Starbucks makes massive pricing change | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

Starbucks has had a string of disappointing earnings reports, including missing analysts’ expectations in the first quarter of 2025 and reporting revenue of $8.8 billion, which fell around 3% short of the $8.82 billion that was expected. Global comparable store sales were also down 1%, with the decline largely driven by a decrease in transactions.

CEO Brian Niccol, who took charge in September of 2024, has a plan to turn things around, though.

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After joining the chain last year, Niccol decided to get rid of discounts and streamline the store’s pricing system. That decision was made in response to ongoing customer frustration about confusing upcharges and unclear pricing on custom orders.

Of course, it’s not surprising that this would be a pain point for customers. Most people want to have some idea of how much their drink will cost when they make a purchase, and this often ended up being a mystery at Starbucks, where there was no clear system in place for determining how much customized orders cost.

Now, however, there is finally a solution for those who don’t want to be surprised about the price of their Venti Iced Caramel Macchiato with an extra espresso shot, plus a bonus pump of toffee nut syrup – or whatever unusual drink order they come up with.

That solution comes in the form of a major change to the pricing structure that was confirmed by Starbucks on Wednesday.

Starbucks customers will now know the price of their drinks before they buy.

Image source&colon; Shutterstock-Sorbis

Starbucks’ pricing change solves longstanding customer problem

The big change announced on Wednesday involves the creation of a new flat fee structure for customers who add sauces to their drinks or who add or modify syrups when placing a drink order.

Under the new rules that Starbucks is putting in place, customers are now going to pay a flat rate of $0.80 for any combination of syrups and sauces they want to add to their drink. This includes limited-time sauces and syrups.

However, for customers who keep things simple and add just a classic syrup or modify a pre-flavored drink to a different flavor, no extra charges will be imposed.

Starbucks also announced a clear pricing plan for other items as well. For example:

An $0.80 fee will also apply to additional products such as chai concentrate
The price of adding dried fruit will be $0.50 per scoop.

And, as far as Macha powder goes, it will cost $1 per scoop in non-Macha drinks, but when you add an extra scoop to a grande matcha, the price will rise to the level of a venti matcha latte.

Starbucks’ changes are part of an attempt to streamline and simplify

The flat $0.80 cost is part of an effort to simplify things at Starbucks, with the CEO previously stating that the company wanted to introduce more “guardrails” to limit the complexity of drink customizations.

The problem is, customers were often creating overly complicated drinks. These were hard to make, hard to price, and not necessarily the best way to end up with a drink that tastes good.

Some drink options were already removed from the menu last year, and the plan is to reduce options by as much as 30% by year’s end. This will limit some of the different customization options and hopefully reduce wait times in stores.

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Still, for now, this big pricing change is likely to come as a huge relief, not just to the baristas stuck trying to figure out how to charge for complex orders, but also for customers, who want the ability to personalize a drink without wondering how much damage it’s going to do to their wallet.