Spokesman Jim Olson said that on a national basis, only 20 percent of USA customers will feel it, as prices for some of the most popular beverages, like frapuccinos and cold beverages in most markets, won’t go up.
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Small and large coffees will jump in price by about 10 cents in most parts of the US, bringing the average price of a large – and plain – coffee to about $2.45 in most parts of the country.
The Seattle-based company also raised prices nationally about a year ago.
The increases, which the coffee giant usually doles out every summer, affect several items in various markets differently. Starbucks is citing rising labor and rent costs for this latest round of increases.
In a statement, Starbucks said change in cost is a result of constant evaluation of the financials on their end, and striving to strike the balance between providing a product of value to their customers as while as running a profitable business.
Some other retailers have started raising prices in cities that have passed wage increases. This is the first increase in prices on those items in two years. The reason for those originally high prices was the prolonged drought in Brazil and other key coffee growing nations, which limited supply.
In fact, the J.M. Smucker Company reduced the cost of its Folgers and Dunkin Donuts coffee brands by six per cent in the United States.
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