The animal rights group has been urging Starbucks to drop the surcharge for plant-based milks since last July.
As part of PETA’s Week of Action, vegan activists gathered inside Starbucks coffee shops across the US and Canada to protest against the coffee chain’s unfair “vegan tax” on people who don’t drink dairy for ethical, environmental, or health reasons.
Similar protests have been held in Arlington, Virginia; San Diego, California; Portland, Oregon; and New York City, New York.
Starbucks has been offering dairy-free soy since 1997. Later, it added almond and coconut milks to its menu. Recently, the international coffee chain started offering Oatly oat milk at 1,300 locations in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, and Wisconsin.
Unfair surcharge
While many other coffee chains including Pret A Manger, Tim Hortons, Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Noah’s New York Bagels, Philz Coffee, and Costa Coffee have dropped the vegan milk fee, Starbucks continues to charge extra for the alt-dairy varieties citing lesser orders, no subsidies and the need to make special formulations to enhance the beverage as reasons to justify the surplus charge.
Denouncing the reasons, protestors state the coffee chain is being discriminatory and not following through on its promise to be a sustainable business.
“The surcharge is unfair to customers who oppose animal abuse—such as the separation of mother cows from their calves in the dairy industry—and it punishes people who are lactose intolerant (most of whom are people of color) as well as anyone who chooses vegan milk in order to reduce methane-gas emissions,” said PETA.
“PETA is upping the pressure on Starbucks to wake up and smell the coffee: It’s time for the unfair surcharge to end.”
Absolutely insane
WILX quoted Curtis Vollmar, an Animal liberation activist, who said: “It’s just so insane that Starbucks is charging people for making an ethical and environmentally friendly decision.”
“When you take into account the plants that the cow needed, the water that the cow needed, it takes thousands of gallons of water to produce one gallon of milk and we’re charging more for the plant-based milk which requires fewer resources? That’s absolutely insane,” he added.
Is Starbucks justified in charging a vegan tax? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Lifestyle
Vegan culture, food, beauty & more
Gordon Ramsay Ditches Vegan Hate and Backs Flora’s Plant-Based Butter in New ‘Skip the Cow’ Campaign
- Totally Vegan Buzz Team
- 28th January 2025
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, once infamous for his digs at vegans, has taken a sharp turn in the kitchen. Ramsay has teamed up with Flora, the famous UK-based spread brand, as its global ambassador, marking a bold new chapter in Flora’s “Skip the Cow” campaign. Flora, established in 1964, has long been a household name …
The Top 10 Vegan-Friendly Places in Latin America
- Totally Vegan Buzz Team
- 27th January 2025
Latin America is experiencing an extraordinary rise in plant-based dining options. A new study, spearheaded by Veganuary in partnership with the food discovery platform HappyCow, reveals that Latin America now boasts over 10,000 vegan, vegetarian, and vegan-friendly restaurants—an impressive 21.6% jump compared to last year. Brazil takes the crown as the number one country, with …
Continue reading “The Top 10 Vegan-Friendly Places in Latin America”
VEGAN MEMES
NEED A LAUGH?
QUIZZES
All the quizzes you love to binge!
QUIZ: If you score 11/12 on this quiz, you’re a verified vegan food expert
- Marlon Farrugia
- 10th January 2020
How much vegan knowledge do you have stored away? Do you have to Google your way through a shopping trip, or do you have all the bad E-numbers memorised? Find out now with this quiz. [wpViralQuiz id=27203]
QUIZ: What is your perfect Vegan Halloween Costume?
- Marlon Farrugia
- 13th October 2019
Spook Season approaches. There will be ghosts, goblins, ghouls, and glucose. You need a costume, and you want to it to show off your personality, which means VEGAN. But what to choose? Take our quiz to find out your perfect outfit. [wpViralQuiz id=33494]
QUIZ: What kind of vegetable are you?
- Marlon Farrugia
- 26th September 2019
“If you were a vegetable, what kind would you be?” A question that has tormented humanity throughout the ages – until now. [wpViralQuiz id=31281] Read: QUIZ: If you score 19/20 on THIS quiz, you’re a Vegan God