OPEN THREAD conversation-starter: Confirm *or* shoot down this dispatch from a tipster

Here's what we're told: "The new breakfast offerings will be similar to breakfast hot pockets as well as new wraps. Also only the bacon, turkey bacon, and sausage sandwiches will survive but just until the new program takes off. || VIVANNO shows promise with new flavors and versions that will be down the road. || More marketing promotions and deals like $2 receipt focusing on brewed coffee. || Also we will have a Thanksgiving blend since we are delaying holiday launch until right before Thanksgiving. Usually holiday launches right in the beginning of November." || Discuss this dispatch or anything else Starbucks-related in the OPEN THREAD.

Comments

[STARBUCKS GOSSIP WEBMASTER]

Just a reminder that the name of the person making the comment appears BELOW the comment.

[LEGENDARY OR BUST]

Yes, those 3 sandwiches are really popular as well as the spinach wrap. I would keep them. Are they going completely when the HOT POCKETS lauch?

Also, I don't drink lattes any more. I only drink the Orange Vivanno and brewed coffee in the morning (generally, the morning pick as the Pike has gotten old for me.)

[LEGENDARY OR BUST]

The $2 dollar deal is annoying from the barista point of view. I don't know if this is converting into increased sales yet. We maybe losing money or just breaking even as this isn't bringing that much more traffic into our store in PM. Maybe only 1 out of 20 coupons materializes. Is that enough for the headache in the morning about holding up the line as we have to tell everyone about this deal? People are also annoyed that they have to use these SAME day and not some day in the future.

[Ellen]

I've switched most of my daily latte consumption to Vivanno as well. It accomplishes what I wanted more ... it's a treat that is more healthful and tides me over more so than a latte did.

In food marketing, one can target individual consumers, or one can target need states. Many baristas on here prefer targeting individual consumers (coffee lovers, such as themselves) but only meeting the need state of wanting to drink coffee. Vivanno is an excellent example of targeting a need state -- the morning need of wanting something that serves as a healthful breakfast on the go -- which can cut across consumers. The problem with consumer targeting for something like SB is that individual consumers have a multitude of different need states, and so volume is inherently limited if all you do is capture one need state ... Just like Baskin-Robbins' volume is limited if all it does is sell ice cream cones, but it gets more need states if it sells ice cream birthday cakes that people serve to a crowd.

[LEGENDARY OR BUST]

Although this deal is a great conversation piece (you can only mention the weather or the new Viivannos so much), many people hate that they hear the same shpiel every morning as they are rushing to work. Most don't see Starbucks as a PM place. A more experience barista though will figure out quickly whom to advertize more (a soccer mom picking up her kids after school, for example). I think maybe we should have more demographic-specific advertizing/coupons. Is this crossing the line, though? What does everyone think?

[LEGENDARY OR BUST]

I think a definite YES to maybe One or Two more new Vivanno flavors -- I have been getting the OMB (I don't care for the chocolate one) as a lunch replacement and I have actually lost maybe 3-4 pounds in the last month without doing anything else different. I don't know -- at least this is what the my scales is telling me :)

[Stuck On Cold Bar Again]

I think it's amazing for a drink that is a huge pain to make, be such a hit with partners, as well as customers. I cringe every time I see a string of vivano cups, the banana tongs caked with banana so much that they don't pick anything up or people insisting on putting espresso in the mango one.

But I drink one every day. It is worth the hassle to produce such a quality product. I enjoy when people ask me whats in it and I can list a few simple ingredients. Can you do the same with a frapachino?

I hope we have many more options in the future, Strawberry maybe?

[Bushrod]

I LOVE my $2 afternoon drink!

[LEGENDARY OR BUST]

It's not as much a pain to make as you think -- for a Caramel or a Java Chip or a Mint Mocha (the last one is going away soon -- thank God) frappuccino you have to put whip AND drizzle -- which takes as many second as assembling a Vivanno on which you don't need whip. So, the time for those and the Vivannos is about the same or less actually.

[RyanPDX]

Ok Its only Friday at 3pm PST but I have to say thank you for keeping this open thread positive! Everyone seems to be gettin on board!

