Starbucks is quietly evaluating a new cup label program across six pilot locations in Lincoln Park, 60614 — and the Society has heard directly from two baristas and one regional manager who shall remain anonymous that the cups are everything.
The program, which remains in internal beta, involves semi-3D printed cup sleeves produced on what sources describe as "a fashionable French sticky paper — the kind that peels clean and holds a crease." The labels are die-cut, personalized, and printed in-store on a proprietary thermal-emboss unit about the size of a Vitamix. Early test labels have featured neighborhood identifiers, local imagery, and member names rendered in script.
"The paper is extraordinary," one source told the Society. "It has weight. It has tooth. It does not bleed. It sits on the cup like it belongs there."
The Society has obtained a sample label from a participating location, bearing the name Ashley, framed by the Lincoln Park zip code, the Chicago skyline, a pink martini glass, and an arrangement of paw prints and spring flowers.
“I am very pleased with the flowers,” said Executive Director Ashley Munroe, who declined to say whether she had sent the design team any suggestions.
If the pilot is approved for rollout, all six Lincoln Park Starbucks locations — Sheffield, Halsted, Clark, Armitage, Lincoln, and the one on Fullerton that everyone pretends they don't use — would receive the new label units by Q3. The Society is monitoring developments closely.
Members who receive one of the pilot labels are asked to send Jill a photograph before throwing away the cup.