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Starbucks Protein Cold Foam – Fit Foodie Finds

admin — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 20:50:53 +0000

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When Starbucks launched their protein line of drinks, I knew I had to recreate my favorites in my own kitchen. This protein cold foam tastes JUST like Starbucks, and you can make it with just 3 ingredients at home. Top any coffee drink with this cold foam and enjoy the added benefits of 22g of protein per serving. Enjoy!

It tastes JUST like Starbucks protein cold foam, but you can make it in less than 5 minutes in your own kitchen.
You can make it with vanilla OR chocolate whey protein powder — I’ve tested both, and both are absolutely delicious!
22g of protein per serving — does it get any better than that?

Ingredients You Need

Whey protein powder: This recipe works with both chocolate whey protein powder as well as vanilla whey protein powder. I don’t recommend making this cold foam with any plant-based protein powders. When we tested it with one — it became super thick, almost like play-dough.
Heavy cream: A little heavy cream is necessary to give this cold foam its texture. if you use just milk and protein powder, it will result in a protein-rich milk with no foamy texture.
2% milk: A little 2% milk is added in so that the heavy cream doesn’t turn into whipped cream, rather it turns into a foam. I like using Fairlife 2% milk because it has higher protein than traditional 2% dairy milk. Fairlife has 13g protein vs. the standard 8g. Don’t skip this either!
Coffee of your choice: I recommend my homemade cold brew OR espresso! It pairs perfectly with this protein cold foam.

Top Tips for Copy Cat Starbucks Protein Cold Foam

This recipe will ONLY WORK with whey protein! I’ve tested it with multiple plant-based protein options, and all of them turned out grainy, dense and not foam-y at all.

Both chocolate AND vanilla whey protein work great! I’ve tested this recipe multiple times with vanilla and chocolate whey protein, and they are both delicious with a luscious cold foam texture.

This cold foam is best served immediately. Unlike coffee creamer, this protein cold foam does not keep well for later as it will lose its volume and become more of a thick protein milk than a cold foam. If you have extra, I recommend storing in the fridge and re-frothing it before serving later.

More Starbucks Copy Cat Recipes

Add all the ingredients to a tall glass or large bowl and whip together using a milk frother or hand mixer until frothy.
Add ice and cold brew to your favorite cup and top with the cold foam. Enjoy.

I only recommend using a whey-based protein powder for this cold foam recipe. I’ve tested this with plant-based protein powder and the texture was thick and grainy.
I do not recommend making extra for later because the cold foam will lose its volume and the texture will become unpleasant.

Calories: 227 kcal, Carbohydrates: 6 g, Protein: 22 g, Fat: 13 g, Fiber: 1 g, Sugar: 4 g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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Starbucks changes put the focus back on its customers

admin — Sat, 27 Sep 2025 13:08:34 +0000

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Some believe that for far too long, Starbucks prioritized the business itself over the loyal customers who made it an iconic brand. Now, the coffee giant is facing the consequences of its actions.

“In trying to scale faster, Starbucks has drifted away from the emotional core that built its global following,” Amazon Business Analyst Saswat Sidhant Prusty told Coffee Intelligence.

To fix its mistakes, the company has been making significant changes under its “Back to Starbucks” strategy, a turnaround plan designed to reverse declining sales by returning to its roots and creating a more personalized coffeehouse experience.

However, reinventing one of the world’s largest coffee chains comes at a steep cost.

To streamline operations and reduce expenses, Starbucks has already closed multiple locations and eliminated thousands of corporate roles. Yet these restructuring efforts haven’t been enough, and more cuts are coming.

Starbucks reveals more layoffs and mass closures

Starbucks (SBUX) is now conducting another round of layoffs, slashing around 900 corporate positions. This follows February’s reduction of roughly 1,100 roles in an effort to reduce complexity and improve efficiency.

The coffee chain also plans to shrink its North American footprint by about 1% in fiscal 2025, taking its store count from 18,734 locations in the third quarter to around 18,300 by the end of September.

Most closures will occur before the year ends, eliminating locations that cannot be remodeled to fit the new design or those with weaker financial performance.

These shutdowns are part of Starbucks’ effort to restore its stores as a “third place,” turning them into a welcoming space between home and work. The goal is to encourage customers to spend more time in its stores, improve declining foot traffic, and boost sales.

This restructuring will cost Starbucks around $1 billion, with 90% of the expenses coming from the North America region.

Starbucks plans more layoffs and store closures.

Image source: Jeffrey Greenberg/Getty Images

Starbucks invests in its workforce

Despite layoffs at the corporate level, Starbucks is investing heavily in its store-level staff. Beginning this Fall 2025, most company-operated stores will gain at least one full-time assistant store manager to ensure consistent leadership and smoother daily operations.

