Starbucks said Tuesday that the coffee chain is changing how it charges for beverage add-ins like matcha and syrups as it moves to standardize pricing across the company’s stores.
Starbucks will now charge 80 cents for any combination of syrup or sauce that modifies an unflavored drink, instead of charging for each addition. But the company noted that it won’t charge customers to substitute a sauce or syrup in a pre-flavored drink, such as adding vanilla syrup to a Caffè Mocha.
Starbucks also plans to charge $1 for adding a scoop of matcha powder to non-matcha drinks, and will charge 50 cents to include dried fruit in a beverage. The changes were reported earlier by Bloomberg News.
The change is the latest under CEO Brian Niccol, who wants to overhaul the coffee giant’s image as it looks to drive growth. As part of that effort, Niccol wants to improve customer service and ensure that Starbucks cafes are “inviting places to linger,” among other goals and initiatives.
The company on Tuesday also said it’s conducting a limited customer test of a new feature in the Starbucks app to show pricing updates in real time when a consumer is ordering food or drinks. The goal is to provide better pricing transparency when people place an order, a Starbucks spokesperson said.
Starbucks said customers can add its classic syrup, a liquid sugar akin to simple syrup, to any drink at no cost.
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