Starbucks has kick-started 2020 by adding two non-dairy drinks in its permanent menu. The two drinks are plant-based milk alternative and they will be available at stores across the United States and Canada. Customers at these locations can order the Coconut milk Latte and the Almond milk Honey Flat White. The coffee giant has also introduced the Oat milk Honey Latte at its about 1,300 cafes in the Midwest. Stores in Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Minnesota are now serving this drink. Earlier, oat milk was only available at a handful of stores in US locations. Starbuck started serving this in Europe in the year 2018.
Between April 2018 and April 2019, sales of oat milk in the United States jumped 222 percent, according to a non-profit institute that supports plant-based businesses. However, oat milk has very little representation in all plant-based milk sales. The year that ended in April 2019 saw oat milk sales of USD 15 million. On the other hand, Almond milk sales reached USD 1.2 billion taking the plant-based milk sale during the period to USD 1.9 billion. There has been a decline in demand for cow’s milk for the past few years. In 2010, the United States saw the sale of 55 billion pounds of milk. This figure dropped by 13 percent to 47.7 billion by 2018. This is evident by the fact that two of the largest milk processors in the US have filed for bankruptcy.
Raegan Powell, Starbucks product developer, said the team started with the coffee when they started to create the three non-dairy drinks. Powell said that Blonde Espresso of Starbucks paired well with the lighter texture of milk alternatives and it is a little bit nuttier. “So it tastes good with the almond-based milk,” he said. The coffee giant added soy milk, its first non-dairy alternative, in 2004. Later, it added coconut milk in 2015 followed by almond milk in 2016. The new non-dairy drinks have been introduced at a time when the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has become a shareholder of the coffee giant.