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Starbucks to give away free ice cream on Wednesday

Posted on: Wednesday, 29 June 2005, 12:28 CDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp., whose sales growthat established stores has slowed in recent months, said onTuesday it will give away free ice cream at more than 6,000 ofits U.S. coffee shops on Wednesday afternoon.

The company said in a statement it is trying to generateinterest in ice cream with the Starbucks brand, which it hasbeen selling in grocery stores since 1995 as part of a jointventure with Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream Holdings Inc.

The move is sure to reel in customers who might buy one ofthe chain's signature frothy coffee drinks, althoughspokeswoman Audrey Lincoff said that was not the point of theice cream event.

Spokesman Nick Davis added that there was no plan for thechain to begin selling ice cream at its outlets.

Starbucks, which has added a line of music CDs to itsproduct offerings, has been working to boost sales atestablished coffee shops but set a high bar for itself lastyear with strong results.

Starbucks stock has fallen 15 percent this year, in partdue to investor concerns about slowing growth of same-storesales, which are sales at stores open at least 13 months.

In recent months, several U.S. restaurant chains have givenaway free food in an effort to boost customer traffic.

McDonald's Corp. in February gave away free samples of itsnew fried chicken strips for three days, a tactic competitorslater said succeeded in hurting their sales.

Wendy's International Inc. also gave away free Frostydrinks following the arrest of a woman who claimed she found ahuman finger in a bowl of Wendy's chili, an event thattriggered intense media attention and hampered the chain'ssales.

Source: REUTERS

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