Starbucks touts launch of However-You-Want-It Frappuccino

It's been discussed a lot here, but today is the official launch. Here is Starbucks' press release and the Seattle Times' story.

Comments

[CD]

Is it just me or is the image of the dirty blender buttons on the however-you-want-it frappuccino video on Starbucks.com kinda gross?

I realize that we're talking about the food service industry here, but given the money that goes into image production, it was a little surprising to see that close up shot.

[CABarista]

Well, considering how "epic" their bold videos were...ok, just watched it and yes, kind of gross...

[Darth Discontinued.]

As I watched the TV before I started writing something, a Sbux commercial came on. It was no so long ago that Sbux did not have to advertise because a quality product and word of mouth spoke for itself.

This money spent on advertising instead of on partners is horrifying. A commercial gets you an impulse buy. Increasing pay so you keep trained baristas longer and increasing labor so you can truly offer legendary customer service gets you a customer for life.

[Rachael Rigby]

I'm a little underwhmelmed by the "new" frappuccinos. First I tried a Decaf Caramel Frappuccino Light, and was dissapointed that it was almost all liquidy and weak, hardly and coffee flavor at all like the old frappuccino's had. I figured maybe it was just because I ordered decaf, so next time I tried a Regular Caramel Frappuccino, and asked for more of a coffee flavor - I was charged an extra 50 cents. I'm perplexed as to why I'm being charged more to acheive the standard frappucinno taste that Starbucks used to serve. Neither of the new frappucinno's I've tried have been icy or slushy either, just thick, cold, and watery. How could I order differently to get a consistent taste and texture?

[twitter.com/jtwilkins]

Does anyone know if the new fraps, when made with soy milk, are all vegan?
Thanks

[justthefacts]

if I remember correctly, as long as you don't get whipped cream, caramel sauce and mocha sauce you are good to go.

[Free Refill]

I am confused. I believe the promo book said that the light frappuccinos no longer come with toppings.(no whip, no drizzle, no nothing). Then I went to frappuccino.com (the new frap website) and they have pictures of all the light fraps with drizzle on them. Did I misread the promo book, or are we advertising differently than we are teaching? What is your store doing...to drizzle or not to drizzle?

[Daemian]

Starbucks guy here. New frapps are the worst thing in the world. I work in a store in a shopping center so we get nothing but frapps day-in and day-out. We have two blenders and we get nothing but impatient and angry customers wondering why their drinks are taking so long.

These people drink cappuccinos from a paper cup. They don't know what they want, so don't give them the ability to choose.

Sorry, Schultz, but the reason Starbucks is losing money on frappuccinos is NOT because they can't customize them like their other drinks, as you've stated: it's because people can't taste the difference between your fast food product and McDonalds's cheaper alternatives.

[snowwhite]

@twitter.com/jtwilkins:
pretty sure the regular and the creme base are OK but we got an action notice saying that the light base uses an milk protein (i think) during processing...i don't believe it's in the ingredient list...just used during processing. doesnt make sense to me...

[Jimbo]

Snow white, it is not in the ingredient list, but is listed under the ingredients with an allergy warning.

[harmaa]

I am so checked out of this company... Remember how that partner survey mentioned that this was the year that Starbucks would attempt to recapture the hearts of its baristas? It's lovely to see how quickly they have dropped the ball on that.

Giving us $500 for a store party for selling 200% to goal (or whatever) is NOT what we need. We need a sustainable wage, solid hours, better training, information that doesn't change week to week... I could keep going, but I am so done.

[bilcorgan]

We do A LOT of frappuccino at my location. Our goal is over 550 per day. With that said, I do like the new frappuccinos. When made correctly and with the correct set-up, it is easier/faster and consistency is better. We have received some complaints about the light version having a bitter aftertaste which we think is do to the Estevia. Also, we have way more time to clean and get tasks done now that we don't have to make 12 cubes of frappuccino base every morning and then make another 12 in the afternoon. Instead we now have an extra base primed for each flavor and 2 cubes of frappuccino roast as back-up...

...Frappuccino is too long to type and say but I couldn't bring myself to use the dreaded "frap" as an abbreviation.

[CD]

Why is there so much dislike of the word "frap?" If that's what customers call it, Starbucks should copyright it and run with it.

It's really no different than what happened with Coca-Cola. Customers started calling it "Coke," the company hated it, but finally embraced it.

"Frappuccino," "Frap," whatever it is, own it before someone else does.

[Coffee Soldier]

I'm at home and going to consult my recipe cards as soon as I walk in tomorrow but I was just checking out the frappuccino.com ad and link on starbucks.com and are we now putting drizzle on the Mocha Frappuccino? It shows it on the picture...just wondering if anyone knows off hand so I don't have to wait until tomorrow to check it out!

[justthefacts]

there is no drizzle according to the cards.

[Nick]

I can't wait for the happy hour. not.

[justjoe]

ok, so, am i the only one who (for whatever reason) is reminded of 'casper the friendly ghost' based on the new aprons???

