• abraxas@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Last I saw, Tropical Smoothie Cafe (national chain) does fresh or frozen fruit exclusively for $5-6, and Herbalife does cheap flavored soy powders for $11

    There is a massive quality difference. They don’t even advertise readily that there’s soy in in them; I had to look it up. Thankfully I’m not allergic. And that’s the thing. They sell fake shit and intentionally hide that fact.

    • Nollij@sopuli.xyz
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      1 year ago

      There’s certainly good smoothie places that are no comparison. But that’s not what these places would be. If you’re setting up a smoothie shop and decide to use Herbalife, it probably wouldn’t otherwise be replaced by fresh fruit. Instead it would be replaced by some other protein powder, which will typically make shit smoothies.

      Fully agree with you though on the allergy warnings

      • abraxas@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        I’ve never in my life been to a smoothie place or shake that primarily used powders.

        It’s always:

        1. ice cream, ice, flavoring sauces, some real like chocolate/coffee (pretty much every local diner)
        2. fresh fruit, yogurt/banana (smoothie places like Tropical Smoothie)
        3. Packaged liquid flavors plus frozen fruit (a couple smaller restaurants)
        • Nollij@sopuli.xyz
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          1 year ago

          Smoothie King is a large chain that uses protein powders. But while they don’t use Herbalife, they are at least adjacent to it.

          • abraxas@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            I’ve never heard of them. Looks like the nearest one is 4 hours away from me, and there are zero in my home state or any state I like to visit.

            Actually, a quick google seems to suggest Smoothie King primarily uses frozen fruit for their smoothies. They offer “nutritional add ins” that are protein powders. This is like Tropical Smoothie.

            Maybe I wasn’t clear about Herbalife. The ENTIRE smoothie is protein powder. Here is a typical herbalife smoothie. The entire smoothie. Others are the same with artificial flavors. Then one freeze-dried strawberry dropped in lets them say there’s real fruit in it.

            Here is a (genuinely random) sample from Smoothie King. A little protein added at the end, but primarily frozen fruit. This is reinforced by the fact that they sell fruit “smoothie bowls” for a comparable price. Herbalife has no fruit on hand to sell.