Starbucks has been going through some changes lately. Since its new CEO Brian Niccol burst onto the scene in September 2024, a host of strategy shifts have been underway.
The idea has broadly been to re-establish Starbucks as a kind of community hub, with Niccol wanting more seating, friendly vibes, and a return to its coffee shops being seen as hangout spots.
That said, its longstanding policy of allowing people to take a seat without buying something has been revoked, which might be counterintuitive for the third space vibe the brand seems to be aiming for.
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As reported by Bloomberg, there are some new changes on the way pertaining to how the coffee chain charges for drink add-ons.
In a move to standardise pricing across its stores in the US, Starbucks is going to start charging 80 cents for syrups and sauces added to otherwise unflavoured drinks. Chai fans might come unstuck too, as each additional pump of the stuff will be charged at 80 cents.
Additionally, if you want to substitute a sauce that comes with a drink as standard, the changes will mean you can make that change at no extra charge.
In another change, the chain will start charging a dollar for scoops of matcha powder added to non-matcha drinks, and will also start charging 50 cents for dried fruit add-ons.
Starbucks’ classic syrup, which is essentially just a shot of liquid sugar, will remain available free of charge.
Along with physical store changes, the digital side is getting a light revamp too.
Starbucks announced on June 24th 2025 that it’s running a customer trial for a new Starbucks app feature that updates prices in real-time while a customer is ordering food or drinks.
While the move is aimed at providing greater transparency, it does beg the question of why prices are variable enough that the figure can change in the few minutes it takes to queue, order, and pay.
Does the Starbucks app not total up an order as you go, like any other food ordering app? Is it a sign that Starbucks might move to a surge pricing strategy like Uber? It’s a little confusing, anyway, but perhaps someone can educate us in the comments.
The changes have had a mixed reaction from Redditors on the r/starbucks subreddit.
“We have a woman who gets 25 pumps of chai in her venti iced chai… I am not excited to deal with that altercation,” said one comment.
“This is a soft way of discouraging modifications,” theorised another. “Rather than take away the ability to mod how you want, they're disincentivizing it.
“For people who like to mod drinks, it means paying more, but in the aggregate, it might discourage them enough to get people to stop doing it, which will mean speedier service for the rest.”
“This is beyond stupid,” bemoaned another who implied they work at one of its stores. “I love when Starbucks changes rules like this and is like ‘it's good for customers!’ and then we have to deal with people getting pissed about it.”
Retail do be like that.
Rachael Davis