[ex-PhillySM]

I remember when we had to call out "fraps" with their full correct name: Caramel Frappuccino Blended Coffee-this was years ago when Starbucks cared about product quality. I will not be trying the new "frap".

[Coffee Soldier]

ex-PhillySM...that is what we are required to call them now as well...during the training of the new standards and recipes the mandating of calling the beverages like that was stated.

[Erik]

Videos of people dressed as japanese anime characters at Starbucks:

http://bit.ly/dBNhE2

Dozens of photos of different groups around the country:

facebook.com/cosplaystarbucks

Why no article in the gossip blog...?

[justthefacts]

@exphilly that is still the proper procedure

[Marcus]

I am annoyed with Starbucks again. As you all might remember I spent months getting them to fix their bad nutrition data for the SHC. I'll just post the comment I sent them on their web-site tonight (I was in a bad mood):

Previously, over the course of many months, I had to repeatedly contact Starbucks to get it to fix its wildly inaccurate nutritional data on the Signature Hot Chocolate drinks. The people I spoke with were not empowered to make changes, they told me the information was correct when it was not, and they were not friendly. Only after months of consistently contacting them and finally threatening to go to the FDA, Starbucks fixed the nutritional data.

I now see for the new Frappuccino.com web-site Starbucks is at it again. Your information is wildly inaccurate and downright dangerous to people who have diabetes.

For example, your Café Vanilla Frappuccino® Blended Beverage lists that it has 67 mg of sugar. The FDA would never allow a company to measure that minute an amount of sugar because it's simply not technically feasible to even measure such a small quantity of sugar for a company like Starbucks! It's absurd! To say that a drink that is full of a sugary base, sugary syrups and contains milk has less than 1 g of sugar is just unbelievable. And that same product claims to have 50 g of cholesterol. You would need to eat over 270 eggs in one sitting to consume the amount of cholesterol Starbucks is claiming is in the Frappuccino.

You can say, well Starbucks, wrote milligrams here and grams here incorrectly. But what is so baffling is that Starbucks made multiple errors like this with the Signature Hot Chocolate drinks, similarly claiming astronomically high amounts of trans fats (more than a person should consume in a year) while claiming the drink also had about a week's worth of fiber.

You could also say that it's plainly obvious to anyone that a Frappuccino has more than 1 g of sugar. Maybe. But your light drinks list they have 29 mg of sugar in one instance. Maybe a diabetic would think that drink has less than 1 g of sugar since it's listed as light. Who knows how much sugar it has! I've learned that Starbucks nutritional data cannot be trusted.

I am not going through a 4 month process again, where I was treated rudely and not once thanked, not once offered a free drink (not that I was fishing for one) to have you all fix this.

I will be contacting the FDA tomorrow.

Also, even though it's not required by law, it would be nice if your baristas had a list of ingredients in the Frappuccinos. The last three times I have asked to see the list, they have been unable to find it.

A large company should do better than this.

[umno]

um yuou might be mad, but those facts are correct. as in what is posted on their site. you can go to the FDA, but they won't do squat b/c the data is correct. And the only reason anything was changed w/ the signature hot chocolate was because it's gone. The FDA didn't make them change anything. you are utterly insane and simply do not understand mg and grams very well.

[Catherine]

Well, usually I do not order fraps, but I might go during happy hour to try them out. I do think the new frappes at McDonald's are good.

[Christinschu]

Marcus what are you talking about? The starbucks website lists the Caffe Vanilla Frappuccino as 64g of sugar. You have your facts wrong.

[Christinschu]

you also have incorrectly stated what they claim the Cholesterol to be, it is actually listed as 10mg not 50g. Where did you get your #s from?

Anyway, launch day was very successful at my store, we were 170% to goal when I left for the day. Only 1 complaint. People loved ordering soy and decaf.

[Marcus]

@umno, No the facts with the SHC were wildly off. I don't remember the numbers, but they claimed there was something like 39 g trans fat in a SHC drink when there was in fact none. I know the difference between g and mg; it is Starbucks that doesn't. You can go back through threads from a long time ago if you care to where I documented my experience getting Starbucks to correct the information. The amount of milk in a Frappuccino alone would have more sugar than what they list. Does anyone have any common sense? It was the same thing with the SHC. I tried telling explaining to them that they were listing more trans fat in the product than there was total fat listed and they said that was still correct.

I am not utterly insane. I am PO'd. And you are just wrong, and pretty much everything you said about me you can correct by saying it about yourself.

@Christinschu, As I stated, I got my information from frappuccino.com. I have not looked at any other web-site. You can see for yourself: http://www.frappuccino.com/products/blended-frappuccino

Just click on nutritional information.

[umno]

there were all kinds of trans fats in the signature hot chocolate.

[umno]

by the way, how much milk do you think goes in these suckers? b/c even a WHOLE CUP of milk only has 13 grams of sugar, and there's nowhere near a cup of milk. Again, you might be pissed off, but that does not make you right.

[Christinschu]

That link you provided does not open anything for me. If you go to Starbucks.com and click the nutritional information tab, you will find nutritional information that does not match what you are posting.

