New Starbucks Beverage - Vivanno (or as I like to pronounce it Viva NO!!)
someone asked what Vivanno was, and I’m going to be the one to fill you in.
It’s our new line of healthy beverages.
They’re blended like a frappuccino, BUT NOT LIKE A FRAPPUCCINO AT ALL because they aren’t going to clog your arteries. According to the information partners got about it, Starbucks wanted to “purposefully build a drink that is nutritious. Whereas our Frappuccino® Blended Beverages offer our customers an indulgent treat.“ AKA people ordering a venti extra extra carmel extra whip carmel frappuccino everyday have grossed us the fuck out. Grossed us out so much that we decided to just create another genre of starbucks beverages. Or atleast thats what I think sparked this vivanno revolution.
We’re only offering 2 kinds at the moment: Orange Mango Banana Blend and Banana Chocolate Blend. The Orange Mango Banana Blend has Naked Juice (made just for SB), protein/fiber powder, milk, and ice. The Banana Chocolate Blend has the protein/fiber powder, milk, mocha syrup, and ice. But wait…there’s more. Each blend includes a. whole. banana. All through the training about these drinks, they keep saying things like “at least one serving of fruit with a WHOLE banana,” and “...other nutritients from the serving of one WHOLE banana.” Christ, even on the training dvd we had to watch they kept stressing the ONE WHOLE BANANA IN EACH DRINK.
Vivanno only comes in grande so the nutritional info is more clear. To again quote the info that was provided to us baristas, both kinds contain “pure and nutritious ingredients, no artificial sweeteners and have 270 calories or less. Each blend is freshly made with a whole banana and includes at least 16 grams of protein, 5 grams of fiber, and 5 grams of fat or less.”
DON’T CALL IT A SMOOTHIE. If you ask me…uh, it pretty much is a smoothie, but all through this training they keep saying yeah yeah, okay so it looks like a smoothie and it tastes like a smoothie, guys, c’mon its so not a smoothie. Its, and I quote, “so much more than a smoothie!” I guess no other smoothie place decided to use protein powder and a whole banana. (whole banana - most important)
What do I think about the drinks? Haven’t tried them yet, but they sound good. Awesome that they have less than 270 calories and only come in the simple grande size. I like that we’re becoming more health conscious
What do I think about us making them? NO THANKS. This isn’t Jamba Juice. This isn’t Smoothie King. This is Starbucks Coffee & Tea. Not Starbucks Coffee & Tea & Smoothies. or I suppose Starbucks Coffee & Tea & Nourishing Blends.
While fresh fruit is obviously better than a sugary syrupy liquid, I don’t want to really be dealing with it - making sure the fruit is used right when its ripe, all that bloody necessary prep work for the bananas. I’m scared to start this knowing that if these drinks do very well, we’ll expand to more and more of these “nourishing blends.”
Also I know that people are going to bitch because thats what many customers do. Getting that WHOLE banana in a mocha frappuccino, ordering a tall or venti size, ordering and getting just the Naked juice concentrate isn’t allowed. And some customers doens’t understand the idea that they can’t get something.
But when it gets down to it, the whole thing erks me so because I’m a barista! not a smoothie maker! (damn it, kirk, i’m a doctor, not an elevator!)
What ever happened to back to basics? The romance of coffee? I’m pretty sure that having mango juice, a constant blender noise, and a WHOLE banana doesn’t have anything to do with coffee. at all. It doesn’t smell like Verona in here anymore!!
Vivanno? = Viva No = Live No = Shouldn’t Live = this promo needs to die.
We’ll see. Thoughts/opinions before the Vivanno launch on Tuesday?
EDIT: I didn’t say this when I posted last night, but even though I’m not really a fan of this, I’m still going to promote the hell out of it and not be one of those baristas that groans whenever someone orders something that requires the blender. Its part of my job & I’ll make it work. Psh, supa starbuckian.
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