Kaylin Lynett is a Business student here at the University of Alberta. In May 2018 she created an Instagram account called vegan_secretmenu to fill the relatively unexplored area of exciting vegan Starbucks orders. On the account she shares aesthetically pleasing, and super tasty vegan Starbucks recipes! Currently she has more than 1600 followers on the secret menu account!
What made you start a Vegan Starbucks themed account, how did you come up with the idea?
I’ve been a huge Starbucks fan since my early teens and have always been interested in the secret menu options. I used to take pictures of the drinks I got to send to friends and show them some cool options. However, when I was 17, I went vegan and had a hard time figuring out what was vegan at Starbucks. Some items such as the Java Chips, the Mocha syrup, and Caramel sauce all have milk in them and a lot of secret menu items did as well. I tried researching various vegan secret menu items, but it was hard to find some. I searched Instagram and noticed that there weren’t any vegan specific Starbucks accounts, so I decided to make one and share my recipes with others.
How did you grow so many followers?
I actually didn’t put much work into this account until the beginning of this summer. I was searching the internet for more vegan Starbucks recipes when I saw that PETA had put a few of my drinks on one of their articles. It was then that I realized the potential that an account like this could have. I saw that other secret menu Instagram’s had numerous followers, so I decided to put more work into my account. At this point I had roughly 500 followers and in 5 months I was able to triple this number. I had done this by being more active on the account. I posted more frequently and took better quality pictures. I currently have my pictures matching the background of whatever season it is, for example I posted many pictures with a flower background in the summer and now have moved on to snow backgrounds for winter. Additionally, I tried to change up the hashtags I used with every picture, so I could reach more people.
How many times per week do you usually have Starbucks?
More times than I’d like to admit.
Any future plans for this account, or any other vegan feature accounts?
My absolute dream would be able to get to speak with Starbucks about their vegan options. In the past, the Strawberry and Crème Frappuccino was not vegan, the red dye came sourced from an animal. However, a few years ago Starbucks switched to a plant-based dye to accommodate vegans and vegetarians. I would love for my account to grow to the point where Starbucks would ask me about vegan needs at Starbucks, and I would get to be a spokesperson for the vegan community. There are many items that are not vegan, example the Pumpkin Spice Latté (which has milk in the concentrate). Starbucks has many strides in the past (the Strawberry and Crème frappuccino) to become more vegan-friendly and I would love to contribute to making more options.
What is your favourite drink that you have featured on the account?
Believe it or not my favourite drink has actually been the most expensive one, the Strawberry Mylkshake Frap. It tastes just like a strawberry milkshake.
Check out the recipe in the post here.