New Starbucks CEO Gets a Breather From PETA’s Vegan Milk Campaign

For Immediate Release:
September 9, 2024

Contact:
Reed Bolonyi 202-483-7382

PETA is pushing pause on its campaign calling on Starbucks to stop charging extra for vegan milks in order to give new CEO Brian Niccol time to make the change—but the group is leaving the former CEO of Chipotle with some food for thought for his first day on the job. In The Seattle Times today, Niccol will see an open letter from PETA supporter Shannon Blair—the mother of Evan, a 13-year-old boy who was wrongfully arrested in March while peacefully protesting at a Starbucks store in Florida—pleading with the CEO to end the upcharge.

“Dairy is devastating for the environment, human health, and the cows whose beloved babies are torn away from them shortly after birth,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is urging Brian Niccol to make Starbucks as vegan-friendly as Chipotle by dropping the plant-based milk upcharge.”

PETA also sent Niccol a letter praising Chipotle’s many vegan options and offering to meet with him to discuss why Starbucks must stop penalizing customers who avoid dairy for ethical, environmental, health, or religious reasons.

In the dairy industry, cows are repeatedly forcibly impregnated and their calves are taken away from them within a day of birth so that the milk meant to nourish them can be stolen and sold to humans. Once their bodies wear out from repeated pregnancies, they’re sent to slaughter.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.