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Starbucks is brewing up something new in Texasand this time, it’s not just what’s in the cup. Next week, the coffee giant will open its first-ever 3D-printed store, a drive-thru-only location in Brownsville that looks more like the future of construction than your average café. Built with layers of concrete piped out by a giant robotic printer, the 1,400-square-foot structure is part of the companys ongoing effort to modernize operations and trim costs. But does a 3D-printed café actually save moneyor is this just a buzzworthy experiment? Is 3D-printing more cost-effective? Peri-3D, a German company, used a giant 3D printer to pump out layers of concrete mixture to create the structure. According to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, the cost for building the small scale coffee shop was about $1.2 million. The accounting platform Freshbooks says building a restaurant from the ground up can cost up to $2 million. However, a smaller-scale quick-serve restaurant may cost less to build. According to KRG Hospitality, it costs around $535 per square foot to build a quick serve restaurant, which comes out to $749,000 for a 1,400-square-foot structure like the new Starbucksa bit less than the $1.2 price tag for the 3D-printed build. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Brownsville Today (@brownsvilletoday) Of course, the new method is a first for the brand. And builders say, the more they use the technology, the more efficient they are at it. In Georgetown, Texas, an entire community of 100 homes was recently built using 3D-printing. The company who built the community, Lennar, says they’re seeing costs drop with each build. Stuart Miller, chairman and co-CEO of Lennar, told CNBC earlier this year that the construction company says their costs and cycle time go down “by half” by adopting 3D-printing. “This is significant improvement in evolving a housing market that has the ability to change over time and being more adaptable and more functional in providing affordable and attainable housing for a broader swath of the market, said Miller.Likewise, many building materials are becoming more expensive all the time. According to a 2023 report by construction cost data tracking firm Gordian, 82.5% of construction materials have skyrocketed since 2020, with the average increase at 19%. Now that the impact of tariffs is looming, those costs are expected to increase even more.3D-printing is also much faster, meaning that projects can be completed in a fraction of the time, potentially drastically cutting labor costs. According to the World Economic Forum, 3D-printing can cost just 30% of what building structures the old-fashioned way costs. That’s why some companies are using it as a tool to address labor shortages and the housing crisis. The future of restaurant building? 3D-printing is gaining momentum for construction purposes, given it’s less time-consuming and has the power to be less costly. In addition to housing, in Japan, a 3D-printed train station was just erected. And Peri-3D, itself, has completed at least 15 construction projects, including residential buildings in Europe and Germany.3D-printing has been incorporated into some restaurants when it comes to customizing food, or even making 3D-printed furniture, too. But building restaurants with the technology is a brand-new development. With restaurant chains looking for cost-cutting initiatives in the wake of inflation, rising operating costs, and the impact of tariffs, 3D-printing could eventually become a time-slashing, and cost-slashing way for establishments to expand. Especially because, no matter how the restaurants are built, the food, and the coffee, are likely to taste the same.
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E-Commerce
The infamous Am I the A**hole? subreddit is making its way to the small screen. Hosted by Jimmy Carr, the new game show for Comedy Central U.K. will feature members of the public appearing before Carr and a panel of two comedians to reveal their deepest secrets and most bizarre disputesbefore receiving judgment, per Deadline. The show is based on the popular Reddit subreddit of the same name, which boasts 24 million members at the time of writing. The subreddits creator, Marc Beaulac, is one of the executive producers of the series. Jimmy Carrs Am I the A**hole? is being produced by STV Studios-owned Tuesdays Child. Filming will take place in late spring, and the series is set to premiere later this year on Comedy Central U.K., consisting of eight hour-long episodes. Steph Harris, executive producer at Tuesdays Child, said per Chortle: Am I the A**hole? is only a question you ask if you’re convinced you’re right in an argument, but will our guests get the answer they’re hoping for when they share awkward real-life scenarios with comedians who pull no punches in delivering judgments? Carr added: Seems odd that anyone would ask me to host a show about a**holes. I should be grateful, but I feel a little insulted. I guess I’m an a**hole. Well, it takes an a**hole to know an a**hole, so I’m the right man for the job. I’m very much looking forward to being Comedy Central’s proctologist-in-residence. There are an impressive number of a**holes in our country, and they’re finally getting the recognition they deserve on national television. From giving your stay-at-home wife a written performance review (kind of the A-hole) to calling out a lactose-intolerant milk thief (not the A-hole), Reddit’s “Am I the A**hole” threadalso known by the acronym AITAhas become a safe space for people to vent anonymously and ask an impartial jury of Internet strangers: Am I in the wrong? Since its creation in 2013, AITA has evolved from a niche online forum into a cultural phenomenon, the subject of philosophical and demographic study and endless internet discourse. Over a decade on, it has inspired an entire ecosystem, including TikToks and podcast episodes dedicated to dissecting the most viral posts. Now, a panel of comedians and a TV audience will have their turn weighing in on real-life conflictsoffering insight, validation, or, in some cases, a much-needed dose of self-reflection.
