Starbucks’ Frappuccino Gets a Sugar Makeover
Starbucks Corp. is putting its decadent Frappuccino on a diet, looking to reduce the drink’s high sugar levels, which have scared away increasingly health-conscious consumers and hurt sales.
Some versions of the drink contain more than twice as much sugar as a standard Snickers bar and far more calories. A 16-ounce Mocha Frappuccino contains 410 calories, compared with 250 in a 1.86-ounce Snickers.
It has been tough for Starbucks to lower the calories and keep the sweet taste that consumers expect.
“It was incredibly challenging to mimic what was taken out,” said Jason Davis, senior manager of beverage innovation at Starbucks. To achieve a similar texture and taste, the company tested more than 20 types of cream, 70 different vanilla flavorings and created a new bottle to make sure the proper amounts of flavor are dispensed.
Getting this right is important to Starbucks because the Frappuccino remains a key sales driver. In fiscal 2015, sales of the blended Frappuccinos it sells in its cafes – not the bottled version sold in grocery stores – rose 17% and represented 14% of revenue at Starbucks U.S. company-operated cafes. This year through May, Frappuccino sales have declined by 3%, and the beverage now accounts for just 11% of that revenue.
The company figured that if it could remove some of the sugar and calories from Frappuccinos, customers would buy more of them, particularly in the afternoon, when people typically buy them as a treat. Starbucks is testing the healthier Frappuccinos with customers in 600 Starbucks stores in California, Missouri and Rhode Island.
星巴克计划提出健康版星冰乐
星巴克针对旗下让人有罪恶感的星冰乐(Frappuccino)实行“瘦身”计划，试图降低高糖含量，星冰乐的高糖含量已经吓跑了越来越注重健康的消费者，同时对销售额造成影响。
星冰乐的某些版本含糖量是标准士力架(Snickers)的两倍多，卡路里含量也高得多。一杯16盎司的摩卡星冰乐含有410卡路里，相比之下，一块1.86盎司的士力架卡路里为250。
对于星巴克来说，在降低卡路里含量的同时保持消费者所期望的甜味一直是件很困难的事情。
星巴克饮料创新部高级经理Jason Davis称，“要想模拟那些被去掉的糖分是非常具有挑战性的。”为了达到相似的口感和口味，该公司测试了20多种奶油，70种不同的香草调味料，并制作了一款新杯型，以确保口味调配适当。
实现上述创新对于星巴克来说至关重要，因为星冰乐仍然是推动销售的一个关键动力。星巴克在其咖啡店销售的多款星冰乐(不是杂货店销售的瓶装星冰乐)2015财年销售额增长17%，占该公司美国咖啡店收入的14%。截至今年5月份，星冰乐销售额已下跌3%，总收入占比仅为11%。
该公司认为，如果能从星冰乐中去除部分糖分和卡路里，顾客购买量将会出现上升，尤其是考虑到人们通常会将在下午购买星冰乐作为一种休闲方式。星巴克正在加州、密苏里州和罗德岛州的600家门店测试健康版星冰乐。
