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Vol. 5, Iss. 6
May 31, 2016

Starbucks Sued For Too Much Ice In Its Drinks

 

I love Diet-Coke. I drink more of it than I should. And my wife is on my back about it. And she’d be even more so if told her the real amount that I drink. I much prefer the soda from a fountain than a bottle. And that’s because of the added enjoyment that comes from the ice. Sloshing it around in the cup. Sucking on it. Chewing it. It’s as much a part of the drink as the drink. But ice in a fountain drink can be a tricky thing. You want it – but not too much. Of course, when the fountain is self-serve, I am able to obtain my ideal ice to soda ratio. But when someone else is filling the cup -- all I can do is watch and hope for the best.

Starbucks recently landed in hot water over ice in its beverages. On April 27 the coffee giant was sued in Illinois federal court in a putative nationwide class action. Lead plaintiff Stacy Pincus says that Starbucks advertises its cold drinks by the ounce. However, on account of ice in its beverages, customers who order and pay for a drink receive “much less than advertised – often nearly half as many fluid ounces.”

[As an aside, speaking of Starbucks beverages, I have always marveled at the company’s genius. It’s an impressive feat to get your customers to call a size small drink a “tall.” I’m small. I don’t call myself tall.]

Ms. Pincus describes Starbucks’s scheme this way in her complaint:

22. Starbucks’ drinks are created according to a standard designed practice. For Cold Drinks, the standard practice is to fill the cup to the top black line with the Cold Drink liquid. [There is a picture in the complaint depicting an empty plastic Starbucks cup with three horizontal lines.] Large pieces of ice are then added to the top of the cup. For example, if a customer orders a Venti iced coffee or shaken iced tea Cold Drink, the Starbucks employee will pour iced coffee or tea into the cup up to the top black line, as represented by this picture: [Here there is a picture in the complaint depicting a plastic Starbucks cup half-filled with a dark liquid.]

23. After pouring the Cold Drink in the cup, the Starbucks employee will add large pieces of ice to the top of the cup. Starbucks employees fill Cold Drink cups with ice using pre-measured plastic scoopers, which escalate in size depending on the size of the drink. For example, a Starbucks employee uses a larger scooper to add ice to a Venti drink than they would to add ice to a Grande drink. [Different size ice scoopers? Really? That doesn’t seem necessary. I have to check for that.]

26. The top black line on the Starbucks Venti Cold Drink cup typically represents approximately 14 fluid ounces, as demonstrated below. Put another way, when a Starbucks employee fills a Venti Cold Drink cup to the top black line, they are only pouring about 14 fluid ounces of Cold Drink into the cup, not 24 fluid ounces. (emphasis in original). [In case you aren’t getting this, there is a picture in the complaint of a Pyrex measuring cup filled with fourteen ounces of a dark liquid.]


Ms. Pincus, on behalf of herself and every person in America who has purchased a cold drink at Starbucks between April 27, 2006 and today – man that’s a lot of people -- seeks damages (including punitive) from Starbucks for such things as breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty of merchantability, negligent misrepresentation, fraud and violation of various consumer protection statutes.

Stacy Pincus is right and nobody can dispute it – you don’t get 24 ounces of beverage when ordering a 24 ounce cold drink at Starbucks. Ice is part of the deal. But every beverage buyer knows this going in. It’s an unwritten clause in the unwritten beverage contract. Starbucks isn’t trying to fool anyone. If you don’t like it, ask for your drink without ice.

The case is Stacy Pincus, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated v. Starbucks Corporation, No. 16-4705, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

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