Starbucks is not ending its extra charge for plant-based milks

• Starbucks is not stopping its practice of charging for plant-based milk on January 1, 2022.

• A fake press release was put out on Thursday by an unknown organization claiming to be Starbucks.

Editor's note: A previous version of this story repeated a fake press release's claims as true. The story has been updated.

Starbucks will continue charging customers extra for plant-based milk despite a fake press release put out by an unknown organization claiming to be Starbucks, the company confirmed to Insider.

The press release, which was sent out to reporters on Thursday, claimed the chain was ending the practice to fight "dietary racism."

"This announcement is false and this website is not associated with Starbucks," Starbucks said in a statement.

Starbucks added oat milk in March 2021, alongside almond milk added in 2016 and coconut milk in 2015. The chain has had plant-based milk on the menu since 2004, with the addition of soy milk.

Plant-based milk currently comes with a 70 cent upcharge on any drinks they are added to. When oat milk was first added to menus, it was so popular that many stores reported they were out of oat milk, which several workers told Insider was at least in part due to the popularity of the Ice Brown Sugar Oat Milk Shaken Espresso.

In 2020, former COO Roz Brewer said "While there's no single factor in pricing decisions we expect costs to come down as the supply chain for plant-based options matures," in responses to questions about eliminating fees.

Read the original article on Business Insider