Caribou Coffee Ditches Its Dairy-Free Milk Surcharge Across Nearly 500 US Stores

Caribou Coffee, the Minnesota chain with nearly 500 coffeehouses across the US, has scrapped its extra charge for plant-based milk. Since Friday, January 2 every customer can choose oat, almond or coconut milk at no extra cost, where before they paid around $1 more.

Caribou first dropped the surcharge in 2023, but only as a perk for loyalty members ordering through its app. Now it applies to everyone. In its announcement, the chain said the plant milks are available "at no extra charge in store, at coffeehouses, the drive-thru or through the Caribou Coffee app".

Animal protection groups Mercy For Animals and PETA both worked behind the scenes to persuade the chain. Jennifer Behr, director of plant-based initiatives at Mercy For Animals, said:

By eliminating the 'plant-based milk tax,' Caribou is helping set a new industry standard for kindness and inclusivity. Mercy For Animals is proud to have worked with Caribou to reach this milestone, which leaves remaining holdouts increasingly out of step with consumer expectations. Caribou Coffee is doing right by its guests, the animals, and the planet.

Caribou joins Starbucks, Dunkin', Tim Hortons, Dutch Bros and Peet's, all of which have already dropped the charge. Mercy For Animals counts more than 360 chains that no longer make customers pay extra for plant milk. The holdouts are getting lonely: Bluestone Lane and Biggby Coffee are still charging, and PETA president Tracy Reiman has urged "holdout coffee chains like The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf to stop charging customers extra for ethical choices". (Your move, Coffee Bean.)

Customers clearly want this. According to Green Queen, nearly a fifth of all drink orders at the chain are already customised with oat or almond milk.

It's good news for the planet as well as the wallet. Oxford University's landmark 2018 food study found a liter of dairy milk produces around 3.15kg of CO2e, more than three times the 0.9kg for oat milk, and needs about 628 liters of water against just 48.2 liters for oat. And with cow's milk one of the most common food allergens in the US, and at least 12% of Americans lactose intolerant, charging extra for the alternative never made much sense.

This is the plant-milk shift we've been charting for years. Starbucks finally launched almond milk in the UK in 2017 and put oat milk in every US store in 2020. A London cafe completely ditched dairy after watching a YouTube video, a 90-year-old New York dairy switched to plant milks, and dairy milk consumption has fallen 25%. If you're not vegan yet, switching your milk is still the easiest place to start, and now it won't cost you a cent more at Caribou.

Same price, kinder cup. The future is looking brighter.