The world’s largest coffeehouse chain, Starbucks, on Monday, September 12, unveiled its NFT project in partnership with Ethereum scaling platform, Polygon as part of the launch of its new rewards system, Starbucks Odyssey and two new benefits for its unionized employees.
Starbuck’s announcement of its NFT mint has generated significant public interest, particularly in the crypto community, making it one of the first companies to integrate NFTs into an industry-leading rewards program.
According to Starbucks, the Odyssey experience, powered by Web3 technology, will enable Rewards loyalty program members and Starbucks employees in the United States to purchase and earn its digital collectible tokens (NFTs) to promote an exciting coffee experience and engage its members and partners.
“Starbucks has always served as the Third Place, a place between home and work where you feel the warmth of connection over coffee, community and belonging. The Starbucks Odyssey experience will extend the Third-Place connection to the digital world,” said Brady Brewer.
By leveraging Web 3 technology, Starbucks aims to deepen its connection with its members and create a digital community that allows members to participate in Starbucks Odyssey’s journeys.
The platform will allow members to interact with each other and participate in various activities, including fun challenges to deepen their knowledge of Starbucks and coffee, play interactive games, and reward members with its Journey Stamp (NFT) for completed journeys.
Each travel stamp is said to have a point value based on how rare it is, and users can buy or sell these stamps through an integrated marketplace within the Starbucks Odyssey web app experience.
In addition, the coffee giant announced two new employee benefits; a Starbucks savings account that pays its employees for attaining specific milestones and a student loan administration service.
However, those two benefits are not available to its union employees, as Starbucks said it would not offer any new benefits during its negotiations with the unions.
