Get ready to take in the sight of Starbucks at Yosemite
Starting this spring, hikers at Yosemite National Park can relax with a Starbucks drink after a long trek.
The California park’s concessionaire, Yosemite Hospitality, is working with Starbucks to sell its products in the Food Court at the Yosemite Valley Lodge, the Fresno Bee reports.
The lodge is located at Yosemite Village in the heart of the park, near popular hiking trails leading to Yosemite Falls.
Yosemite Hospitality, a division of Aramark, told the Bee that the addition of Starbucks is part of Aramark’s renovation project of the food court that will be renamed Basecamp Eatery. The new space is expected to open this spring and will offer sandwiches, salads, soups and specialty coffee drinks.
But the move is creating controversy, even though there won’t be a free-standing Starbucks store in the park.
More than 15,000 people have signed a petition on www.change.org. “The Park will lose its essence, making it hardly distinguishable from a chaotic and bustling commercial city,” the petition says.
