Exclusivity of Starbucks Secret Menu Entices Students

The Starbucks secret menu is a list of drinks that are not on the main menu. While anyone can technically order these non-menu items, many people don’t know about them. Many students, however, are drawn by the exclusivity of the menu.

Junior Madeline Maestre, who sees people ordering secret menu drinks frequently said, “People like to try new things and [like] to try something unique that they haven’t tasted before.”

A popular drink that started on the secret menu is the pink drink, which is a strawberry acai refresher made with almond milk and includes scoops of strawberries and blackberries. As the idea for unique drinks grew, more and more new drinks were being created. Now there are drinks ranging from the cotton candy frappuccino, all the way to the Pokémon GO drink.

Junior Kaya Lu, who orders off of the secret menu, said, “When the pink drink was still on the secret menu I used to get the pink drink a lot. And then I got the unicorn drink with everyone else, and [I also got] the Pokémon GO drink once.”

There are over 58,000 different secret menu drinks. With the number of drinks, it seems that any student can find a drink that fits whatever they are looking for.

Lu said, “[Starbucks secret menu drinks] have some sort of theme, I’m pretty sure there is a butterbeer frappuccino out there somewhere [for example], and [the drinks] are usually really sweet.”

Most students hear about these exclusive drinks from social media. Maestre said, “TikTok is definitely where most people talk about what’s on the secret menu, if I’m scrolling down my For You Page I’m going to see a bunch of people [talking about it]…and so that’s where I think a lot of people get ideas of what to order from.”

Senior Juliet Diamantidis has also ordered off of the secret menu and noticed the increase in popularity with the menu. “I like how there [are] multiple different options and you can make different creations off of it. And it feels so mysterious,” she said.

Lu added, “Sometimes [the secret menu drinks] aren’t even the best drinks out there, but it’s something about the exclusivity of it not actually being on the menu and you are ordering something secretly I think is what draws a lot of people to them.”