How Activists Helped Get Starbucks to Drop Its Vegan Milk Surcharge
Starbucks dropped its vegan milk surcharge in the United States and Canada after years of relentless activism from groups like PETA and Switch4Good
Los Angeles November 11th, 2024 — For years, Starbucks customers who desired plant-based milk options – like soy, almond, coconut and oat milk – faced a penalty in the form of an extra charge of up to 80 cents per drink. This practice, which penalized more sustainable and compassionate choices, was first eliminated in some European countries. Now, the vegan milk surcharge has finally been abolished in Starbucks stores across the United States and Canada, thanks to the relentless efforts of animal rights and vegan advocates led by PETA and Switch4Good. UnchainedTV’s Jane Velez-Mitchell spoke with Switch4Good’s Executive Director, Dotsie Bausch, a vegan Olympic medalist, and PETA’s Campaigns Manager Amber Canavan, to find out how they achieved this huge victory.
WATCH THE INSIDE STORY: HOW PETA & SWITCH4GOOD WON THE SURCHARGE WAR!
High-Profile Activism and Consumer Pressure
It was years ago that Starbucks in other countries stopped charging more for plant-based milks. In January of 2022, the coffee giant dropped the surcharge in all of its UK stores, claiming that it did so as part of its wider ambition to become a resource-positive company and migrate to a more environmentally friendly menu. Germany and France did the same in 2023, and now North American stores have finally caught up.
The most iconic and headline-grabbing moment of the American campaign featured vegan actor James Cromwell — famous for his role in the movie Babe and the hit TV show Succession — taking his protest directly into a Manhattan Starbucks and famously gluing himself to a counter to demand an end to the discrimination against those who order plant-based milk. This bold action performed in May of 2022 drew massive media attention and underscored the urgency and passion of the movement. The 84-year-old actor read a statement while his hand was glued to the counter which included the following: “More than 13,000 customers have asked you, now we’re asking you. Will you stop charging more for vegan milk? “When will you stop raking in huge profits while customers, animals and the environment suffer? When will you stop penalizing people for their ethnicities or their morals?”
Campaigners Unite to Achieve Common Goals
This victory marks a turning point in a campaign stretching over several years. The movement’s frontline advocates, Dotsie Bausch and Amber Canavan, were key drivers behind the effort.
Dotsie Bausch is an Olympic silver medalist, activist, speaker, and nonprofit founder. After recovering from a life-threatening eating disorder, she found her love and talent for cycling, which led to a 14-year professional career concluding with a silver medal at the 2012 Olympics. She stars in the 2018 film “The Game Changers,” is featured in the Netflix documentary “Personal Gold,” and gave a TEDx talk. She currently serves as the Executive Director of Switch4Good, a health and performance-focused nonprofit that encourages everyone to ditch dairy products for their health, for the environment and to stop the well-documented, institutionalized cruelty of the dairy industry. Bausch also focuses on the fact that people of color are more likely to be lactose intolerant. This, Bausch charges, makes the non-dairy upcharge racially discriminatory.
“Charging extra money is a form of dietary racism, which we brought to light in this campaign”— Dotsie Bausch, Switch4Good
Amber Canavan is manager of campaigns at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), where she focuses mainly on helping animals used for food. Her victories include persuading Costco, Target, and Albertsons to stop selling coconut milk sourced from brands that depend on forced monkey labor in Thailand, getting Kikkoman to end decades-long experiments on animals, and helping to get a ban on the sale of foie gras from force-fed birds passed in New York City.
The battle against the vegan surcharge has included public demonstrations, celebrity endorsements and lawsuits. While PETA’s celebrity super glue strategy went viral, Switch4Good uncovered Starbucks’ internal data to reveal the company’s embarrassingly large profit margins on plant-based milks, which Bausch charged was a form of price gouging. Starbucks has been experiencing a sales decline and recently brought on a new CEO, Brian Niccol, who previously led Chipotle, which is known for having plentiful vegan options. It was CEO Niccol who made the final decision to get rid of the surcharge.
The campaign didn’t just bring awareness to Starbucks’ surcharge but highlighted deeper societal issues: environmental impacts of dairy, health disparities, animal suffering, and social injustice. However, above all, Bausch said, “This was about normalizing plant food and plant milk.” She added:
“When something’s normal and it’s just on the menu alongside the cow’s milk – we all know the cow’s milk is what should have had the upcharge – then, people feel free, open, even excited to order plant milk because it’s just the same and they don’t have to pay this niche extra upcharge. So it’s about normalization for us.”
The following video shows one of the many protests outside Starbucks stores, this one in LA
The Ripple Effect: Why This Matters for Other Coffee Stores
Starbucks’ decision to eliminate the surcharge could be a catalyst for other coffee chains that are still imposing extra charges for plant-based milks. The campaign’s advocates emphasize that, while this is a step forward, the work isn’t over. As Canavan explains:
“This will inspire other companies to follow suit. There are other chains and also individual coffee stores. The small coffee shops that might still be charging extra maybe felt like they had to because the big guys were and they needed to do that to remain competitive. So, this is just showing that, across the board, plant-based milks are affordable and accessible.”
The successful campaign also highlights the overall decline of dairy in favor of plant-based alternatives. Data reveals that as much as 44% of U.S. households now keep non-dairy milk in their refrigerators.
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