Put Agave Nectar in Starbucks
I've been going to Starbucks for over ten years now. In that time, the sweetening station hasn't evolved very much. Here's a simple addition they could make that would make a drastic improvement to the well-being of coffee drinkers everywhere: a sweetening syrup called agave nectar.
If you're a diabetic, you know what the glycemic index is. It's a numeric value assigned to foods that tells you how much that particular food will affect your blood sugar levels after you eat it. If you're diabetic or pre-diabetic, you need to avoid consuming foods that have a very high glycemic index. Even if you're not a diabetic, consumption of foods with a high GI spikes your blood sugar, and if you spike it a few thousand times too many over the course of your lifetime, you might find yourself facing diabetes.
Anything with a glycemic index of over 70 is considered to have a high glycemic index. Table sugar (sucrose), high-fructose corn syrup, and honey are all sweeteners that have very high GIs of 92, 89, and 83, respectively.
Agave nectar is a sweetening syrup that is made from the agave plant, which is, yes, the same plant from which they produce tequila. Interestingly enough, this very sweet syrup has a glycemic index of only 27. It doesn't have that strong of a taste either...I've used it to sweeten tea and it doesn't overpower the natural flavor of the tea the way that syrup or honey does.
So, here's what Starbucks could do: first, educate your employees about what the glycemic index is, and which foods have high ones. Make sure they have a good idea what the numbers are. Teach your employees about the health implications. Once you've done that, start putting agave nectar out at your sweetening stations, next to the honey and other sugar.
Here's what would happen next. People would go over to sweeten their coffee, see it, and a few (but not all) of them would see the bottle of it sitting there, get curious, go up to the counter, and ask the barista, "What's that?" And then the baristas tell them all about the benefits of agave nectar over other sweeteners.
What's in it for Starbucks? A few customers are already going to know what agave nectar is, and they'll appreciate its presence at the sweetening station. The rest of the curious people that inquire and learn what it is will have a story to tell. It's great word of mouth: "Do you know what I learned about at Starbucks today?" If Starbucks actually made this move, it would start conversations. It would draw people into the store. (It would start with Starbucks, and when it caught on, the rest of the coffee bars would shortly follow suit.)
More importantly, this would fall under the umbrella of Corporate Social Responsibility. If Starbucks did this, it would result in much better publicity for agave nectar, as well as awareness of the health implications of the glycemic index, than the American Diabetes Association could ever hope to accomplish with any television commercial.
If you're a diabetic, you know what the glycemic index is. It's a numeric value assigned to foods that tells you how much that particular food will affect your blood sugar levels after you eat it. If you're diabetic or pre-diabetic, you need to avoid consuming foods that have a very high glycemic index. Even if you're not a diabetic, consumption of foods with a high GI spikes your blood sugar, and if you spike it a few thousand times too many over the course of your lifetime, you might find yourself facing diabetes.
Anything with a glycemic index of over 70 is considered to have a high glycemic index. Table sugar (sucrose), high-fructose corn syrup, and honey are all sweeteners that have very high GIs of 92, 89, and 83, respectively.
Agave nectar is a sweetening syrup that is made from the agave plant, which is, yes, the same plant from which they produce tequila. Interestingly enough, this very sweet syrup has a glycemic index of only 27. It doesn't have that strong of a taste either...I've used it to sweeten tea and it doesn't overpower the natural flavor of the tea the way that syrup or honey does.
So, here's what Starbucks could do: first, educate your employees about what the glycemic index is, and which foods have high ones. Make sure they have a good idea what the numbers are. Teach your employees about the health implications. Once you've done that, start putting agave nectar out at your sweetening stations, next to the honey and other sugar.
Here's what would happen next. People would go over to sweeten their coffee, see it, and a few (but not all) of them would see the bottle of it sitting there, get curious, go up to the counter, and ask the barista, "What's that?" And then the baristas tell them all about the benefits of agave nectar over other sweeteners.
What's in it for Starbucks? A few customers are already going to know what agave nectar is, and they'll appreciate its presence at the sweetening station. The rest of the curious people that inquire and learn what it is will have a story to tell. It's great word of mouth: "Do you know what I learned about at Starbucks today?" If Starbucks actually made this move, it would start conversations. It would draw people into the store. (It would start with Starbucks, and when it caught on, the rest of the coffee bars would shortly follow suit.)
More importantly, this would fall under the umbrella of Corporate Social Responsibility. If Starbucks did this, it would result in much better publicity for agave nectar, as well as awareness of the health implications of the glycemic index, than the American Diabetes Association could ever hope to accomplish with any television commercial.