Starbucks Coffee Co. has opened its Starbucks Reserve Roastery Chicago — its sixth global Roastery and largest-ever “immersive coffee experience,” across five floors and 35,000 square feet of retail space.
Located on North Michigan Avenue and Erie Street on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, the Chicago Roastery joins locations in Seattle, Shanghai, Milan, New York and Tokyo.
“Over the past five years, we have created the ultimate immersive experience around all-things-coffee in spectacular Starbucks Reserve Roasteries in flagship cities around the world. This week we are delighted to open our doors on the sixth global Roastery in an iconic building located on Chicago’s renowned Magnificent Mile”, said Kevin Johnson, Starbucks CEO. “These Roasteries amplify the Starbucks brand, serve as innovation hubs, and create experiences for millions of customers around the world.”
The Roastery employs nearly 200 people, including roasters, baristas, commessas, bakers and mixologists.
“The design of the Chicago Roastery was inspired by the iconic Chicago landmark, and the city itself,” said Jill Enomoto, vice president of Roastery Design & Concept for Starbucks. “We embraced the building’s natural light, married it with shades of classic Starbucks greens and intentionally wove in design features to encourage customer exploration and highlight the love and respect we have for coffee.”
There are three main coffee bars at the Roastery, which in total offer seven brewing methods, including espresso, pour over, coffee press, siphon, Chemex, Clover and cold brewing.
The Starbucks Reserve Roastery Chicago is the only Starbucks location in the U.S. to offer on-demand liquid nitrogen gelato.
Designed to pair with Starbucks Reserve coffee, nitrogen gelato is mixed by hand, with every scoop made right on the spot and offers another way for customers to enjoy specialty Starbucks Reserve coffees. Nitrogen gelato previously debuted at the Milan Roastery when it opened in September 2018.
The Chicago Roastery will also feature a dedicated Arriviamo Bar, like the Starbucks Reserve Roastery locations in New York and Milan.
The Arriviamo bar features an assortment of traditional and unique cocktails. In addition to a menu of classic cocktails and a selection of local Chicago beer and wine, exclusive specialty cocktails featuring Starbucks Reserve coffee and tea.
In addition to coffee beverages, Roastery visitors can enjoy food at Princi, the renowned artisanal boutique bakery and cafe founded by Italian baker Rocco Princi.
As the exclusive food purveyor at Starbucks Reserve locations, Princi offers on-site baking of fresh breads, cornetti and focaccia, pizza and salads, plus cakes and tarts.
Exclusive to the Chicago Roastery will be a bakery conveyor that has been designed by Starbucks to transport fresh baked goods from the Princi bakery on the second floor, to the Starbucks Reserve Coffee Bar on the main level.
Artwork from local Chicago artists can be found throughout the building’s five floors. Customers can also purchase limited-edition merchandise from Chicago-based visual artist Mac Blackout to take home with them.
To further show support for the city of Chicago, Starbucks recently announced an investment of $10 million into four established Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) to drive economic opportunity in the city.
The investment, dispersed among Accion Chicago, Chicago Community Loan Fund, Local Initiative Support Corporation and IFF, is expected to generate more than 500 loans toward supporting Chicago’s small businesses, community development projects and the economic vitality of the city’s underserved neighborhoods.