Starbucks customers give damning verdict on hated feature of coffee chain READ MORE: Fall drink menu is back at Starbucks - with new flavors By Daniel Jones, Consumer Editor For Dailymail.Com Published: 22:17 EDT, 7 October 2024 | Updated: 23:42 EDT, 7 October 2024 e-mail 51 View comments Starbucks customers are deserting the chain in their millions - and a new report confirms one of their biggest gripes is real. Earlier this year, the company reported a fall in sales for the first time in nearly three years, and that was at the height of the pandemic.
Bosses said multiple factors were to blame - Americans cutting back, bad weather, and long wait times putting off customers. Another that bosses wouldn't admit but customers - and analysts - frequently cited was price, with a $8 coffee now normal. Now, a new survey shows that only 51 percent of customers believe that Starbucks is affordable - far below its competitors.
That puts it at the bottom of a list of America's seven biggest coffee shop chains, and a long way behind sixth-placed Caribou Coffee at 66 percent. Considered most most affordableis Tim Hortons at 79 percent, followed by Dunkin Donuts at 74 percent, according to the report by Technomic . Newly minted Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol (pictured) vowed to re-establish coffeehouse culture and ensure stores deliver drinks and food on time Read More Starbucks gets a roasting as tens of millions of customers ditch coffee chain for rivals - with CEO blaming sinking sales on l.