How Starbucks caffeinates local economies
Call it the frappuccino effect
![Two Starbucks Frappuccinos on a counter](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20240706_FNP001.jpg)
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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