Starbucks and Personal Responsibility

There’s quite a lively discussion going on at one of my favorite “insider” sites, “Starbucks Gossip” (since I visit that fine establishment nearly every day), under the heading of “When Will Starbucks get serious about diabetes and obesity?”. Here’s the post, which has since been substantially dwarfed by the comments:

STARBUCKS GOSSIP reader Richard Daines writes: “I’d like to see Starbucks take the issue of diabetes and obesity at little more seriously. By that I mean offering more than just two sugar-free (vanilla, hazelnut) syrups and breads and pastries made with Splenda. I believe that it is good business sense to appeal to an ever-growing segment of the population that might otherwise not visit Starbucks or just make limited purchases. I’d be curious to know what your readers think.” (My sister-in-law — a Starbucks regular — says: “Starbucks isn’t pushing caffeine; it’s pushing sugar.”)

There were a LOT of thoughts here, some written by employees. One of the more interesting things in the comments were the descriptions by baristas of the most “bizarre” drink orders – here are a couple of samples:

• Venti Breve 6 pump raspberry, 6 pump coconut, 6 pump vanilla, 4 pump mocha, 3 raw sugar, with whip latte
• Venti Caramel, Nonfat, 3 sweet and low, caramel drizzle, extra whip cream, 7 pump white mocha

Here are cases of customers clearly choosing to ingest insane amounts of sugar into their system. Starbucks, while attempting to be somewhat responsible, is still a business – and if people want the sugar and fat, Starbucks will provide it in the interest of making a profit. Even the most altruistic companies still have to make money, especially if there are public shareholders involved.

This is where personal responsibility comes in – it’s still up to us what we put in our stomachs, and at least Starbucks is being upfront about what is in these drinks – they have detailed nutritional information on their website. For example, let’s look at a grande (16 oz.) Double Chocolate Chip Frappuccino® Blended Crème – it has 580 calories and 22 grams of fat. I used to drink a Frappuccino now and then, but after I saw this I stopped.

Now all I drink is a Grande Latte, with regular milk and no sugar – and that’s 260 calories and 14 grams of fat. Because of the milk I have to refrain from partaking in the pastries – I used to just love the cinnamon chip scone, but it has 540 calories and 29 grams of fat. So I make my choices as an informed individual, taking personal responsibility for my own health.

The unfortunate fact is, if most places like Starbucks offered more healthy alternatives, they wouldn’t be purchased. Most of the fast food places have tried low-cal things, gave up due to lack of interest, and then went ahead and offered quadruple burgers with cheese and bacon at 1,200 calories each.

Here’s where I draw the line: As long as we can easily find out what’s in the stuff, it’s our responsibility what we consume, not Starbucks or any other food server. In the context of “Half-Fullism”, to me this means accepting the reality of the health risks presented by the “bad” drinks and yet coming up with a pleasant alternative that works for me (the wonderful Grande Latte). As one of the commenters on this post said, “They’re a corporation, not your d**n mommy”.

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