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E-Commerce
Leo Robitschek says he loves gin-based martinis and negronis. Unfortunately, they dont always love him back. After two, that decision to have a third is usually a tricky one, says Robitschek, who has worked in the liquor industry for more than two decades, including serving as a bar director for Manhattan hot spots Eleven Madison Park and the NoMad Hotel. To lessen the pain after a boozy night out, Robitschek joined forces with another bartender, Nick Strangeway, and the founder of the sparkling beverage brand Dry Soda, Sharelle Klaus, to launch Second Sip Gin. The London dry gin is 20% alcohol by volume (ABV), roughly half the level of most gins, and was formulated over the course of six months as somewhere between Beefeater and Tanqueray gins. Second Sip has a juniper forward flavor, along with angelica root, coriander, bitter orange, and licorice, so it can retain an array of botanicals that gin is known for. [Photo: Second Sip Gin] Two martinis are better than one, says Robitschek. But hopefully, theres no regrets in the morning. The rise of mindful drinking Lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic led to a spike in alcohol consumption as Americans were stuck at home with little to do. After life returned to normal, many consumers sought to reset their relationship by participating in Dry Januaryavoiding booze for the full monthand giving nonalcoholic beverages a try. All this coincided with the rise of Gen Z into legal drinking age, a generation thats drinking less than other young people before them. But industry data shows that a vast majority of adults that consume nonalcoholic drinks arent exactly sober. More than 90% drink alcohol, too. And often, they will alternate between alcohol and N/A brands within the same evening, a social concept called zebra striping. That idea of zebra striping and the consumer having two options results in this low alcohol space in the middle, says Kaleigh Theriault, associate director of beverage alcohol thought leadership at research firm NIQ. They can trust that the product is going to be moderate for them and they dont have to be as conscious about making a decision between a non-alc and a regular ABV [alcohol by volume]. Lower alcohol sales total nearly $3.6 billion annually in U.S. grocery, liquor, convenience, and other retailers tracked by NIQ, but the category is also evolving differently across beer, wine, and spirits. Within beer, there has been less appetite for low-strength alternatives because major brands like Miller Lite and Coors Light are already naturally low in alcoholic content and the N/A brands that have emerged, led by Heineken 0.0 and Athletic Brewing, taste similar to their full-strength cousins. Redefining the buzz Fabian Clark says he enjoys N/A beers, but when he worked in hospitality and ran a restaurant in London, he consistently declined to stock Seedlip and other N/A spirits he was pitched. For me, I felt they didnt deliver on the flavor that I was looking for, says Clark. [Photo: Quarter Proof] After his restaurant shut down due to COVID, Clark cofounded Quarter Proof in 2022, launching with a gin and later a tequila and vodka that all contain 15% ABV, a level he says allows the startup to deliver spirits that retain a similar flavor profile to the higher proof competitors. Theyre not looking to abstain, theyre looking to moderate, Clark says of the shifting consumer mindset. And we feel that we offer seamless moderation. As we like to say, All of the buzz, none of the blur. Stateside, Quarter Proof is only sold in bars and restaurants in New York and Miami, but Clark is in talks with a national distributor to bring the brand to additional markets. Clark also intends to move to the U.S. before the end of the year to have a more active in-person role building up Quarter Proof. Brandon Joldersma, the CEO of N/A wine brand Surely, says that the dealcoholization techniques changed the flavor profile too much for some consumers. You really want to taste as similar as possible, says Joldersma. Its just much more difficult to do with wine than it is for beer. [Photo: Arlow] With that in mind, he launched the low-alcohol wine brand Arlow last year, with varietals including sauvignon blanc, rosé, and cabernet sauvignon, all with a 6.5% ABV and fewer calories and sugar than the full-strength wines. The brand is sold online in nearly all states and has scored wholesale distribution in New York as a test market. A category without clear rules NIQs Theriault says theres no set guidelines for lower roof alcohols and thus the ranges for each category arent yet settled. Generally, NIQs unofficial definitions settle on beers under 4% ABV, and most wines under 10% and spirits below 30%. This presents both a challenge and an opportunity for upstarts like Arlow and Quarter Proof. ABV math is something that consumers dont necessarily do when at the shelf making a purchase, says Theriault. And probably not while ordering a drink while at a bar. Beyond explaining the claims about ABV and better-for-you proposition for Arlow, Joldersma says hes fielded questions like if Arlow adds water to dilute it (they dont). This is a brand new category that we are introducing and theres some education that comes with that, says Joldersma. Some say Americans are finally playing catch-up by embracing mid-strength cocktails like the aperol and hugo spritzes. That lighter daytime drinking moment has always been part of European culture, says Emma Fox, global VP for St-Germain elderflower liqueur and Martini vermouth. [Photo: St-Germain] Fox estimates that globally, the aperitif and N/A-low alcohol segment is worth $11 billion and projected to grow 6% over the next four years. Google Search volume for the hugo spritz, made with St-Germain, prosecco, and mint, spiked by 130% in 2024 from the prior year and saw content on TikTok more than triple. St-Germain launched a global ad campaign with actress Sophie Turner last year to bolster the hugo spritz during the summer, when the cocktail tends to be more popular. To bolster popularity during the colder months, the French liqueur brand has also developed aprs-ski pop-ups at ski resorts. A new standard for bar menus Proof Creative, which conceptualizes cocktails menus for luxury hotel clients like the Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton, anticipates menus will soon be engineered to offer N/A, low ABV, and full strength options across every beverage category. Bobby Carey, creative director for bar consultancy Proof Creative, says the lower-proof brands are also emerging in response to some consumer pushback that the N/A brands were being sold at lofty price points on par with the full strength spirits and wines. Why am I paying so much for a nonalcoholic drink?, asks Carey, explaining a common gripe hes witnessed. If you can turn around and say, This is still alcohol. Its still giving you the same flavor. Thats a more winning proposition.
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E-Commerce
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