Seattle – Starbucks Corp., which has a bittersweet history mixing its coffee with chocolate, is trying again, this time with Hershey Co.
The world’s largest specialty coffee retailer said Thursday it will begin offering Starbucks-branded coffee-flavored chocolate products in the fall under a deal with Hershey, which has been struggling to revive flat sales.
Executives with both companies said they’re eager to respond to customers’ growing demand for premium chocolate.
“We’ve found that today consumers are looking, especially in the premium area, for different kinds of indulgences,” said Tom Hernquist, a senior vice president and global chief growth officer at Hershey, the nation’s largest candymaker. He noted that coffee-flavored chocolate treats have proved particularly popular.
The first product slated to hit U.S. grocery, drugstore and department-store shelves this fall will be a premium hot chocolate. Hershey executives would not say whether it will be sold in powder or drink form.
LAKEWOOD
Mineral producer relocates to Colorado
Idaho General Mines Inc., which focuses on producing molybdenum, moved its headquarters to Lakewood from Spokane, Wash., in search of talent.
The company also opened an engineering office near Phoenix to be closer to contractors and two Nevada projects, spokesman Seth Foreman said. The company has about 25 employees, most of whom will relocate.
Mount Hope, the company’s open-pit mine in central Nevada, is expected to begin production in 2010, at which point the company will hire about 700 workers.
COLORADO SPRINGS
SkyWest opens large new hangar facility
SkyWest Airlines held a ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday for its new 125,000 square-foot hangar facility at Colorado Springs Airport.
SkyWest has about 80 maintenance employees in Colorado Springs. The facility is large enough for the airline to service 10 aircraft each night.
LAKEWOOD
Gaming Commission to add four employees
The Gaming Commission on Thursday approved supplemental budget requests for the current fiscal year totaling $315,147 to fund four additional full-time employees for the Division of Gaming, the first time since 1995 that the division will increase its full-time staff.
Two compliance investigators will be added to the field operations section to inspect slot machines and devices and two background investigators will also be added to the Lakewood Investigations unit.
NIWOT
Crocs to license logos, baseball team names
Niwot-based Crocs Inc. announced that it has expanded its licensing business by entering into an agreement with Major League Baseball Properties.
The agreement, which covers both Crocs footwear and Jibbitz shoe charms, allows the company to license the names and logos for all 30 baseball teams and related MLB properties with worldwide distribution rights.
WILMINGTON, Del.
Qwest sued by tech company over patents
Rates Technology Inc. has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Qwest, alleging the Denver-based company violated its patents covering Voice over Internet Protocol technology.
The suit was filed in federal court in Delaware.
DENVER
Stock sale nets Coors CEO over $740,000
Molson Coors chief executive Leo Kiely exercised 18,774 stock options earlier this week and sold them based on a planned trading program.
With an exercise price of $52.25 and share sales in the $92 range, the sales generated more than $740,000 for Kiely. The options exercised represented about a fifth of the total he was holding.
RESTON, Va.
Sprint, Clearwire plan broadband network
Sprint Nextel and Clearwire announced Thursday they plan to jointly construct the first nationwide mobile broadband network using WiMAX technology.
Sprint said it plans to launch WiMAX service in Denver in 2008.
WASHINGTON
Inflation worries keep interest rates steady
Continuing concerns about inflation underpin the Federal Reserve’s stand against changes in interest rates.
That line of thinking prevailed as the policymakers decided to hold the rates steady last month despite a competing concern that the housing slump might short-circuit the economic expansion.
Anguish over inflation held sway at the June 27 meeting of monetary policymakers, according to minutes released Thursday of the deliberations.
DETROIT
Ford receives bids for Jaguar, Land Rover
Cash-strapped Ford Motor Co. took a step toward selling its Jaguar and Land Rover units on Thursday when it received an undisclosed number of opening bids for its British automaking businesses.
Thursday was a deadline to submit early bids, but Ford said no sale is imminent.
CHICAGO
Ex-media mogul can remain free on bail
Conrad Black, the ex-Hollinger International Inc. chairman found guilty last week of fraud and obstruction of justice, can remain free on bail until his Nov. 30 sentencing, a federal judge said.
U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve on Thursday sustained Black’s $21 million bail package, accepting defense assertions that the former newspaper publisher would return for sentencing.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.
Scripps Networks buys Web recipe database
Scripps Networks, which operates cable networks and their Internet counterparts, announced Thursday that it has acquired Recipezaar, a user-generated website for recipes.
Terms of the deal, which marks Scripps Networks’ first acquisition, were not made public.
BILLINGS, Mont.
Strike stalls platinum miner’s output goals
Stillwater Mining Co., the only U.S. producer of platinum and palladium, said it won’t meet its 2007 production forecast because of a strike at its largest mine.
Output from mines this year is “very unlikely” to meet a previous forecast of as much as 645,000 ounces.