The company has also rolled out its “Green Apron Service” operating model, designed to standardize roster size, labor hours, peak coverage, and deployment across stores. This marks Starbucks’ biggest-ever investment in customer service and operational consistency.

Additionally, Starbucks implemented a new dress code for its baristas across all North American stores to enhance its iconic green apron, making it the first update in nearly a decade.

Starbucks store revamps and new design

Beyond staffing, Starbucks launched the “Coffeehouse Uplift” as part of its long-term goal to invest about $150,000 per store and remodel 1,000 stores by the end of 2026. The company aims to upgrade locations with little to no downtime by slowing new builds and major renovations.

In August, Starbucks revealed plans to close all its pickup-only locations, as these no longer align with its strategy, and unveiled two new prototypes to replace the stores. There are currently around 90 locations nationwide, all in high-traffic areas, such as cities, airports, and hospitals.

Starbucks faces ongoing struggles

While these initiatives will take time to show results and regain lost customers, Starbucks continues to face challenges as it manages high restructuring costs and ongoing declines in sales and traffic.

In the third quarter of fiscal 2025, U.S. comparable sales fell 2%, driven by a 4% transaction drop.

Meanwhile, its competitors are slowly winning over customers. In the first quarter of 2025, Dutch Bros. (BROS) reported a 13.4% increase in traffic, Scooter’s Coffee grew by 15.3%, and 7 Brew Coffee saw a 87.3% surge, according to Placer.ai.

In contrast, Starbucks experienced a nearly 1% decline in visits compared to the previous year.

“Starbucks isn’t just facing short-term pain,” said Sidhant Prusty to Coffee Intelligence.

“It’s confronting a deeper misreading of consumer sentiment. While operational efficiency and digital convenience have improved, they’ve come at the cost of the in-store experience that once defined the brand.”

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Starbucks Builds New Office Near CEO’s California Home: RTO

admin — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 06:44:27 +0000

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Starbucks has constructed a 4,624-square-foot office in Newport Beach, California, which is a five-minute drive from CEO Brian Niccol’s Orange County home.

According to documents and photos reviewed by Business Insider, the 13th-floor office was completed on July 2 and designed by Gensler, a leading architectural company that also designed the Chase Center in San Francisco and Shanghai Tower, China’s tallest building.

A floor plan for the office, seen by BI, instructs Gensler and the contracting team, Pacific Tusk Builders, to build a space with “luxury” accents, including “white oak” floors and custom countertops. It also asks for “elegant lighting.”

Plans for the office were first disclosed in an August 2024 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing outlining Niccol’s compensation package. The filing stated that Starbucks would begin planning to establish a “small remote office” in Newport Beach and “employ an assistant” for Niccol of his choosing.

“This office location will be maintained at the expense of the company,” the filing reads.

Starbucks told BI that other employees can use the new office, though it’s unclear how many other employees will be working from the office, how long the space took to construct, and how much it cost Starbucks to build.

Starbucks also awarded Niccol a $1.6 million base salary, a $10 million signing bonus, and a $75 million equity grant over the next three years in his compensation package.

^{Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol. Photo by Robin Marchant/Getty Images}

Niccol had previously been commuting at the company’s expense, flying 995 miles on the company’s private jet from his home in California to company headquarters in Seattle, Washington, to work from the office at least three times a week as part of the company’s return-to-office mandate.

Earlier this month, Niccol sent a letter to employees stating that corporate staff will be required to return to the office four days a week starting in October, an increase from the three-day schedule set in 2023. He wrote that employees do their “best work” when they are together.

Employees can choose to receive a cash buyout of an undisclosed amount if they prefer to leave the company instead of working in the office.

“The default for support partners should be working in person, in a Starbucks office,” Niccol wrote in the letter. “We understand not everyone will agree with this approach.”

Niccol became Starbucks CEO in September after leading Chipotle for six years as CEO. Under his leadership, Starbucks has tried to turn around slumping sales with a “Back to Starbucks” turnaround plan that has resulted in cuts to its menu, less wait time for coffee, and customers’ names written on cups in Sharpie.

On Tuesday, Starbucks also reported financial results for its 13-week fiscal quarter ending June 29. Global store sales dropped 2%, with North American store sales also falling by 2%, marking the sixth consecutive quarter of declining sales. Net revenue, however, increased 4% to $9.5 billion when compared to the same time last year.

The earnings report also mentioned that Starbucks opened 308 net stores in the quarter, for a total of 41,097 global stores.

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Starbucks has constructed a 4,624-square-foot office in Newport Beach, California, which is a five-minute drive from CEO Brian Niccol’s Orange County home.

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