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Miami Herald
16-07-2025
- Health
- Miami Herald
America's Protein Obsession Is Transforming the Dairy Industry
EDITORS NOTE: EDS: CORRECTS to "Emmett" sted "Emmet" in penultimate graf; RECODES as a Page 1 story.); (Attn: Wis.); (ART ADV: With photos. MARSHFIELD, Wis. -- Ken Heiman is a certified Master Cheesemaker, one of four who ensure that the cheddar, Gouda and other cheeses made at Nasonville Dairy in Marshfield, Wisconsin, taste great. But as proud as he is of his cheese, Heiman knows that his company's profitability these days is thanks less to Colby than it is to whey, the liquid byproduct of cheesemaking that helps to satisfy America's seemingly insatiable appetite for added protein. Nasonville Dairy produces around 150,000 pounds of cheese a day, but just breaks even on most of it, especially the 40-pound blocks of cheddar that are a cheesemaker's stock in trade. What increasingly keeps the lights on is whey. "We ought to be thanking people who are buying whey protein at Aldi's," said Heiman, who, in addition to being a Master Cheesemaker, is Nasonville's CEO. "It definitely enhances the bottom line." Whey is so valuable because it can deliver a lot of protein in a small caloric package, and in case you haven't noticed, exhortations to consume more protein have popped up everywhere over the past two decades. Doctors recommend additional protein for healthy aging. Weightlifters often take protein to build muscle, and more women and members of Generation Z are taking up the sport. Popular eating trends like the Keto diet emphasize eating a good amount of protein and fats. More recently, the demand for whey has been turbocharged by the growing use of GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic. Patients taking those drugs are advised to increase their protein intake to avoid muscle loss. Whey protein powders, and the increasing number of whey-protein-enhanced products on grocery store shelves, are an expedient way of consuming a lot of protein. Estimates of the size of the whey protein market vary from around $5 billion to $10 billion, but nearly all analysts say the market will double over the next decade. A pound of the highest-protein whey powder that cost about $3 in 2020 costs almost $10 today, according to insights, an agriculture data company. The demand has trickled down and completely altered the economics of the dairy industry. When Heiman, 72, began his career in the 1960s, whey was pumped down a river, spread on a field or fed to pigs. In other words, it was waste, and the only goal was to get rid of it as cheaply as possible. Times have changed. "In the last decade or so, there are times when cheese is the byproduct of cheese production, and the cheese plants make more money off the whey production," said Mike McCully, a dairy industry consultant. Thank the Meissners' Cows Whey begins its journey to your muscles at dairy farms such as Norm-E-Lane in Chili, Wisconsin, started by Norm and Elaine Meissner in 1946. Wearing a maroon Norm-E-Lane T-shirt, jeans and work boots, Josh Meissner welcomed me to his farm with a crushing dairyman's handshake. The third generation of Meissners to run the dairy (Norm and Elaine were his grandparents), Josh, along with his son Emmett, led me through the milking parlor with its 50 milking stations, three huge barns housing 2,500 cows, and fields of corn. In one of the barns, a cow gave birth, and Josh Meissner walked over to check on the glistening newborn calf. Satisfied that all was in order, he wiped his hands on some straw and resumed talking. Fifteen calves a day are born on the farm; it was no big deal. Norm-E-Lane is a relatively large farm that does everything possible to control costs. Manure, for example, gets pushed into drains and sent to a methane digester to be converted into natural gas. Still, the Meissners have little control over what they are paid for their milk. They are what economists call price takers, not price makers. Milk is not priced like other commodities. Most milk in the United States is sold to dairy co-ops. The minimum price that farmers receive is set by the federal government -- a system set up in the 1930s to bolster milk producers -- and changes monthly depending on the various market forces hitting all milk products (cheeses, butter, yogurt, whey, etc.). Even farmers, like the Meissners, who sell their milk directly to cheese producers get essentially the co-op price for their milk. "There is not a lot of wiggle room of shopping around these days," Josh Meissner said. Marin Bozic, a former agricultural economics professor and the founder of a company that provides dairy and livestock data, calculated that in the early 2000s the value of whey averaged around 2.7%, and never more than 6.4%, of the monthly milk check that dairy farmers received. Since 2021, whey has made up 8.7% of the average milk check, sometimes