The US coffee giant said scrapping its $0.80 surcharge for soy, oat, almond or coconut dairy alternatives will cut the price of some beverages by 10%
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Nearly half of Starbucks’ US customers pair beverages with soy, oat, almond or coconut milk | Photo credit: Starbucks
Starbucks has announced that it will no longer charge $0.80 for dairy alternatives across its 11,161 company-owned stores in the US and Canada from 7 November 2024.
In a press release, Seattle-based Starbucks said nearly half of its US and a quarter of its Canadian customers pair beverages with soy, oat, almond or coconut milk, with switching to a dairy alternative the second most requested customisation behind adding a shot of espresso.
When the surcharge is removed, customers ordering a beverage with a dairy alternative will see a price reduction of more than 10%, Starbucks added.
“Core to the Starbucks Experience is the ability to customise your beverage to make it yours. By removing the extra charge for non-dairy milks we’re embracing all the ways our customers enjoy their Starbucks. I made a commitment that we’d get ‘Back to Starbucks’ – this is just one of many changes we’ll make to ensure a visit to Starbucks is worth it every time,” said Brian Niccol, CEO, Starbucks.
World Coffee Portal’s Project Café USA 2025 report shows whole milk is the most popular beverage pairing among 53% of US coffee shop consumers surveyed in September 2024. Almond is the most popular dairy alternative for US branded coffee shop customers ahead of oat, hazelnut, coconut and soya.
Additionally, a third of US consumers surveyed believe that dairy alternatives should be the default beverage pairing at coffee shops.
The surcharge removal follows similar moves by Starbucks in Europe over the last two years, where its dairy alternative surcharge has been scrapped in France, the UK and Germany.