Major coffee chains sued for surcharge on non-dairy drinks

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Major coffee chains are being sued for charging Canadian customers more for ordering non-dairy substitutes, such as almond, oat, coconut, cashew or soy beverages, rather than regular milk.

A new class action lawsuit brought forward by a former Concordia University student alleges that “for years” Starbucks, Tim Hortons and Second Cup have been “price gouging consumers” who swap out dairy, according to an application to the Superior Court in Quebec filed on Dec. 30, 2024.

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The suit intends to make the coffee chains reimburse coffee drinkers and stop the alleged surcharging practice.

A coffee drinker might opt for an alternative for medical reasons like lactose intolerance  — which affects roughly 44 per cent of Canadians, per a study in the Journal of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology published in 2018 — or other reasons, such as personal, social or environmental. The university student, who is unnamed in the lawsuit, is vegan, along with approximately 850,000 others in Canada, Statista reported in 2023.

“Treating non-dairy substitutes as ‘extras’ instead of as replacements allows Starbucks, Second Cup and Tim Hortons to literally keep ‘le beurre et l’argent du beurre,’ (or ‘to have their cake and eat it, too’) by charging an additional $0.80 plus taxes (Starbucks and Second Cup) and $0.50 plus taxes (Tim Hortons) for non-dairy substitutes that cost them a fraction of that amount, at most,” the lawsuit application alleges.

Joey Zukran, a lawyer at LPC Avocats who filed the application, said research shows that in many cases, it costs less to use dairy alternatives than it does to use milk. A study done by Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab in 2022 found that “dairy alternatives are cheaper in three provinces: Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec.”

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“Now, I agree … it’s not a question about discrimination or about abuse if it turns out that it actually costs them 80 cents — or anywhere close to 80 cents — for a (dairy) substitute,” he told the National Post. “We’re in a situation where there has to be change. In 2025, especially with the market how it is, people should be able to have their latte without spending 15 per cent more on their drink for a … substitute.”

In October 2024, months before the lawsuit, Starbucks announced they would no longer charge customers for choosing dairy substitutes. The change came into effect for Canadian and American customers on Nov. 7 the same year, according to the statement.

“We are aware of the class action and cannot comment on pending litigation,” Starbucks said in a statement to the National Post on Wednesday.

Tim Hortons followed suit this month.

“We obtained some form of justice already for consumers,” said Zukran. “We hope that it serves as a deterrent to other coffee shops or others in the restaurant industry.”

Tim Hortons spokesperson Michael Oliveira told the National Post in an emailed statement on Wednesday that “it has never been our policy to charge a fee to have a non-dairy beverage added to an original or dark roast coffee, or tea — contrary to the claim (made in the lawsuit) that this may have occurred more than a billion times within the last three years.”

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“This suggestion is inaccurate and we believe it is indicative of the lack of merit in the claim,” per the statement.

He also said the decision to no longer charge for non-dairy options for other beverages as of Jan. 2, 2025 significantly pre-dated the court filing.

Second Cup did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to the application, customers in Canada can join the class action against Starbucks if they were charged for a non-dairy substitute between Dec. 30, 2021 and Nov. 7 2024. Customers of Tim Hortons and Second Cup can join if they were charged between Dec. 30, 2021 until the present.

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