Is Starbucks Looking to Add Juice Bars?

NY Post: Coffee king Starbucks could be making a move into the trendy pressed-juice bar business, Page Six has exclusively learned.

CEO Howard Schultz has been scoping out top New York places, the Lower East Side’s Liquiteria and The Juice Press, and he’s just hired Liquiteria manager Yohana Bencosme, an 11-year veteran from Washington Heights, to train staff in Seattle.

A source tells Page Six, “Schultz visited Juice Press in March, and after that went many times to Liquiteria. He spent a lot of time checking out the juices.” The source added, “Then he went in for the kill and hired Yohana. He has flown her out to Seattle to train staff to press juice. He said he wants to start dividing coffee shops within weeks to make one half a pressed juice ‘grab and go’ bar.”

Cold-pressed juice is said to offer higher nutrition levels and is a celeb favorite. Liquiteria owner Doug Green confirmed Schultz had hired Bencosme, saying, “She was like my daughter. He befriended us, asked about our concept, then took her. It is a huge slap in the face.” A Starbucks rep said this was “rumor and speculation.”