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 Starbucks’s (SBUX) test last year of made-to-order Fizzio sodas in Atlanta, Austin, and Japan is being expanded to the southern half of the U.S and Hawaii. Root beer, ginger ale, and lemon ale sodas will be available starting this week in the Los Angeles, San Diego, Stockton, and Modesto areas of California, and in Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Hawaii. 
 
 Spokeswoman Linda Mills said the company hopes to expand the sodas nationally in the coming year. The Fizzio rollout this summer extends to stores in Singapore, South Korea, and China. The chain will add location-specific flavors over time, and customers can add fizz to other beverages for 50¢. 
 
 The drinks are expected to drive only modest sales growth. Starbucks’s broader goal is to use the sodas and other cold beverages to amp up lunch. The company has focused on wooing customers beyond the morning rush. This summer it’s introducing new Teavana iced teas and two sandwiches (turkey pesto and grilled cheese). 
 
 Interestingly, in a press release, Starbucks promoted the benefits of the Fizzio machine, which can add carbonation to finished beverages and adjust the amount of fizz. SodaStream (SODA), by comparison, cannot carbonate anything other than water; flavorings have to be added post-fizz. Starbucks isn’t planning an at-home machine now, Mills said. Yet as Keurig Green Mountain (GMCR) and Bevyz team up with Coca-Cola (KO) and Pepsi (PEP), respectively, to take on SodaStream with their own at-home soda machines, the idea that Starbucks might eventually sell a Fizzio soda maker doesn’t seem far-fetched. ||||| A woman holds a coffee drink outside a Starbucks in downtown Chicago. (Photo: Gene J. Puskar, AP) 
 
 Folks who love to complain about the price of coffee at Starbucks just got some coal for the fire: prices are going up. 
 
 The coffee giant on Friday announced that it's raising prices starting Tuesday on some -- but not all -- drinks by 5 cents to 20 cents. At the same time, the price of packaged coffee that it sells to grocery stores will increase by $1, from $8.99 to $9.99 for a 12 ounce bag. 
 
 Executives declined to specifically explain why they're raising prices right now -- even as coffee bean prices have rocketed in recent weeks "There are many factors that contribute to our pricing decisions, including competitive dynamics and our overall cost structure," spokesman Zack Hutson said in an emailed statement. 
 
 But commodity costs may not be the main driver. Historically coffee commodity costs have comprised 10% of Starbucks operating structure, Hutson says. "We have virtually all of our coffee needs covered for fiscal year 2014, and more than 40 percent of our coffee needs covered for fiscal year 2015." 
 
 The free college tuition program that Starbucks announced this week with Arizona State University's online program, he says, "is in no way related" to the price hikes. 
 
 Among the in-store price hikes to expect: 
 
 • 15 to 20 cents: Tall and Venti Latte and Mocha drinks in some markets. 
 
 • 10 to 15 cents: Grande and Venti brewed coffees in most markets. 
 
 • No increase: Grande Latte, Tall Brewed Coffee and Frappuccino beverages, in most stores. 
 
 Also, no food prices are being raised right now, said Hutson. 
 
 The coffee price increases will boost the average ticket at Starbucks by less than 1%, says Hutson. "The vast majority of our customers will not be affected" by the price increase, he says. Fewer than 20% will be affected, he estimates. 
 
 The price hike comes about one year after the last national beverage price increase, which was June, 2013. 
 
 Meanwhile, it's the grocery store where consumers will feel the biggest hit. There, prices on its roast and ground packaged coffee products will jump a hefty 8% on July 21. 
 
 Hutson says Starbucks will be "effectively restoring prices" to their April 2013 levels -- after decreasing prices by 10% last April. 
 
 Not affected by the grocery store price boost: K-Cups, Via and Seattle's Best Coffees. 
 