climbing well above 10%. Dairying is not much of a growth industry. While there have been some gains in production, when accounting for inflation, the price farmers receive for milk today is about the same as it was 25 years ago. One of the main reasons it has not dropped is whey. The rise in the price of whey "stopped the farmer from getting absolutely beat into the ground when the price was so doggone poor," Heiman said. The Whey Maker The Meissners sell the 200,000 pounds of milk their farm makes each day to Heiman at Nasonville Dairy, about 6 miles down the road. Heiman is a gregarious, cheerful man with a large walrus mustache. But the economics of making cheese in Wisconsin are sobering. Although Nasonville is the largest cheesemaker in Wood County, in the heart of America's dairyland, he says it can't compete with West Coast dairies, where multinational conglomerates have built massive cheese plants. "If you are making the same kind of cheese they make, you're roadkill," he said. "Those guys have efficiency that just spooks you." Heiman's main factory is a beige, U-shaped building on Wisconsin's highway 10. Large storage silos dot the property. Outside, in addition to the cars whirring by, construction vehicles beep around, realigning a nearby road and expanding the factory, which was built in 1885 and has been in some form of operation since. The factory makes dozens of cheeses, some to sell under its own brand and some on contract for other companies. The main plant produces huge quantities of feta (the company makes 15% of all feta produced in the United States), cheddar, colby and a few other cheeses, while a much smaller plant 30 miles north makes tiny batches of specialty cheeses such as ghost pepper Jack. Tankerloads of milk from Norm-E-Lane and 200 other farms in the area are pasteurized and then sent into two-story cylindrical cooker vats, where cultures, rennet and other ingredients are added. Once the cheese coagulates, it is pumped to a nearby finishing table that holds about 4,500 pounds of curds. That cheese is salted, finished, compressed, packaged and refrigerated. But since it takes 10 pounds of milk to make 1 pound of cheese, a large part of the process is dealing with the 40,000 or so pounds of liquid that remains. It is sent into a dizzying array of small stainless steel pipes on the steamy whey side of the plant. After separating out the remaining cream and lactose, the remaining whey, which is naturally around 12% protein, is filtered down until it reaches around 65% protein, still in a liquid form. Every 37 minutes a new tankerload completes this entire process, from milk to cheese and whey to a more concentrated protein. At the end of the day, Nasonville Dairy has about 100,000 pounds of high-protein liquid whey. The Protein Powder Boom If Nasonville Dairy built a new factory today, it would include spray dryers, like its West Coast competitors, which turn the whey into a powder and increase its protein percentage. But spending millions of dollars on spray-drying equipment doesn't make economic sense for Wisconsin's small cheesemakers, so nutrition companies, such as Actus Nutrition, have built facilities to transform the region's liquid whey into high-protein powder. In January 2003, plants produced about 8 million pounds of high-protein whey powder, according to data from the Department of Agriculture. That number grew steadily to between 35 million and 40 million pounds per month by 2018, before leveling off. But things really took off in 2023 as a handful of anti-obesity drugs began inching onto the market. In May, 48 million pounds of high-protein whey powder were produced. The boom time will eventually end. A glut of new cheese and whey plants are being built, and like fluid milk and cheddar cheese before it, high-protein whey will become a commodity. Norm-E-Lane and Nasonville Dairy are already looking over the horizon. Emmett Meissner has begun raising Angus steers, taking advantage of historically high beef prices and customers' interest in knowing more about where their beef comes from. Heiman is pushing his specialty cheeses, like the ghost pepper Jack, that the bigger, more streamlined factories cannot make. "The curse of any commodity business," Bozic said, "is that you cannot have extraordinary profits forever." This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Copyright 2025
Otago Daily Times
14-07-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Rotterdam immensely rewarding
