Today, Starbucks, a company known for making mornings a little bit easier by providing caffeine fixes aplenty, implemented a price increase that's probably not significant enough to ruin customers' days but could give them a grumpier start. Early this morning, The Wall Street Journal first reported that the chain would be making coffees in all sizes more expensive by between 10 and 20 cents at over 8,000 locations.
According to The WSJ's report, the price increase is "due to a recent spike in operating costs." A Starbucks spokesperson tells Refinery29 via email, "In the past year, Starbucks increased prices 1 – 2 % which is on par with the industry practices and is in line with food away from home inflation which is 2.2% – 2.4%."
If you're someone who frequents Starbucks — or reads Starbucks news — this price change probably won't come as a surprise. The Starbucks spokesperson also explains in the recent email, "Starbucks continually evaluates pricing on a product-by-product and market-by-market basis. Evaluating prices periodically allows us to balance the need to run our business profitably while continuing to provide value to our loyal customers and to attract new customers." The last instance of a price change was less than a year ago, in September 2017, when select locations increased prices by about 10 to 30 cents on around 10% of menu items.
At the majority of Starbucks locations, tall brewed coffees will now cost $1.95 to $2.15. Though paying 10 to 20 cents more for your morning coffee is a bit of a bummer, it's important to remember that this price increase applies only to the chain's brewed coffee and not its other beverages. In 97% of store locations, the majority of beverages have been unaffected by any price change, according to Starbucks. So, if, say, a latte or Nitro cold brew is your regular order, you can go about your day without any unfortunate interruptions.