 Others have raised coffee prices recently, too. Earlier this month, J.M. Smucker's announced that it was raising the price of Folgers bagged coffee by 9%. 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1is9Cjs ||||| Starbucks Fizzio Golden Ginger Ale [Via MerlinFTP Drop] (Photo: Kathryn Barnard Photography) 
 
 Starbucks is about to make a cold — and carbonated — calculation. 
 
 On Tuesday, the designer coffee kingpin will try to become a designer soft drink titan, too, with the launch of three flavors of Fizzio Handcrafted Sodas made by baristas at more than 3,000 locations across the U.S Sunbelt. It's a carefully calculated bid to drum-up afternoon business and evolve yet another beverage specialty. 
 
 If it works, Starbucks will have given folks yet another reason to willingly pay a premium for beverages that are part show and part show-off. 
 
 "We are changing the game in terms of how to get a carbonated drink," says Josh Fine, brand manager for Fizzio."Like what Starbucks did to coffee 40 years ago, we think we can do in the carbonation space." 
 
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 The sodas have Starbucks pricing: about $2.45 for a "tall." (A "tall" coffee goes for about $1.80.) 
 
 The same baristas who put on a show making lattes and espressos now will go through lots of fizzing and popping to make you a root beer, ginger ale or lemon ale. And get this: They are caffeine-free. 
 
 It only takes about 85 seconds for a barista to make a Fizzio drink, so they won't result in long lines, says Fine. And while the machines are noisy, he says they will add — not subtract — to store ambiance. Starbucks won't say when the sodas will be in all stores. 
 
 For Starbucks, it's about getting a toehold in the $400 billion global carbonated beverage market. While carbonated beverage sales have declined in the U.S. for years, Starbucks figures it can lure nutrition-conscious Millennials with sodas that have the fizz but no artificial preservatives or additives, and no high-fructose corn syrup. 
 
 "Adding new drinking occasions is the key to (Starbucks) growth," says Michael Silverstein, senior partner at the Boston Consulting Group. The company also is branching into tea with its purchase and expansion of the Teavana brand. 
 
 What's more, homemade soft drinks are hot. They were named the top beverage trend last year in the National Restaurant Association's annual survey of top chefs. 
 
 About a year ago, Starbucks began testing the sodas in Austin and Atlanta. In those markets, plus Houston, it's also now testing a caffeinated cola with a hint of citrus and honey, says Fine. 
 
 The sodas are made with a machine developed by Starbucks and partner Cornelius. It does not combine carbonated water with syrup as in most commercial machines. Instead, the flavors and spices are combined in a large cheesecloth — like a big tea bag — and steeped in hot water. Buyers can request light, standard or extra carbonation. 
 
 As an alternative to soda, you can get that carbonation in an ice tea or Starbucks Refresher for an extra 50 cents. 
 
 And while you can't order a real root beer float — Starbucks doesn't sell ice cream — some folks in testing have asked for a root beer mixed with a Vanilla Bean Frappuccino. "It's not on the menu," says Fine, "but our customers can be pretty creative." 
 
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– Starting tomorrow, Starbucks across the sunbelt states will offer a new drink that's—get this—carbonated, USA Today reports. Baristas will be making Fizzio Handcrafted Sodas at rather noisy machines (that add ambiance, not annoyance, apparently) in ginger ale, lemon ale, and root beer flavors. They'll be caffeine-free, without additives or preservatives or high-fructose corn syrup, and cost about $2.45 for a "tall." So what's up? "We are changing the game in terms of how to get a carbonated drink," says Fizzio's brand manager. "Like what Starbucks did to coffee 40 years ago, we think we can do in the carbonation space." Starbucks is expecting only so-so growth from Fizzio sales, but hopes to lure health-conscious Millenials and other customers beyond the morning rush into lunchtime, reports BusinessWeek. Why now? Well, homemade softdrinks are popular these days, named the No. 1 beverage trend in a national survey of top chefs last year (although actual carbonated-drink sales have fallen in the US). The move also comes as Starbucks hikes prices on some drinks by up to 20 cents, reports USA Today.