Starbucks Lowers Some Drink Prices, Raises Others
Starbucks has raised the prices of some of their drinks and lowered others, in an effort to differentiate their mixed coffee drinks from those currently offered at McDonald's. By making them more expensive, apparently.
The price of sugary Starbucks concoctions with several ingredients, like Frappuccinos and caramel macchiatos, will increase an average 10 cents to 15 cents, but in some cases as much as 30 cents, or about 8 percent, said Valerie O'Neil, a Starbucks spokeswoman.
The price of the most popular beverages - 12-ounce lattes and brewed coffees - will decrease an average of 5 cents to 15 cents. This is the first time Starbucks has lowered prices, she said. It last increased the price of drinks by 5 cents in 2007.
They'll also be changing menus around to make less expensive brewed coffee and espresso drinks more prominent.
Counter-intuitive move in a recession, maybe, but perhaps customers who once spent larger totals will buy less expensive drinks while maintaining their Starbucks habit. Oatmeal prices remain unchanged.
Will the Hard-Core Starbucks Customer Pay More? The Chain Plans to Find Out [New York Times]
(Photo: Atwater Village Newbie)
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I'm a whore for coffee. Yes, I'll pay more.
I tried the McDonald's coffee. It made me gag. It's horrible. I understand that some people feel the same way about SB, but I like it and I will continue to buy the beans for use in my own home and get the occasional latte out in down.
Well if it means less people ordering complicated sugary milkshakes, I'm all for it. Just give me a plain latte or iced coffee and I'm happpy.
I'm a simple soul. A cuppa a regular joe suits me fine.
The theory is probably that since McDonald's doesn't really sell something comparable to a Frapaccino, customers who want them will go to SB even if the price is higher.
Several summers ago, SB took a hit because of high frap sales - because they took so long to make, customers got fed up and stopped going there because the wait/line was too long. Given that SB probably spends more on labor than on coffee, they would probably rather sell two coffees than one frap.
Yes! Drip coffee is cheaper now! I can stop drinking the mud water at the cafe downstairs. Say what you will about Starbucks, but I've found a coffee shop that is the worst thing I've ever tasted. I'm glad to have an incentive to walk farther to get to Starbucks.
espresso con panna. best and one of the cheapest drinks on the menu.
Oh, goddamnit. Hopefully the Starbucks at my university is slow to pick up the price increase...
Hopefully the price of their tea doesn't increase. I always get a passion tea shaken lemonade <3
@madanthony: Bingo! Hate to wait in line for a regular coffe. Also, you can crank out at least five regular coffees while doing a complicated coffee.
I've found the best deal on coffee beverages at a locally operated chain of farm markets (a grocery store that specializes in fresh produce and meats). Cheaper than SB or Dunkin', and better quality too.
I have become a simple soul. I used to drink 3 or 4 mochas a day. (It's easy when you work in the industry - I worked for several indy coffee shops over the course of five years in the middle of the nineties.)
My current regular drink is -
Winter: 3 shots of espresso, about 2 ounces of steamed milk.
Summer: 3 shots of espresso over ice, a little cold half & half, and about 1/2 ounce (one "pump") either simple syrup (called "classic" at SB) or vanilla syrup.
Much cheaper than mochas, etc... and many many fewer calories while still delivering the caffeine that I'm really there for.
@techgoddess: now with more tech than goddess:
Oh I like that one too, I get occassionaly on a hot muggy day.
I'm sorry starbucks, but if the price of a frappuccino goes up any more, I'm done with it. 4.07 right now for a SMALL java chip frap with a shot of peppermint. I'd rather spend 2.57 at Dunkin Donuts for large Iced Coffee.
Interesting. The price of a venti drip coffee actually went up by $0.15 in Fresno, CA yesterday to $2.00. It's still cheaper than Elk Grove, CA and West Sacramento, CA by at least $0.15, or was last I checked.
I'd spring for the inevitable 'but I make mine at home!!' comment and hopefully nip it in the bud, but my husband broke my beloved French press so now I can't make any!
Good. I never buy anything but plain coffee, an occasional breakfast sandwich, and whole beans at SB anyway. The next step is to have a separate express line for plain coffee during busy times.
Ah, but how will this affect the price of my kid's size hot chocolate, the only item I purchase there 'cause I'm po'?
@techgoddess: now with more tech than goddess:
I used to get that drink, then I discovered the Iced Venti Two-Pump Classic Green Tea Lemonade.
Manna from Heaven, I tell you. Manna. From. Heaven.
I think if you're spending >$3.50 for a Frap, worrying about the extra $.05-.15 is not really worth the effort. Also I would be amazed if lowering the price of a beverage by $.05 is going to make any difference at all other than reduce their bottom line.
@CaptainSemantics: You shouldn't have to specify that you want classic syrup, since that's the standard add now that melon is gone. :)
Also, have you tried it with raspberry syrup? Highly, highly recommended.
@rdclark: Which will never happen, since there's no way to enforce it. Then you just end up pissing everyone off...
The idea has come up many times before, but I don't think it's feasible.
@Oranges w/ Cheese - now with 50% more kitty!: But Ikea is so far away! Which is bad if there's something that I want, but good because I like having money.
I did find out that Target sells the exact model (I've had it for years and love it), and there's one near his work so I'm going to send him down there to get a replacement.
@bornonbord: What you say is true: If an article had not pointed it out, I never would have even recognized a price difference. I buy coffee at whatever price it is when I want it.
