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Brands & Merch Business News Deals Digital
Spotify extends its partnership with Starbucks
By Chris Cooke | Published on Wednesday 20 January 2016
An exciting piece of coffee shop news that will be of particular interest to all you music types now. First a bit of background. I often get my lunch from that popular coffee shop chain Pret A Manger, partly because the company has kindly opened eight stores within five minutes walk of CMU HQ in Shoreditch.
Now, I’m a soup person, that’s no secret, and a year ago I discovered that Pret’s Chicken, Broccoli and Brown Rice Soup is one of the most magnificent combinations of soup-like ingredients to have ever been mixed together in one soup-making pot. I love it. Pret has a revolving menu of soups, with a different line-up each day. Monday has traditionally been Chicken, Broccoli and Brown Rice Soup day, and what a day Monday has become for me.
But here’s the thing, as well the revolving line-up of soups that change and vary each day of the week, Pret also has one soup that is available every day for one whole week. Or sometimes even one whole month. Tomato has had that honour. Autumn Vegetable has had that honour. Ham Hock was the featured soup in the run up to Christmas. But never, ever, has Chicken, Broccoli and Brown Rice Soup occupied that position.
Then, last week, while browsing Pret’s soups web page – which is something I do from time to time, I’ll admit it – imagine the joy in my heart when I noticed: Chicken, Broccoli and Brown Rice Soup was only on the menu every freakin day that week! There was a special bounce in my step as I then made my way into Shoreditch, trying to decide which of the eight Pret branches near CMU HQ I’d give my business as I bought my first of five helpings of Chicken, Broccoli and Brown Rice Soup that would come over the next five days.
Imagine – just imagine it for a moment – the horror that was unleashed when I arrived at the Pret next to Liverpool Street Station to discover: NO Chicken, Broccoli and Brown Rice Soup. Hadn’t this store not got the memo?
Worry not, I thought, I’ll try the (other) Pret next to Liverpool Street Station, that’ll be dishing out Chicken, Broccoli and Brown Rice Soup for sure. Wait, what’s this? No Chicken, Broccoli and Brown Rice Soup? What about the (another other) Pret next to Liverpool Street Station? What do you mean Souper Tomato is this week’s every day soup option. That’s not what your fucking website says Mr Pret e Fucking Manger.
But worry ye not faithful CMU reader. Because the traumatic segment of this story leads to a most gloriously happy ending. On arriving at my local Pret (you know, the one near that one that’s a bit nearer than that one) this Monday lunchtime the greatest news of the year was delivered to my ears by Ms Pret e Fucking Manger. “Would you like a helping of Chicken, Broccoli and Brown Rice Soup, it’s our every-day soup this week don’t you know!”
Do you ever occasionally muse about what the soundtrack to your life would sound like? I mean, if your life was a movie and some music supervisor was tasked with picking some tunes or commissioning a score to soundtrack the events and moments of your life, what music would they choose? Well, we’d need something magnificent for this particular moment, I can tell you. A rampant, rousing, inspiring and glorious crescendo of musical goodness. Which is why this news will be of interest to all you music types. Maybe you’d like to write that piece of music. Or a folk song retelling this magical tale. That’d do.
Anyway, in almost related news, Spotify has extended its existing partnership with Starbucks in the US so that customers will be able to ‘favourite’ songs playing in the coffee chain’s stores via the cappuccino-peddler’s own app, influencing what music subsequently gets played there. The customer can also automatically add the track to a playlist over in the Spotify app for future listening. It’s an interesting partnership, though one sadly lacking in soup.