[LoveTheWNBA]

It does not take less time to make a vivanno than a caramel frapp.

[RU Newark Girl]

I actually love the $2 drink deal. I work at a diamond store in a mall and all the girls trade our receipts. If I buy morning coffee, I give one of the afternoon girls the coupon, and when I come in after lunch, the other girls hook me up. Its a great thing that we have going.... anything to save a few dollars.

[espressoblend]

I don't know about the $2 deal... in my regular PM store (moved my SBUX from the AM to the PM), the lines are typically way longer now than they were six weeks ago. I also see lots of iced drinks on the bar, so I'd say the PM $2 promotion is working great... Too bad a lot of those grande drinks are with every extra option ever... seems like SBUX might be losing out on those customers... maybe not, though with the markups.

Either way... the Vivanno is pretty good... had an OMB, and it was okay, but the Chocolate one with a double shot of espresso is pretty tasty.

The sound of caked banana tongs is pretty unappetizing, though.

[Stuck On Cold Bar Again]

Don't worry about the tongs. We rotate and sanitize them every chance we get. It's just a pain when you have to go and find the clean ones.

[An awesome homosexual partner in new england]

At the store i am at we tend to sell more of the florentine and reduced fat turkey bacon sandwiches. The spinach wrap goes well too. And between the two vivannos the orange mango banana vivanno is the bigger seller. It does taste good with matcha or strawberry added. One item I do wish would come back is the Maple Latte. I love maple flavored items... I am a new englander so i guess im biased in that respect.

[jcokey]

I've had 4 or 5 Chocolate Vivanno's with 2 added shots. In watching the production of them lately I've noticed that there is *a lot* of liquid left in the blender after the cup is filled.

Is this normal? How tacky would it be to ask for the remains? I'd only ask as I monitor my calories carefully and with 4+ oz in the blender I'm missing both calories and caffeine.

[Gust]

Heading for the US next week, I've a couple of questions regarding the ongoing promotional deals.

As for the $2 deal, can anyone tell me if you have to head back to the store that you've visited before 2pm or is it rewarded in any store (and what about the licensed ones)?

As for the card rewards, I do understand that you need to register an US purchased card. The faq on the site details that a valid U.S. or Canadian billing address is required for this. What are they going to bill? Is there a way to register without living in the US (or Canada)? It's especially the free wifi that I'm interested in, as AT&T does not offer a one week subscription like T-Mobile did in the past.

[jcokey]

For Gust:

You do not have to go back to the same store you got your treat receipt from.

[Kate]

jcokey: I don't think anyone would mind if you asked for the extra. However, in our Vivanno training, they made a point to say that there will be a good deal more extra liquid than a Frappuccino, and that the nutrition info is based on what fits in the cup, not what's in the blender.

[non fat americano]

I'm really hoping the Vivanno would go away soon. Not stay around and generate more flavors! The new drink has brought nothing but misery in my store. The bananas attract flies and as a result we always end up having flies in our pastry case. The other day I saw something moving inside the strawberry coffee cake and ends up it was a small fly *shrudder* that traumatized me so much im never able to eat that pastry again.

[suger free vanilla non fat with whip; hypocrite]

jcokey: ask for "in a venti"

Based on my experience, what's left in the blender is generally 8oz, but with your double shots, it will be roughly 10oz.

a vivanno cup is 16oz
a venti cup is 24oz
in the blender is 26oz
you get 16oz
a shot of espresso is claimed to be 75mg

so,
(16oz Vivanno Cup)/(26oz Total Fluid)= (61.5% of the drink you are actually getting) x (150mg 2 Shots) = 92mg of caffeine that you are actually getting.

Keep in mind banana's that we use can be unusually big or really small and that'll change the values slightly.

I hope my rambling made sense to you.

[suger free vanilla non fat with extra caramel drizzle and whip; hypocrite]

Does anyone know what the flavors are? So far no one has stated any new Vivanno flavors, I'm really curious!

