How Starbucks caffeinates local economies
Call it the frappuccino effect
Starbucks offers endless opportunities for innovation. Parts of social media delight in hacking the chain’s menu to create highly instagrammable drinks. Fancy a “cake batter Frappuccino”? Simply order a “vanilla bean crème Frappuccino”, add a pump of hazelnut syrup and ask the barista to put a cake pop in the blender. How about some “liquid cocaine”? That involves four shots of espresso with four pumps of white-chocolate syrup, served over ice.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “The frappuccino effect”
Finance & economics July 6th 2024
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