Starbucks finally launched a beta version of its metaverse, Starbucks Odyssey, on December 8 after initially announcing the Web3 experience in September. Although restaurants have been dipping their toes and marketing budgets into the metaverse all year, it seems the party is just getting started now that one of the largest foodservice companies in the world has joined.

But make no mistake: the metaverse space is still the Wild West of Internet 3.0, and probably will be for a long time. At this point, we are still defining and refining exactly what the metaverse is. The first retail and food service brands to join the trend required both a compatible VR headset and the knowledge and ownership of…