Starbucks Just Announced the Trendiest Idea Ever. It All Starts Today

I think I can definitively solve an age-old question: Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?

The reason is that, like about 70 percent of Americans, I’ve become much more conscious of how much protein I consume each day, part of a focus on maintaining a healthy weight and building muscle.

Each morning, I eat two fried eggs and drink a protein shake. Lunch usually involves a hefty piece of rotisserie chicken.

Thus, for me at least, the eggs come first, before the chicken.

My total protein intake for those two meals probably tops 70 grams (plus whatever else I might have with dinner), which is a pretty big number. And, I’m not alone.

An International Food Information Council study earlier this year found that 70% of U.S. adults are trying to add more protein. That works out to something like 175 million people.

Partly, it’s a result of people using GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, partly it’s a matter of fitness and muscle maintenance programs that would have been reserved for elite athletes not long ago, becoming mainstream.

And it’s also probably part of our shared post-pandemic experience, in which people simply pay more attention to what they eat.

Companies have jumped on the trend as well. General Mills now has Cheerios Protein, PepsiCo expanded into protein beverages, and Chobani markets high-protein yogurts.

But now a new player is leaning into this trend — and it’s a big one: Starbucks.

Let’s go straight to the Starbucks statement:

Starting Sept. 29, Starbucks coffeehouses in the U.S. and Canada will offer Protein Cold Foam alongside a new line of Protein Lattes made with Protein-boosted Milk delivering approximately 15 to 36 grams of protein per grande (16-ounce) beverage.

These new protein beverages are part of the company’s strategy to drive innovation and modernize its menu.

“As we continue to get back to Starbucks, we’re focused on modernizing our menu with innovative, relevant, and hype-worthy products that will resonate with our customers,” said Tressie Lieberman, Starbucks’ global chief brand officer. “Our new protein beverages tap into the growing consumer demand for protein in an innovative, premium, and delicious way that only Starbucks can deliver.”

Trends and perception are a powerful things. At Starbucks, for example, maybe it doesn’t actually matter whether a grande latte really needs 30 grams of protein.

I’ll bet a lot of people who pay attention to protein intake are kind of like me — already happily consuming their needed daily intake by the end of lunch.

But what matters is that Starbucks customers might perceive it as a healthy upgrade and be willing to pay a bit more for it.

You’re probably also aware that Starbucks is in the midst of a lot of other big changes, too:

• Laying off 12% of its corporate workforce and closing hundreds of stores.
• Rolling out CEO Brian Niccol’s new “Green Apron Service” program.
• Generally, trying to turn the company around and get it growing again.

Will piling on the protein trend have any effect?

It’s hard to say, of course, although I do suspect I’ll give their protein foam a try.

Because no matter where you stand on eggs versus chicken, we can probably all agree on one thing: Coffee comes first.