Starbucks will make non-dairy add-on free

Your Starbucks drink with soy, oat, almond or coconut milk won’t cost you extra anymore.

Starting next week, Starbucks customers will no longer pay more for adding non-dairy milk to their orders. The company said the removal of the non-dairy milk surcharge means customers who request it will pay around 10 per cent less than they did previously.

Orders with milk substitutions have proliferated at Starbucks in recent years, alongside non-dairy alternatives in grocery stores. In 2021, Starbucks added oat milk to its menu. Non-dairy milk has become the second most common order modification at Starbucks, behind adding a shot of espresso.

It’s one of several changes Starbucks has made under new CEO Brian Niccol, who took over the struggling company in September.

Starbucks on Wednesday reported a third straight quarter of slumping sales and declining customer visits.

Starbucks’ global sales at stores open at least a year dropped seven per cent last quarter, and the number of customer transactions fell by eight per cent.

“Our financial results were very disappointing,” Niccol said on the company’s quarter earnings call. “It is clear we need to fundamentally change our strategy to win back customers and return to growth.”

Bringing back condiment stations and sharpies

Starbucks is moving quickly under Niccol.

Starbucks is scaling back promotional offers through its mobile app to get customers to pay full price for its coffees and teas. Niccol is aiming to reposition Starbucks as a premium brand that stays away from discounts.

Although it’s paring back discounts, Niccol said the company did not plan to raise prices next year. Starbucks has hiked prices in recent years, leading some customers to turn away from the chain.

Starbucks also said this week that it’s eliminating its controversial olive oil-infused drinks from the menu less than a year after they launched.

The lineup of “Oleato” drinks will be eliminated from Starbucks’ menus in the U.S. and Canada beginning in early November, part of Niccol’s plans to reduce a menu that he recently called “overly complex.”

And Starbucks plans to bring back self-serve condiment stations in stores, Niccol said Wednesday. The company removed them during the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

“Both our customers are asking for it, and our baristas are saying it would help them” speed up orders, he said.

Baristas handwriting customers’ names on their drink orders in marker will also make a comeback, part of Niccol’s strategy to recreate a coffeehouse vibe at the conglomerate and add a “human touch.”

Starbucks shares were largely flat in regular trading but inched up 0.5 per cent after hours.