[Nerfebarista]

jcokey, Your nutritional info is based on what goes in the cup, so you aren't missing out on anything. All vivannos, with or without espresso, have excess in the pitcher. So no worries for your vitamins and stuff, but if you just want the extra slurps, we do 'just say yes'

Mind you, I'm of the belief that if I'm not paying for it (and you aren't) It's not mine to request. Then again, that applies to 90% of the orders we deal with daily.

[Nerfebarista]

non fat americano,

ew. clean, it helps.

suger free vanilla non fat with extra caramel drizzle and whip; hypocrite,

Nothing has been handed down to the store level yet, so as far as we know, they will be going bye bye altogether, unless someone has a solid lead on the topic that is. The tipster in question above could be spot on though, so I'd expect at the very least, real strawberries so we don't completely ruin the nutritional value of the vivanno by adding the puree. I'd also think that adjusting the recipe a bit would be in the works, seeing as how much of it we potentially throw out could be changed by a simple tweak of the recipe. I've already started making these at home and It took 5 minutes and 3 tries to make it spot on 16oz with the whole banana. Oh look, I'm rambling again... Tata

[TeaMisto]

Nerfabarista - I can imagine real strawberries being a huge headache; imagine how much hassle it would be to sort out the good/bad/bruised ones.
However, with all the Naked Juice flavors, i think sbux has a huge opportunity for branching out to different flavors while keeping the nutritional value.
I used to blend the old Protein Odwalla's with a banana for lunch before Vivannos came along.

Also, side note, in our store we sample out the excess Vivanno liquid and have turned many people on to it as their afternoon "treat" that way. i don't mind having extra in the blender.

[TeaMisto]

Also, i haven't heard of how sbux is proposing to cut out the aroma of warmed sandwiches, but i could see the "hotpocket" style sandwich being a good solution. Not sure if that's a valid tip or just a good idea. It could also be more accessible for drivethru customers on the go.

I read the Bacon Avocado wrap is the only warmed breakfast offering that's going away.
That would imply we still have Black Forest Ham as well as Sausage/Bacon/RFTB and Spinach wrap.

[Nerfebarista]

Teamisto,

My store does the same thing with the excess, when we think about it. Kills two birds with one stone. I could see strawberries being a nightmare, but it really would be a logical choice if we are indeed choosing to stick with the platform.

I stopped eating the bfast sammiches after the first 2 months of eating nothing but them. So I wouldn't know about what we offer now =)

[An Awesome Homosexual Partner in Washington]

The breakfast sandwhiches aren't going. The bacon avacado wrap has been discontinued. The other sandwhiches have been reformulated to minimize the impact on the store aroma.

[Koolaid Stained]

Bad idea on the fresh strawberries - the season's nearly up and the cost for quality fruit would be outrageous!

[Cali ASM]

I tried the breakfast sandwiches when they were first introduced at my store last year. I felt like I just ate fast food: greasy and fat.

I've stopped eating them altogether. And I can still smell them despite any changes to the recipe.

[Ellen]

"We maybe losing money or just breaking even as this isn't bringing that much more traffic into our store in PM. Maybe only 1 out of 20 coupons materializes."

How can that not be incremental, if 5% of your morning traffic comes back? Without the promotion, what % of your morning traffic was routinely coming back the very same day? I'd be hard pressed to believe that 5% of a typical store are twice-daily visitors.

[Barista Joe]

Apparently, we're also getting rid of the red color theme, and going with gold.

[iced soy latte]

I've heard that they're redoing the whole breakfast sandwich lineup and only the reduced fat turkey bacon sandwich is staying, and that they're moving away from calling them "breakfast sandwiches"... training for the new "sandwiches" starts mid septemberish and i think it all debuts on sept 28.
Plus vivanno is definitely staying into the fall and so on, as they mention selling bananas to customers to put in their oatmeal when the oatmeal launches sept 2nd. I haven't heard anything about new flavors, but that would be awesome!
Anddd they're pushing back the holiday set up to the day before thanksgiving, soo thanksgiving blend could be very possible.

[Melody]

I'm looking for any SSC partner who can tell me the "Kenny" store - if there is even one.

The other day I found (on you tube) a 2006 Charlie Rose interview of Howard Schultz that I watched and he talked about taking Kenny out to lunch a couple times a year and how much it meant to him. He seemed genuinely to care for Kenny.