Regardless of whether it is winter or spring, exploration of the Netherlands has consistently proven to be immensely rewarding, Sandip Hor writes. During my maiden visit to the Netherlands, almost two decades ago, like most first-timers I stayed in the capital city of Amsterdam, where all the alluring Dutch key characteristics come to reality. This encompasses the cluster of vibrantly coloured gabbled houses that overlook a network of winding canals and numerous bridges, a greater number of bicycles on the roads than cars, and the odd windmills that stand as silent witnesses to history, along with coffee shops that offer something stronger than caffeine and delicatessens selling the best Edam and Gouda cheese. However, when I returned to the Netherlands recently, I chose to stay in Rotterdam, the nation's second-largest city which has been rebuilt with a 21st century outlook after being harshly destroyed by the Germans during WW2. A different look and feel than the capital greeted me the moment I stepped in there. While there are some canals and ornamented bridges spanning across them and more bicycles on road than cars, the urban scenery when compared to Amsterdam appeared much newer and modern with architecturally bold buildings dominating the landscape. To get my bearings right about the city layout, the first thing I did was to ascend to the top of the 1960-built 185m-high Euromast tower from where an uninterrupted panorama of the entire city was available. Spanning across Nieuwe Mass River, the 800m-long Erasmusbrug Bridge, which since 1996 links the city's north to the south, hit my eyes first by virtue of its size and the 'swan'- like shape. Rolling my eyes in other directions I spotted the colossal port area dominated by the presence of large container vessels and on another frame a series of architecturally innovative tall buildings reflecting a silhouette of an ultra-modern metropolis. Back on the streets, I found a high-energy and avant-garde sentiment oozing from the cafes, bars and designer brand shops and echoing in many buildings and surrounding infrastructure flanking the busy thoroughfares. "Rotterdam is an incubator for new architectural concepts", said a local businesswoman whom I met while dining at De Matroos en Het Meisje Restaurant that serves modern cuisine in a typical Dutch ambience. The essence of her statement became clearer when I later visited Markthal or the Market Hall and Kubuswoningen or the Cube Houses. Located in the heart of the city, both buildings stand as a beacon for architectural experimentation. Though I have earlier visited several indoor market halls in various parts of the world, I had never come across anything like Markthal where luxury residential accommodation combines with a market with several stalls thriving inside an arch-shaped building. Browsing there through various kinds of fresh products, delicacies and eateries with all kinds of world dishes was a discovery route for me. Almost next to Markthal are the houses that looks like cubes. Those distinctive, tilted three-dimensional structures resting on hexagonal pylons explained to me why Rotterdam is becoming popular among savvy travellers as a destination to explore architectural innovation. Newer age thoughts are also echoed in the design of the city's numerous museum buildings. While the Kunsthal, which provides a generous space for art exhibitions, resembles a modern version of a traditional Dutch dyke house, the round shaped Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, which is the world's first art storage facility, has its façade covered by mirrored glass, reflecting its surroundings, from passers-by and clouded skies to the dynamic skyline of Rotterdam. As a fan of Dutch Master Rembrandt, I was fortunate to discover there one of his rare artworks concealed among the racks in the storeroom. People visit Netherlands to see the windmills and a big benefit of staying in Rotterdam is its closeness to Kinderdijk, the paramount site in the country to dive into the world of windmills. Easily reachable in less than an hour by the waterbus from Rotterdam Harbour, this Unesco World Heritage site is home to 19, 18th century-built, windmills, all set in a rural environment. A trip there for me was an opportunity to stray off the beaten path and spend time with historic windmills in a tranquil and green environment. One of the windmills was functional so it was perhaps a lifetime opportunity to see and understand how these giant machines create energy and was used for water-management in Netherlands. My earlier visit to Netherlands was in winter just prior to Christmas, so I explored the Christmas markets, admired the lights and decorations, and revelled the festive mood but didn't see any real tulips which are a symbol of the nation alongside their wooden shoes or clogs, cheese and windmills. So I timed this visit in springtime to match with the tulip blooming season and I was rewarded with an amazing floral experience. During the season, tulips can be seen almost everywhere in Netherlands, however the Bollenstreek region is the most popular area to see the flower exotica in vast fields and gardens as depicted in tourism brochures and videos. Conveniently situated near Rotterdam, this region is home to the Keukenhof Garden, which is considered one of the world's most celebrated and largest