Starbucks Is Cutting Back On Those Instagramable Limited-Time Drinks

Starbucks baristas rejoice! Those dreaded drinks that taste terrible but are made purely for the Instagram pictures are finally getting cut back. The company is reducing the amount of those ridiculous limited-time-only drinks, such as the Unicorn Frappuccino.

Financial analysts recently confirm Starbuck's continued efforts to reduce the number of limited-time drinks they offer. They previously announced in April 2018 that they planned to cut down the limited-time drinks by 30%.

"Looking ahead, Starbucks plans to avoid limited time offer beverages that can complicate operations, and instead innovate seasonally around enduring platforms," says Andrew Charles, Cowen Analyst, via Business Insider.

These fancy drinks usually have complicated recipes that slow down baristas, which then makes lines longer, bottlenecks customers, and increases wait times. Often, customers end up leaving disappointed after their wait because the results don't match the advertised aesthetics of the drink.

"Starbucks has ambitions to introduce a new platform every 2-3 years, such as cold brew, refreshers, espresso, and Teavana in recent years," said Charles.

Don't worry if these limited-time offers are what gets you through the changing seasons, Starbucks says the chain isn't cutting them out altogether. Instead, they will be working to be more disciplined about the types of limited-time offerings that hit the menus. The company will shift its focus to more "enduring platforms" to grow its menu offerings, such as the recent Pumpkin Spice Coldbrew.