Starbucks has finally launched a beta version of its metaverse — the Starbucks Odyssey — on Dec. 8 after initially announcing the Web3 experience in September. Although restaurants have been dipping their toes and marketing budgets into the metaverse all year, it feels like the party is just getting started now that one of the biggest foodservice companies in the world has joined in.
This is why our senior editor Joanna Fantozzi thinks Starbucks was smart to wait more than a half a year after some of its industry colleagues to join the fray. Rather than limit the size of its potential audience by requiring extra equipment or an understanding of Bitcoin and NFTs, Starbucks has broadened its potential userbase. NFTs have been rebranded as “Journey Stamps” and cryptocurrency is not required to purchase and trade them. The coffee chain also has borrowed from the familiar structure of a rewards program by allowing customers to rack up points as they purchase and trade NFTs. Points can then be redeemed for in-store experiences.
But make no mistake: the metaverse space is still the Wild West of the Internet 3.0, and likely will be for a long time to come. At this point, we’re still defining and refining exactly what the metaverse is. The first retail and foodservice brands to join the trend required both a compatible virtual reality headset, as well as knowledge and ownership of cryptocurrency. To play basketball with the Wendy’s Baconator in the Wendyverse, for example, you have to own a Meta Quest 2 headset.
Hear more from Joanna.
Plus, catch up on all the top news of the day with our daily news recap at the beginning of each episode.
Be sure to subscribe to First Bite wherever you get your podcasts or on Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