spring gardens. This 79-acre estate is open for only six to eight weeks each spring, typically from late March to mid-May, and it annually attracts 1.4 million visitors from across the globe to experience a breathtaking display of nearly 7 million bulb flowers, predominantly tulips of various types and colours. The garden is also in proximity to several tulip fields, where the vibrant tapestry of blossoms lives up to its promise of captivating the eye. My visit to this garden was truly unforgettable, as the remarkable assortment of bulb flowers filled the air with a distinctive fragrance and showcased a stunning array of colours that may be unparalleled anywhere else in the world. Regardless of whether it is winter or spring, exploration of the Netherlands has consistently proven to be immensely rewarding for me. Travel notebook Getting There: Fly Air New Zealand ( to Amsterdam Stay: The Usual Hotel ( which reflect the city's modern approach. Eat — De Matroos en Het Meisje ( for a culinary delight in a Dutch ambience More Info —
Chicago Tribune
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Restaurant review: Mahari, a neighborhood home with the cuisine of the African diaspora in Hyde Park
Mahari brings not just the vibrant cuisines of the African diaspora to Chicago, but chefs tracing their cultures and blazing their own paths. Executive chef Rahim Muhammad owns the restaurant in Hyde Park, the neighborhood where he was born, with his mother, Shawn Muhammad. Mama Shawn, as everyone calls her, is a chef as well who does all their desserts, he said. The restaurant's name held meaning in their family long before they opened in January. It can be translated as 'gift' in the Swahili language, Rahim Muhammad said, and it's also his oldest daughter's middle name. 'We wanted to find one word that encompasses the beauty behind it,' he said. 'And it was Mahari.' The restaurant has become an escape from the everyday, where 'people feel like they're on a retreat somewhere,' Muhammad said. A woven grass ceiling over the main dining room with warm-hued tiled tables enhances that feeling. 'It's a very homey place,' said the chef, who was raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 'Because a lot of us have a strong representation in Southern hospitality.' It feels very exotic, he added, and communal too. I felt the power of community during my two visits. I can't tell you how many times I witnessed friends surprised to find one another, from younger groups standing at the back bar at brunch to older diners seated for dinner. A beautiful Caribbean lamb burger, available for brunch and dinner, has earned a reputation even among those who yearn to visit the restaurant. 'In the Caribbean, lamb and goat are more prevalent than beef,' said Muhammad. 'We use lamb, but there's layers to it.' They start with a toasted brioche bun baked at La Boulangerie across the courtyard, he said, spread with a hidden layer of mango chutney. A spiced lamb patty, cooked to your preferred doneness, is then topped with smoked Gouda cheese, grilled pineapple and spicy pikliz, the pickled and peppered Haitian condiment. 'One of our chefs, she's from Haiti,' he said. 'So she makes a Haitian pikliz that has lots of complex flavors, sweet and sour and spicy.' That pikliz may be my favorite component, adding a distinctive kick and crunch. But it's not just one chef dedicated to making it. 'Everyone can make it in the kitchen,' said Muhammad. A side of golden yuca fries is done perfectly in the style of pommes Pont Neuf, the thick-cut frites arranged in a crosshatch stack. I haven't seen the old-school French fries since culinary school in Paris, which makes sense since Muhammad graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in Chicago, before beginning his career under chef Art Smith at Table Fifty-Two. A spectacular prawn and polenta, offered at dinner only, is his interpretation of shrimp and grits. Giant river prawns come piled high on an exquisite pan-seared crisp yet creamy polenta cake, set against a canvas of aromatic Jamaican yellow curry, garnished with caramelized cipollini onion petals. 'The polenta cake, I learned that in Louisiana,' said Muhammad. 'It's just a way that my aunt made it.' That was his mother's sister who taught him how to make those glorious fried grits, the ingenious American Southern cousin to fried rice. Pineapple wings rival the lamb burger as their bestseller, said the chef, and both dishes are halal. Crackly charred chicken skin gives way to flesh that's tender and deeply seasoned to the bone. 'You can get wings everywhere in Chicago,' said the chef. 'But I wanted these to stand out, so we have a four-step process.' They start with a pineapple brine marination, a Creole Cajun seasoning, then roast and finally grill. And it's the final grilling, and a pan sauce made by deglazing with pineapple juice, that makes all the difference. Stunning salmon calas, batter-dipped and deep-fried fritters, are formed with coveted heirloom Carolina Gold rice. 