THE LIGHTER SIDE

Want your coffee fix? Starbucks will deliver to your office now

Coffee delivery to the office? No problem. The soccer field? Sure thing. The whole world is a Starbucks now.

As Starbucks grapples with slowing foot traffic and a glut of competition, it’s hoping to snag new customers by meeting them where they are — literally. The company is introducing a delivery service in several cities through a partnership with UberEats, the coffee chain announced Tuesday. Starbucks Delivers starts in San Francisco and will expand to Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, in the following weeks, making nearly a quarter of its U.S. stores open for delivery.

“We know we have untapped customer demand for Starbucks Delivers in the U.S. and starting today, we’re expanding our best-in-class experience to our customers both in and out of our stores,” said Roz Brewer, group president and chief operating officer for Starbucks. “We’re building on key learnings from past delivery pilots and by integrating our ordering technology directly with Uber Eats, we’ve unlocked the ability to bring Starbucks to customers for those times when they’re not able to come to us.”

Through the Uber Eats app, customers can buy nearly anything on the Starbucks menu without having to set foot in a store, as 95 percent of the menu is eligible for delivery. Starbucks promises orders will be delivered in 30 minutes or less, and delivery fees start at $2.49.

The explosion of online delivery services in the past few years has shaken up the food and beverage industry by including restaurants that couldn’t offer their own delivery.