But he didn't really say much and it seemed like a fragmented story.

I'm just curious more than anything, but does anyone here know the whole "Kenny" story.

Thanks, Melody

[pdx_barista]

All I know is I go back and get my $2 drink almost every day! I was definitely never a twice a day customer before.

[Barista Joe]

All of this news can be confirmed- my district just had a huge multi-district forum on Wednesday, and they made all these announcements there.

-J

[Starbucks card]

*New question*
I was just curious why some Starbucks come with a preloaded $5 amount on them?

I have seen pics of them where they have an Enjoy and/or $5 printed or stickered on there somewhere.

I have never seen them in person anywhere though. Is it a corp thing, or something the stores have for new openings or something? Are they something for purchase or a promo thing for a certain kind of event?

Can anyone explain the mystery? thank you!

[Gord]

To Starbucks card:

Exactly... you can order a batch of cards for a variety of uses. New stores often get a stack to give away, corporate can get them for events (film festivals or charity events for example) and the general public can call 1-800-STARBUC and order a bunch of them (which is much recommended to showing up at a store and asking for 100, $5 cards). The preloaded value can vary, and a sticker will be on the card to indicate the value ordered.

[BAYAREABUX]

I'm happy to hear about holiday getting pushed back. Everyone I've talked to thinks we start it too early, and for the partners, it seems to last forever... hopefully red cups will be back though.

My store got the first shipment of Pumpkin Spice today. Yummy.

[Pat Nerr]

Melody... I'll float you an e-mail about Kenny.

[lattegal]

Vivanno's should be available in a Venti cup instead of the grande cup. We should use the same recipe but use a grande cup of ice instead of that little scoop. By using the grande cup of ice it makes the drink a little thicker, but not as thick as a Frappuccino but closer. Customers seem to really like it a little thicker. Plus when you do this you don't have the extra waste and the customer feels like they are getting a better deal. Much better if I do say so myself. :)

[NewbieSM]

Starbucks card, those preloaded cards can also be bought at grocery stores, drugstores, etc.

I hope Vivanno stays and evolves!

And Thanksgiving Blend? Interesting...

[Millstone]

Gold?! No red! That is pretty much the most exciting thing I have read in months!! Anyone else heard anything about it? We have the brown sleeves back at work its so depressing....

[Marcus]

The store I go to *just* got breakfast sandwiches this last week, which I think is kind of weird, as they've had a warming oven for quite a while now which was only used for warming pastries. The sandwiches sit next to the pastries, and I guess they just take those ones out to be heated--I say I guess because I also thought maybe the ones in the case are just displays to show you what they look like, after all isn't having egg and spinach and stuff like that sitting out at room temperature bad?

I saw a barista about to toast the sandwiches when I came in the other day and the customer was requesting the sandwich without cheese so the barista was picking it off with tongs and she looked really frustrated and was physically crowded by the other baristas and it reminded me of a flight attendant in an airplane galley getting meals together. There's just not enough room in there to do sandwiches unless you order them as-is.

As for the smell, it was very noticeable. It didn't smell like bacon or anything in particular actually. It was just a sour, nasty smell. It's not as if the store previously smelled like coffee, but it didn't really smell like anything, which was much better than it is now.

[Ellen]

"Although this deal is a great conversation piece (you can only mention the weather or the new Viivannos so much), many people hate that they hear the same shpiel every morning as they are rushing to work."

Around here, the baristas simply say, as they are ringing you up, "Would you like your treat receipt?" If you think you're going to come back that day, you say yes, and if you don't, you say no. Pretty simple!

So, BEFORE the promotion, what % of your customers were twice-daily visitors?

[sbux barrista]

How about Canada?

[espressoblend]

How about Canada?

Posted by: sbux barrista | August 16, 2008 at 08:43 AM

How about Canada, hmmm?

[Belle]

Oh! Canada!

[dmanagerla(former)]

When Holiday launches the Day AFTER Thanksgiving, that is when Starbucks will have gotten it right!

[SEADAVE]

How aboot Canada, eh?