🥤Frappuccino: The Billion-Dollar Brainfreeze Starbucks Nearly Killed | 29
Summary
Explore the surprising origin story of the Frappuccino, from its humble beginnings in a Boston coffee shop to its global domination under Starbucks. Learn how a simple frozen coffee drink transformed the coffee industry, fueled Starbucks' explosive growth, and created a customizable beverage phenomenon. Discover the key players, strategic decisions, and unexpected twists that made the Frappuccino the best idea yet.Episode description
The cream-topped, dome-lidded Frappuccino is the caffeinated crown jewel of the Starbucks empire. It helped the company break out from regional coffee chain to global lifestyle brand, made cold drinks into 75% of Starbucks’ beverage sales, and created a whole new language of filibuster-length orders (“Can I get a grande vanilla bean frappe, in a venti cup, extra whip on top and a mocha drizzle?”). But the original Frappuccino was actually created at a boutique Boston coffee shop in the early ’90s to survive the summer sales slump. Then a stand-up comic in Santa Monica took a blender and a big idea to make a version for Starbucks…only for CEO Howard Schultz to dismiss it as a low-brow slushie (Sir, this is a Starbucks, not a 7-Eleven). Find out how a frozen coffee shake went from indie experiment to global juggernaut, why innovation doesn't always mean inventing something new, and how the Frappuccino became the best idea yet.
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