> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Drinking up the Frappuccino’s modest roots - URL: https://www.smdp.com/drinking-up-the-frappuccinos-modest-roots/ - Published: 2008-07-04T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-24T20:04:42.000Z - Author: Guest Author - Tags: Business, Promenade, #archive-import *L.A. attitude, media contribute to success* *By ALICE OLLSTEIN Special to the Daily Press* THIRD STREET PROMENADE It all began one hot summer day in 1994. Local Santa Monica PR man and former Starbucks manager Greg Rogers was toiling away at the Third Street Promenade Starbucks when an idea came to him that would one day earn his company millions. “I noticed that when it was hot, we weren’t selling as much coffee,” Rogers said. “We had some iced coffee and iced lattes on the menu, but we didn’t have anything sweet or user friendly. I suggested that we try to make some sort of coffee shake, and the district manager bought us a blender and said we could experiment.” Rogers combined shots of espresso, Half and Half, vanilla powder, mocha powder, sugar and ice, and started handing out samples to customers. The vice president of Starbucks happened to be touring the new Santa Monica locations at the time, and Rogers remembered him responding enthusiastically and informing company president Howard Shultz. Rogers said Shultz was tepid about the idea. “At the time, Shultz was developing a coffee-Coca Cola blended drink, which was disgusting,” he said. “He wanted that to be our focus for cold beverages, and he said that blenders didn’t fit into the coffee culture of Starbucks.” Despite these misgivings, the company decided to do a trial run of the new drink just on the promenade. When it became 30 to 40 percent of store sales by the end of the summer, they expanded it to all of Santa Monica. Soon, the product went company-wide. For his efforts, Rogers received the “Golden Bean” award, the President’s Award — which included a $5,000 bonus — and a Rolex from the company. He was also mentioned in Shultz’s 1997 book “Pour Your Heart into It,” and received opportunities most Angelenos would salivate over. “I was kind of like the mascot for the Frappuccino at the time,” he said. “I would do things like hand out coffee backstage at the Grammys and the Oscars. This was way before 9/11 and high security, so I had an incredible pass to all the greenrooms. I Yet he didn’t fully realize the impact of his invention until he witnessed a radical shift in the Starbucks customer demographic. “Starbucks used to have an elitist reputation. Back then it was a very purist kind of place, an upper-echelon, coffee-lover paradise. Even the cup was a status symbol. People would come in, get a Starbucks cup, then pour their regular coffee into it just to be able to walk around with the label showing.” Rogers said the Frappuccino changed this image. “We started seeing people who would never come into a Starbucks — kids, teenagers, tweens, mothers — coming in for a Frappuccino,” he said. “It really opened Starbucks up to a whole different market, because it’s an approachable drink.” Rogers believes that he deserves sole credit for the beverage’s invention. “The reality is that I came up with the drink and they helped get it out there,” he said. “The company tried to add on other names, people higher up in the company than I was, so it seemed like more of a collaborative effort.” The Starbucks corporation disagrees. “Greg did indeed play a role in its creation along with several other Starbucks partners,” said media relations executive Bridget Baker. “He can’t be credited as the sole inventor of the Frappuccino.” Because of this and other factors, Rogers left Starbucks to found CRPR, which promotes Santa Monica restaurants. He said he felt uncomfortable due to his success at the coffee giant. “Everyone was more lenient with me and I got by easy even if my sales were lagging,” he said. “I didn’t get the nasty phone calls like the other managers did. A lot of people resented me. I guess Starbucks didn’t want to rock the boat. They were afraid I was going to sue. I got to the point where it was going nowhere, so I left.” Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, Rogers credits the “West Coast mentality” for the Frappuccino’s popularity. “We start a lot of trends in California,” he said. “The public is much more open to trying new things, and it jumped into the pop culture so quickly because of all the TV shows, movies and celebrities around us. If the drink had originated in Seattle I don’t think it would have taken off like it did.” Rogers came to California, like many, to pursue acting and comedy. Though his life has taken a different route, he has never regretted the move. “I’ve always loved Santa Monica,” he said. “It’s the greatest. It doesn’t get any better than this.” *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 4, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/070408.pdf?ref=smdp.com)