Main St. Café Protein Smoothie

Product Type:Functional: Protein Drinks and Supplements; Container: 11 oz HDPE
BevNET Review: Of the three flavors of Main St. Café’s Protein Smoothies, the Peach flavor was our favorite. Starting with a base of yogurt and milk, they’ve added key ingredients including peach puree, whey protein, and sugar. The resulting product is extremely viscous, but packs in 10g of protein and 260 calories. Given the ratio of protein to calories, this product is definitely not the most effective way to pack protein into your diet. However, the flavor of this drink is superior to your typical protein shake, so it’s a trade-off that we’re sure some consumers will be willing to make. On the outside, we have the same comments as we did for the other flavors, which also come in the same shelf stable 11 oz. bottle. Specifically, the front panel needs to call more attention to the fact that this is a yogurt-based product. Otherwise, the design is appealing to the senses and visually is in line with other dairy products. Overall, a very enjoyable product that delivers superior flavor over competing protein drinks.Reviewed on: 2/22/2011

Product Type:Functional: Protein Drinks and Supplements; Container: 11 oz HDPE
BevNET Review: The Strawberry flavor of Main Street Café’s Protein Smoothie is a shelf-stable yogurt-based drink. It offers 10g of protein per bottle on top of 280 calories. Flavor is quite good, with the familiar flavor and consistency of yogurt. The strawberry flavor is derived from actual strawberries, resulting in a very natural and enjoyable fruit flavor. It’s also very similar in flavor to the Mixed Berry, but we prefer this one since the strawberry flavor is more distinguishable. As far as the packaging goes, the 11 oz. shelf stable format is convenient and nice-looking. Our issue with the packaging is with their choice of logos and text, which, in its current rendition, is pitching Main St. Café, protein, and dairy. This results in a bit of a conflicted message and on top of that, they’ve buried the fact that this is a yogurt drink. Putting more emphasis on the yogurt – and perhaps less on the Main St. Café – might help this product have a more targeted pitch. Still, we really enjoyed what’s inside the bottle and even without changing the packaging, this is still a very good product.Reviewed on: 2/22/2011