Starbucks Rolling Out Healthier Food and Frappuccinos

by Bev Sklar (Subscribe to Bev Sklar's posts)
Jun 11th 2009 5:00PM

Photo: DeusXFlorida/Flickr

Starbucks is known for great coffee, not healthy food. They occasionally dance with health-conscious consumers with their protein plate, instant oatmeal and hormone-free milk, but it's not exactly the Whole Foods of coffee shops. However a Starbucks drive-thru drum roll, please -- be on the lookout for healthier baked goods soon, and lucky Dallas is the test baby for a new Frappuccino formula.

On June 30, the wire-you-up coffee king is overhauling 90 percent of its baked goods -- removing high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), artificial flavors/colorings and some preservatives. Low-calorie salads are rolling out, along with egg-white breakfast sandwiches, a reduced fat Very Berry Coffee Cake with 20 percent fruit and an organic blueberry bar. Reaching for greener corporate pastures, new water meters will save each store 150 gallons daily, allowing baristas to properly rinse their spoons without the tap continuously running. But when will they start using recyclable cups?

No doubt, it's a good thing a corporate giant is ridding so many Americans of HFCS and chemicals on their myriad java stops, and let's keep our fingers crossed that healthier Frappuccino formula says au revoir to artificial sweeteners. But if this nation is to reverse rising obesity, stopping in for a brewed cup of coffee and skipping that 'healthier' baked treat all together is a better call.

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Comments (2)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Jan 6-11-2009 @ 7:10PM

I was lucky enough to never have been overweight in my life. That all ended after the birth of my second child. I got down to 20 pounds over my normal weight but no matter what I did I couldn't lose the rest. I didn't know if was age catching up with me or if somehow my metabolism changed. Whatever the reason, nothing was working. One of my friends, knowing what I was going through, told me that she had been losing weight on the Hollywood Cookie Diet http://AmazingDietCookies.com . I was very reluctant to try anything like that because it just didn't seem possible to me that you could eat cookies and lose weight. The plan is to eat two specially formulated diet cookies twice a day and then have a regular dinner. She explained to me that it was based on caloric restriction by meal replacement and portion control. That made some kind of sense to me so I decided to give it a try. Amazingly it worked for me and in less than three months I was back to my normal weight. Starbucks should be serving these too. I have been maintaining my normal weight by just replacing lunch with a couple of these diet cookies. Now my husband is also been losing weight with this cookie diet plan AmazingDietCookies.com

Darrell Boehne 7-18-2009 @ 11:11AM

This new frappaccino formula is not even a good imitation of the base they have been using for years! I live in the Tampa market and only the local Target Starbucks stores still use the old formula, which I drive 15 miles roundtrip to purchase 3-6 times per week. If the old formula totally goes away, so do I. Their wonderful fraps are all I have ordered for almost 15 years! Health-wise it will probably be good for me to quit anyway, but this new formula will quicken my decision. This is the only food treat that I indulge and at age 60, I have seen many successful products disappear when the manufacturer tried to "fix what was not broken". I rate the new formula right along with MS-Windows Vista...and I expect the same results from the general public when it is forced upon them. Somebody better wake up, before it is too late. At least ask your customers for feedback...at every store!