'Those were inspired by New Orleans,' said Muhammad. 'And that's true to my roots.' But the chef reimagined historic calas, created in this country by enslaved people. 'In the 1800s, women were making a living by selling calas, sweet rice fritters served with a café au lait,' he said. 'But we turned it into something savory, because people love a good salmon croquette.' His batter dip and deep fry create something more substantial, with a final flourish of roasted salmon skin and a lovely green salad dressed in mandarin segments and vinaigrette. A French toast flambé transforms pillowy slices of brioche bread into nearly a custard, while maintaining its character through a tableside rum-fueled flame, with caramelized plantains and hot honey too. 'We have something we call Habesha honey that's made with berbere spice, which we get from Demera Ethiopian restaurant, one of our friends,' said Muhammad. 'It's straight from their homeland. Their farmland.' An intoxicating ruby red nonalcoholic sobolo drink also infuses spice with intention. Beverage director Lisa Brown was previously at The Promontory. She steeps floral red sorrel leaves with pungent Grains of Paradise, star anise, whole cloves, cinnamon, ginger, orange and clover honey. The resulting delicious cold drink is available with and without alcohol. Her Afrodisiac Island cocktail sips smooth yet strong with Ten To One rum, the Black-owned brand co-owned by Grammy Award-winning R&B star Ciara. Brown mixes the rum with pomegranate, lime and smoked pineapple juices plus fig honey, finishing with Cavi-art vegan caviar for delightful tiny boba-like pops. A cazuela de mariscos, however, while abundant with sea scallops and PEI mussels, seemed to substitute prawns for crawfish, which were once served in the shell when the restaurant opened. The chef said they were in the delicate pineapple coconut broth, but I sadly couldn't detect the crustaceans. The okra étouffée, a wonderful substitution of traditional crawfish with the polarizing pods, had nice flavors, but the basmati rice in the smothered dish was overcooked and broken. The desserts, including a plantain bread pudding and watermelon cheesecake, were so endearingly homestyle and as soft as an embrace, but not as refined as the rest of the bold menu. If I might say something as a critic that a son might find hard to say to his mother, those desserts can be taken to the next level, as were the fried grits. The sambusas are an uplifting example. Colorful, hot and crispy, the savory triangular pastries are filled with spicy beef, pulled chicken or fine lentils. As someone who grew up making egg rolls my whole life, I appreciated the many careful folds. 'Those are special,' Muhammad said. 'They're handmade by a good friend of mine.' Dalya Aderob's family is from Eritrea and Ethiopia, added Muhammad, and they wanted to highlight her family recipe. A brilliant Haitian epis dipping sauce made with tons of peppers, onions, scallions, a lot of spices and herbs, is a heck of a process to create, said the chef, but the flavor stands out. What also stands out are the many women leading the restaurant. Nia Nunn, the sous chef, and Christina Mighty, the general manager, keep everything in alignment, said Muhammad. Mahari has chefs from West Africa, including a line cook from Mauritania, from across the Caribbean and from the American South. But now, they're all from the neighborhood. 'This is our town,' said Muhammad. 'We just love being here.' And they love celebrating, evident with birthday drums and a communal toast by the excellent staff and diners alike. Their drummer, Kavonn Smith, who's from the Bahamas, plays a Bahamian carnival-style drum called a tum tum, said Muhammad. 'We have a community engagement director,' said Muhammad. 'His name is actually Magic Johnson, and he typically heralds every time we have a special occasion.' When you go, the collective energy of those celebrations will linger like vibrations of fiery spice and resilient joy. Mahari 1504 E. 55th St. (located in the Hyde Park Shopping Center Courtyard) 312-907-5274 Open: Dinner from 5 p.m.; Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday until 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday until 10 p.m.; brunch weekends from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m; closed Tuesday Prices: $24 (Caribbean lamb burger), $18 (salmon calas), $17 (Kutkoota sambusa trio), $44 (prawn and polenta), $13 (sobolo nonalcoholic drink) Sound: OK (75 to 79 dB) to loud (95 to 97 dB) during birthday drum procession Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible with restrooms on same level Tribune rating: Excellent, 3 of 4 stars Ratings key: Four stars, outstanding; three stars, excellent; two stars, very good; one star, good; no stars, unsatisfactory. Meals are paid for by the Tribune.