[Marcus]

@ umno: if you acknowledge that a cup of milk has 13 g of sugar, do you honestly believe that every Frappuccino Starbucks makes has less than 1 g of sugar? And I know for a fact there were no trans fats in the SHC--do you have proof there was?

@ Christinchu, the link works for me. If it doesn't, go to starbucks.com, click on any of the many links that take you to frappuccino.com (or again just type that URL in, as it does work), and then click on products, choose one of the drinks, click on the nutrition information, and you will see for sugar they list it all in mg, not g!

[miguel]

Unbelieavable, marcus your post are so pathetic dude seriously you need to get a life, your worst than those online predators.

[Melody]

@Marcus - perhaps the information with the sugar in the Vanilla Frappuccino is just a typo. Someone perhaps typed "mg" when he or she meant "g". Starbucks is known for typos!

You should not be attacked at this site for wanting factually accurate information, and being passionate about getting it. The devil in the detail.

[Marcus]

@ Melody...thank you for a message of sanity : )

You are right--it is likely a typo--but a worse one when you look at the light drinks because as I said some people might find it conceivable that the info is correct.

I only got so worked up because I was already in a bad mood and when I looked at the nutrition information (out of real self interest in getting the facts for myself) it just brought back memories of months spent trying to get them to fix the SHC info and finding out that trying to get through to anyone at Starbucks is like trying to talk to the Wizard of Oz.

And I assumed some people here might take issue with me being so worked up, but I didn't imagine that I would get the same response here that I did from Starbucks. I still can't get over people really thinking there is less than 1 g of sugar in a Frap and arguing with me over it. It just takes a little common sense. How can 8 oz of milk have 13 g of sugar but a 16 oz Frap have less than 1 g?

[SBUX Customer]

I'm not a frappucino drinker but I'm going to try some.
I've read "pumps of coffee" on the Starbucks frappucino site. Is that real coffee that you guys put into the frappucinos?

[realcoffee]

it is real coffee. It's espresso and italian roast

[dcstateofmind]

Uh - it's "real" inasmuch as it is a form of VIA. ;-P

[umno]

@Marcus
Melody is right, and I do apologize. I can't imagine how frustrated you must be right now. Starbucks IS really, really bad at types and correct info on their site. Heck, they still have it posted that the tea lattes have ZERO mg caffeine.

[realcoffee]

real coffee=made with beans. You may not like the taste, but that does not make them any less real. It's coffee. It's not make from chemicals or created from other elements to create a coffee "taste". Beans that have been turned into micro brew are still beans.

[umno]

*typos

[mornbecomes]

@coffee soldier--- um... you have recipe cards for the new frappuccinos? SHARE! I have a few recipe questions:
- _FL- still drizzle?
- recipe for an Espresso Frappuccino- order and amount of shots/cup size
- recipe for Strawberries and Creme Frappuccino
- do the GTF and STCF still get Classic?

....thanks for the help!

[Darth Discontinued.]

Folders instant coffee by your definition is real coffee too. It comes from real beans. It is chemically dehydrated. You know, similar chemicals like the ones that go in our new frappuccino base.

[camachiatto]

@Daemien "They don't know what they want, so don't give them the ability to choose." ...It sounds mean, but it is so so SO correct. They didn't know what they wanted BEFORE the new Frappuccino. This initiative is only going to create more confusion and more impatience. And this launching on top of a new POS system makes fast service impossible.

[camachiatto]

...ALSO if they were going to give us a new line of recipes the least they could have done was also give us more labor and 2 or 3 more blenders. What has happened to this company??

[Cup of Cry Me a River]

For a long time i have not been to this site. I stopped visiting Starbucks Gossip because it alone was making me hate starbucks. The overall negativity of the Starbucks Barista's is appalling and disgusting! Everytime I go into a Starbucks I feel like deep down they despise me for walking in and having the nerve to order something. You all give yourselfs a bad name and most of you come across like whiny babies. I have two friends who work at independant coffee houses and they dont whine and moan for the benfits they should NEVER expect working in Foodservice making drinks. Did you have to get an MBA in button pushing?
You are all pathetic.

[camachiatto]

Um you can go somewhere else then kthxbye
:-)

[The Deadly Mantis]

I'm not a barista, I'm just a consumer. But since when do people working in food service not DESERVE benefits?

Maybe they sense the contempt you have for them. They're just serving you drinks, after all. You must be so much better than them.

[Marcus]

This is just a question, I'm not in a bad mood right now ;)

When I look at the description for the new Coffee Frappuccino (which is the only flavor I've gotten), it lists this as the description:

"Coffee combined with our brewed Starbucks® Coffee and milk, blended with ice."
(taken from frappuccino.com)

What does it mean that they combine coffee with coffee? Does it have real brewed coffee plus the Frappuccino Roast coffee?

[noljustno]

@darth. um yea. NO. The process which is involved is very different. which is something I'm assuming you are very familiar with. Microbrew and foldgers crap are nowhere near the same. Just b/c you hate the frappuccinos does not make the frappuccino base gross.

[noljustno]

@marcus, there is coffee in the , and then there is coffee flavor in the base :)