Hello, remember me? If you’re curious, I am still very sick. I haven’t left the house (except for some trips to the hospital) in the past two weeks. This is an extreme anomaly for me and I’ll be writing some posts in the future about my recent experience with the American healthcare system. I’ll be making a full recovery, but it may take another week or two to get back to my usual writing. Still, I’m quite bored, so I thought I could put together a short post today.
I was reading the Wall Street Journal last month and learned a smoothie shop in Los Angeles is charging $33 for a single drink. Not a meal. Not a three-course dinner. A smoothie.
The "Billion Dollar Smoothie" at SunLife Organics may be the ultimate symbol of wellness culture gone completely insane. The bowl version costs $40.
Let me show you exactly what you're paying for.
The Kitchen Sink Approach to Expensive
Here's the complete ingredient list from SunLife's website:
Young Thai coconut meat, spinach, raw cashew butter, colostrum, creatine, chlorophyll, aloe vera, collagen, green superfoods blend, silica, grass-fed whey protein isolate, spirulina, MCT oil, mushroom blend (chaga, reishi, cordyceps, shiitake, maitake, turkey tail, agaricus, meshima, tremella and lion's mane), tocos (rice bran solubles), almond milk.
This isn't a smoothie. It's a supplement store that exploded into a blender.
The Real Cost Breakdown
I tried to price out these ingredients, although it’s tough to know exactly how much they are using. It can’t be much given the size of the smoothie.
Max’s Estimated Ingredient Cost per Serving:
Young Thai coconut meat: $1.50 (a whole one is $3, let’s assume they use half)
Handful of spinach: $0.25 (probably less)
Raw cashew butter (2 tbsp): $0.50 (if you make your own)
Colostrum powder (1 scoop): $0.30
Creatine (5g): $0.11
Chlorophyll drops: $0.25
Aloe vera juice: $0.25
Collagen powder (1 scoop): $0.75
Green superfoods blend: $0.16
Silica supplement: $0.15
Whey protein isolate (1 scoop): $0.50
Spirulina powder: $0.25
MCT oil (1 tbsp): $0.75
Mushroom blend: $1.00
Tocos (rice bran solubles): $0.25
Almond milk: $0.25
Total ingredient cost: $7.22
Your cost: $33 (+ tax)
Markup: 357%
Even at premium prices, this smoothie costs about $7-8 to make. You're paying a $25-26 convenience fee for someone to dump expensive supplements into a blender.
The Psychology of "More Must Be Better"
The founder of SunLife Organics accidentally revealed the entire strategy. According to the Wall Street Journal, he admits the Billion Dollar Smoothie was named specifically to sound expensive, and "I didn't realize that it was going to make some of those smoothies the most popular just because of the name."
The ingredient list confirms this approach: throw in every trendy supplement you can think of, regardless of whether they work together or make sense. Creatine for muscle building, colostrum for gut health, mushrooms for brain function, silica for hair and nails…it's supplement bingo in liquid form.
The same founder also said "I'd rather not sell them" because they take 15 minutes to make and cost four times more than regular smoothies to produce. But he keeps making them because the profit margins are too good to pass up.
The Opportunity Cost Reality
Let's say you get one $33 smoothie per week (modest compared to customers who admit to buying them daily):
$33 per week = $1,716 per year
Over 20 years: $34,320
Invested at 7% returns: $93,000
You could literally buy a luxury car with the money you'd save by making identical smoothies at home.
What This Really Is
This isn't about nutrition. It's about paying $33 to signal that you can afford to waste $33 on a smoothie.
The wellness industry has successfully convinced people that more ingredients equals better health. It doesn't. A simple smoothie with banana, spinach, protein powder, and almond milk provides 90% of the same nutritional value for $3.
The bottom line: If you want the supposed benefits of these ingredients, buy them separately and take them properly. You'll save money and actually get effective doses.
Or better yet, eat real food and invest the $1,700 per year in your actual future instead of someone else's profit margins.
Sources: "The Drink of the Summer Is a 'Billion Dollar Smoothie'" - Wall Street Journal, August 2025; SunLife Organics ingredient list; Current supplement and grocery pricing from Costco, Walmart, and Amazon.