Perth Now
09-07-2025
- Business
- Perth Now
WA town's iconic farm shop dazzles to bring home the cheddar
Brunswick's local farm shop has successfully brought home the cheddar, earning multiple medals at the Perth Royal Dairy Awards alongside another Harvey icon. Melville Park's Barbara Connell and David Doepel managed to dazzle the judges at the prestigious event last month, taking home gold for their Caerphilly cheese, three silvers for their Buff Mozzarella, Gouda and Halloumi and bronze for their yogurt. It was the first time the husband and wife have entered any competitions, though the pair have been making cheese for several years after starting with a home kitchen kit during COVID and moving up to opening their cheese factory 18 months ago. Still developing their skills, Ms Connell said it was gratifying — and a bit surprising — to earn so many awards at the event. Melville Park's David Doepel and Barbara Connell. Credit: Craig Duncan 'On one hand, it's really surreal, but on the other hand, we've worked really hard to learn the craft and get better at it,' she said. 'It's a lovely kind of reinforcement of a really crazy notion.' Ms Connell said when she first told people their plans to make cheese at the farm they'd likely think she was crazy, 'When we started saying to people, 'we're gonna make cheese here', people said 'OK, take the sharp scissors away from the girl',' she said. 'So it's really kind of nice to be recognised, and to feel like we set out to do something, and we've accomplished it.' Melville Park's award winning cheese. Credit: Craig Duncan Mr Doepel — a former biologist — said cheese making was the perfect mix of biology and art which celebrates the history of the region bringing something unique to the world. 'You could count on two hands the number of artisanal cheese makers in Western Australia, so it's not like you're trying to find room for your gin on the shelf with 50 other companies — it's unique, it sells itself, and people value it,' he said. 'And we get incredible satisfaction out of making something, creating something, and then have people respond to it.' Mr Doepel said he was 'gobsmacked' and 'encouraged' by their cheese winning so many awards. 'It's the first time we've entered, and I was nervous as, when we went up to the awards, because you go and you think, 'OK, I'm going to be there with all our peers, what happens if they don't call your name out and then you're embarrassed in front of your peers,' he said. 'But exposing yourself to formal criticism like that is also how you learn, and we're really proud.' South West icon Harvey Fresh also had major success in this year's competition, earning champion unflavoured milk and the most successful WA dairy exhibitor in the competition.
Business Insider
08-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Starbucks Phases Out Canola Oil from U.S. Menu for Health Appeal
Coffee giant Starbucks (SBUX) is planning to remove canola oil from items in its U.S. menu to enhance its healthy appeal, according to Bloomberg. For instance, the company is aiming to make its popular dishes, such as egg white and roasted red pepper bites, without canola oil. Starbucks is also considering adding a new item, egg bites made with avocado oil, to its menu. Don't Miss TipRanks' Half-Year Sale Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. Make smarter investment decisions with TipRanks' Smart Investor Picks, delivered to your inbox every week. These steps come amid the coffee house's troubles with declining sales as customers become more health-conscious. CEO Brian Niccol has pledged to revamp the brand by testing and rolling out healthier products. Starbucks has not given a specific timeline for implementing these changes. Starbucks Steps Up Rebranding Initiatives In June, Niccol met with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to discuss the potential for aligning Starbucks' menu with the Trump administration's health priorities. The HHS has specifically opposed the increasing use of seed oils in foods, including canola and soybean oil. However, there is no proven theory that prolonged consumption of these oils leads to inflammation or increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. Notably, many items on Starbucks' U.S. menu contain canola oil, such as bacon, potato bakes, and the Gouda and egg sandwich. The company has also made other health-related menu changes at its outlets, such as removing sugar from its matcha powder, a move that has, in fact, boosted sales. Similarly, the chain stopped charging extra for non-dairy milk and is testing unsweetened protein powder that can be added to any cold foam flavor. Starbucks earns roughly 74% of its revenue from the U.S. market, making it the company's largest contributor. Additionally, 19% of its revenue comes from Food sales. Therefore, it is important for the coffee chain to keep modifying and aligning its menu with American consumers' shifting food preferences. Is SBUX a Good Stock to Buy? Analysts remain divided on Starbucks' long-term stock trajectory. On TipRanks, SBUX stock has a Moderate Buy consensus rating based on 13 Buys and 11 Hold ratings. Also, the average Starbucks price target of $95.52 implies 2% upside potential from current levels. Year-to-date, SBUX stock has gained 3.9%.
