Victory! Tim Hortons Confirms End to Vegan Milk Upcharge Following PETA Push

For Immediate Release:
February 11, 2025

Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382

Good Moo-ve! After hearing from PETA, Tim Hortons has confirmed it is no longer charging customers extra for vegan milk—a move that helps leave mother cows and their calves in peace, reduces the company’s greenhouse gas emissions, and earns a whole latte love from PETA and conscientious consumers. In thanks, PETA is sending the Toronto-based coffeehouse and restaurant chain an assortment of delicious vegan chocolates.

Tim Hortons—one of the largest coffee chains in the world with more than 3,000 locations in Canada and nearly 700 in the U.S.—is the third major coffee chain to drop the upcharge in the last three months, following Starbucks in November 2024 and Dutch Bros Coffee in January 2025.

“Dairy is devastating for the cows whose beloved babies are torn away from them shortly after birth so that the milk they were meant to drink can be sold commercially instead,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA celebrates Tim Hortons’ decision and urges holdout coffee chains, like Peet’s, to stop milking kind consumers who choose animal- and planet-friendly vegan milk.”

Cows have deep maternal instincts, and like all mothers, including humans, produce milk only to feed their babies. In the dairy industry, cows are repeatedly forcibly inseminated—workers insert an arm into the cow’s rectum and a metal rod to deliver semen into her vagina. Newborn males are routinely slaughtered for veal, while female calves endure the same fate as their mothers until their bodies also wear out and they’re sent to slaughter.

PETA points out that cows in the dairy industry belch out massive amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere, fueling the climate catastrophe. Each person who goes vegan spares nearly 200 animals every year, dramatically shrinks their food-related carbon footprint, and slashes their risk of suffering from cancer, heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and obesity. PETA’s free vegan starter kit is filled with tips to help anyone looking to make the switch.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—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 PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.