

Previous Post Here’s The Spoon’s 2019 Food Robotics Market Map
Next Post Just Eat’s Practi Acquisition Hints at a ‘Walled Garden’ Effect for Restaurant Delivery

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Get The Spoon in Your Inbox

The Spoon Podcast Network!

Feed your mind! Subscribe to one of our podcasts!

What Flavor Unlocks
Starbucks Unveils Green Dot Assist, a Generative AI Virtual Assistant for Coffee Shop Employees
Impulse Announces Its Battery-Integrated Cooktop Becomes First Certified to Applicable UL Safety Standards
Tasting Cultivated Seafood in London’s East-end
Tasting Cultivated Seafood in London’s East-end

Footer

  • About
  • Sponsor the Spoon
  • The Spoon Events
  • Spoon Plus

© 2016–2025 The Spoon. All rights reserved.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.