@bornonbord: What you say is true:
Seconded. On an individual note, I can't honestly see $.05 one way or the other making any difference to anybody. Obviously in huge volumes, it makes a big difference to SB - but to the guy/gal ordering a coffee? Who cares? If it was a dollar cheaper across the street, I might be bothered to cross. Otherwise...stuff it.
@YouDidWhatNow?:
...er, which is not a "stuff it" directed at pi. Just a generalized "stuff it" I guess, aimed at, um, whatever. Full disclosure: I may be in a bad mood because i'm stuck at an airport with a 3 hour delay...
If you like Frappucinos, be sure to take advantage of a promo they have going on weekdays (at least here in NY). Buy a regular coffee in the morning (~2 bucks) and get any cold coffee drink (including Frappucino) for 2 bucks after 2pm. That's less than half-price. I think the promo is going on for a few more weeks.
I have never been a foofoo coffee drinker, I like my coffee large, black, no cream, no sugar... Starbucks overpriced burned drip is the only coffee I have to dilute with cream and sugar, I hate their coffee, I am perfectly happy with paying $.25-.50 cents less at AM/PM, it is faster and they don't ask for a tip to do their job.
I wonder if this is related to the stories recently that the price of sugar is going way up. Preemptive strike?
@YouDidWhatNow?: I'll bet if you got a coffee you'd feel better. Oh? You're 5¢ short? Now you're REALLY gonna be pissed...
No surprise. Check the price rise of sugar on the commodity markets. Sugar prices have had a big run up this year. Therefore, the price increase is passed to consumers. See chart below.
Its not feasible. I worked at a hippe indy shop many years ago that had one and it was a NIGHTMARE. A single drip coffee quickly became "with a cookie and a latte", and then "but I AM ordering coffee! I just ..."
Ugh, nightmare. And telling someone to please get in the other line was horrible. And that's in Canada, where lining up is almost a sport.
A brewed coffee lover I don't go to Starbucks as much any more. I mostly drink decaf--theirs is the only decent decaf to me--and most places decided after 11 am not to make it available, and certainly no free refills with your card. So, 8 pm and no brewed decaf--part of the money saving choices. We will see how this one works out.
Before Starbucks became the McDonald's of coffee, this might have been a good idea. When they're in half the supermarkets in the country, I don't think premium pricing is going to work.
This assumes that SB's pricing is consistent which it isn't. Many hotel lobby & airport locations already charge higher prices.
Just add the disclaimer: "Violators may be beaten up by the people behind them in line." :)
@blueneon: I second that. I used to say that I get my cup o' Joe to JUUUUUST the right color with loads of cream and sugar. Then I add the coffee. Can't imagine coffee any other way.
@thereij: the beans are good, especially if you make your own blends ... i still prefer gevalia though.
Smug, stupid coffee drinkers with the illusion that they're cool are meant for one thing: To be separated from their money and make moronic businesses like Starbucks a lot of money.
@thereij: I tried it, and I have to say the taste I was getting mostly was burned and strangely acidic. Starbucks is definitely the better cup, and that's not saying much.
Still, I prefer to make it myself or buy it from a local coffee shop that's not usually too close to where I do my errands. So I generally only drink my own coffee, made in an Aeropress.
@lpranal: Eh, double espresso machiatto is my preferred $2 drink. Then again, I don't really like my coffee sweet, aside from the natural lactose sugar in a bit of milk foam. Seriously, hot coffee plus a little milk makes its own sweetness if you don't bust your taste buds with a bunch of candy and HFCS-laced food.
@JulesNoctambule: Aeropress. It's made of polycarbonate plastic, so it's totally husband-proof. And don't worry, it releases no BPA into the coffee.
Ohhh.. is melon gone? I hated that melon flavour. I would specifically ask not to put it into my green tea latte's there cause I hated the aftertaste.
I've had a latte with raspberry syrup in it.. yum. Raspberry brings out the flavour of chocolate in coffee.
delish.
As a former Barista (college student, 3 years behind the apron) and current investor in the company, I need to say that his makes perfect sense.
Drink orders that go beyond a simple latte or drip coffee ALL have two things in common: a higher manufacturing time and a higher error (perceived and actual) than the other beverages.
Blended Beverages are, by and large, the worst drinks the company offers in terms of time to produce them and the number of strange peeves that people associate with them. Too much ice, too little ice, 'I thought this drink was iced!' from people who order a mocha and don't know that it is somehow different from a frappucino. Point being, the profit margins on the damned things are tiny as compared to drip coffee or even standard lattes.
Drip coffee and simple (standard recipe) lattes are by far the most commonly ordered drinks amongst regulars and morning customers, and they're simple to make and rarely are screwed up.
However, regular customers with complicated drinks are not uncommon, and they tend to send drinks back at a higher rate, meaning that they cost more, in terms of time and wasted product. These people are also creatures of obsessive habit, and therefore are also likely to continue to buy their morning Half-Caf Triple Tall percent no foam light whip two pumps vanilla one pump sugar free vanilla 2 pump mochas. A drink so obscene I had to change two of the syrup types and omit the bizarre milk combination to keep it from being too recognizable.
The one thing we'll never know (the company doesn't carefully record this per drink, but rather per shift) and I'd be curious about is how this will affect tipping. Any thoughts on that from regulars who will be affected by the price changes?
Bleh. I know that they get a very large majority of their morning traffic thru drip coffee and the things they just lowered the prices on. This will most likely result in people who had switched possibly coming back to starbucks vs. Mcdonalds or dunkin. However, they're alienating people like me who hate coffee unless its filled with cream and sugar and <3 their mixed drinks. $3.85 for a frap was bad enough.
I think they're trying to match the dollar amount with the calorie count.