In the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in California, Siera Strumlauf and Benjamin Robles allege that Starbucks lattes are “uniformly under-filled pursuant to a standardized recipe,” reports CTV News.
To back up their claim, lawyers for the plaintiffs purchased and then measured grande lattes in several states and found that each latte was under-filled by about 25 percent. Grande cups supposedly hold 16 ounces and are considered a medium cup by Starbucks.
The lawsuit also points out that the baristas “intentionally” leave one-quarter-of-an-inch of space between the surface of the foam and the lip of the cup, per company policy. The suit alleges that Starbucks is saving millions of dollars in the cost of goods sold by shortchanging customers while benefiting the company. Starbucks issued a statement on Friday claiming the lawsuit is without merit, according to Seattle PI.
Starbucks allegedly came up with a standardized latte recipe in 2009 to save money on one of its more costly ingredients, milk, according to court documents. The complaint states that the recipe led to lattes being “plainly under-filled” and that the “fill to” line etched into milk steaming pitchers is deliberately marked too low. The lawsuit claims that latte customers are owed more than $5 million in losses, reports Fusion.
Following is Starbucks response to the lawsuit, issued Friday afternoon: “We are aware of the plaintiffs’ claims, which we fully believe to be without merit. We are proud to serve our customers high-quality, handcrafted and customized beverages. Hand-prepared beverages increase the likelihood of variations, as disclosed in the nutritional section of our website. Customers often prescribe for us how they want their beverage prepared (e.g. with room, extra foam), therefore, beverage volumes are largely collaborative. If a customer is unhappy with their beverage preparation then we are happy to remake it to their satisfaction.”
