The drive-thru operator joins Starbucks and Gregory’s Coffee to serve dairy alternatives at no extra cost as pressure mounts on US coffee chains to scrap surcharges
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US coffee chains have come under increased pressure to remove additional charges for dairy alternatives | Photo credit: Dutch Bros
Oregon-based Dutch Bros will no longer charge $0.50 for dairy alternatives across its 950 US stores.
The drive-thru coffee chain, which offers oat, almond and coconut dairy alternatives, told Bloomberg News that it dropped the surcharge on 1 January 2025 as part of a wider ‘commitment to customisation’.
The announcement comes two months after Starbucks and New York-based Gregory’s Coffee both dropped non-dairy surcharges across their US stores – joining the likes of Panera Bread, Pret A Manger and Compass Coffee in serving dairy alternatives at no extra cost.
World Coffee Portal’s Project Café USA 2025 report shows that 91% of US industry leaders surveyed believe it is important for coffee shops to offer dairy alternatives.
Almond milk is the most popular dairy alternative in the US, according to 5,000 US branded coffee shop consumers surveyed in September 2024, with 25% typically pairing it with coffee – second only to whole milk.
Oat and coconut are frequently ordered by 14% and 10% of US consumers surveyed respectively.
US coffee chains have come under increased pressure to remove additional charges for dairy alternatives, with a recent report by campaign group No Milk Tax suggesting that ‘unfair and outdated’ surcharges could be discriminatory against lactose intolerant customers.
However, indicating how non-dairy is increasingly mainstream in the US branded coffee shop market, a third of US consumers surveyed by World Coffee Portal believe dairy alternatives should be the default beverage pairing at coffee shops.
The move by larger US coffee chains to scrap dairy alternatives follows a growing movement toward equal beverage pricing in the specialty segment.
California-based boutique coffee group Blue Bottle Coffee has been serving oatmilk as the default coffee pairing at all 76 US outlets since June 2022, while Oregon-based specialty coffee roaster and café chain Stumptown Coffee Roasters introduced the same model across its nine US stores in January 2023.
Additionally, Onyx Coffee Lab serves oatmilk as default at its Momentary outlet in Arkansas and charges extra for dairy in a bid to ‘flip the script on the traditional café approach to espresso and milk drinks’.