By Taylor Zeulner | Social Media Intern
Most coffee shops charge customers when they change drink orders to alternative milk. Though a slight upcharge may seem like a small change, these costs add up for those who regularly buy drinks from local businesses. The beverage market has normalized adding alternative milk to the menu, but the pricing scale needs to change.
Drinks made with oat, almond and coconut milk are commonly ordered at coffee shops. The situation of changing milks for extra money creates unfair consumer choice. When one customer orders an oat milk latte and another customer orders a whole milk latte, the second will pay less. The charge disadvantages consumers who can’t process dairy or have personal preferences not partaking in having dairy.
Alternative milk isn’t much of an alternative anymore. Lactose intolerance has become the most common digestive inconvenience among 65% to 70% of the world’s adult population, raising the demand for non-dairy milk options. Coffee shops know that the culture surrounding milk has changed.
Alternative milk has become a normal part of menus and is often the healthier choice for people with dietary restrictions. That is why no one should be asked to pay more to accommodate their dietary needs. Coffee shops know that more customers are adding alternative milk to their orders and should be aware of implementing various affordable options into their menus.
One might say customers pay more for alternative milk because it costs more. The prices vary, with regular milk costing $4.21 per gallon and alternative milk costing $7.27 per gallon. While the wholesale price of other milk options can’t be ignored, we can apply this to every other ingredient within a beverage.
If a different syrup or cold foam was asked to be changed to a different flavor, it opens up the discussion of if those ingredients should also be at placed at an increased expense.
One might argue that businesses need to charge for milk options because they need to make money. In this case, most coffee shops have the opportunity to discard alternative milk as a markup and implement a different pricing method increasing the amount of other ingredients instead, as many of them are independent small businesses.
Upcharging for alternative milk is discriminatory to those who have differing dietary needs or preferences. Customers should not have to deal with the annoyance of having to add $1 to their drink when beverages already are getting increasingly expensive. If regular milk is included in the standard recipe, there should not be an additional charge when someone can’t or doesn’t want the kind of milk in a drink they came to enjoy.
