When Starbucks decided to get in on the so-called “value menu wars” this summer, the accompanying promotion was introduced with quite a splash — and perhaps understandably so. The Seattle-based global coffee giant hasn’t offered anything akin to the combo-meals that make up so much of the classic fast-food domain since 2009. Launched in June along with hundreds of headlines highlighting the deal, the Pairings Menu included a hot or iced coffee or tea with a croissant for $5, or a breakfast sandwich with a coffee or tea for $6. Customers also had the option to swap in a Double Smoked Bacon or Impossible breakfast sandwich for $7.
While the Pairings Menu was originally cast as a limited-time offer – as Starbucks never indicated a specific end date in its marketing materials – it seemed possible the promotion was actually a trial period to determine if a value meal would become a permanent fixture for the coffee chain.
After all, in the face of economic uncertainty and increasingly vocal customer discontent regarding climbing fast-food prices, it seemed like every chain was pivoting to value meals, from Taco Bell’s $7 Luxe Cravings Box (packed with a Chalupa Supreme, Beefy 5-Layer Burrito, Double Stacked Taco, chips and nacho cheese sauce and a medium drink for about half the typical menu cost) to McDonald’s $5 Value Meal, which includes four items: a McChicken or McDouble, four piece chicken nuggets, fries and a drink.
New quarterly sales numbers for Starbucks may reflect that consumer fatigue. As reported by the Associated Press last week, Starbucks sales dropped 3% globally at stores open for at least a year this quarter, while traffic at U.S. stores declined 6%.
Ex-CEO Howard Schultz has vocally attributed this dip to the fact that he believes the company needs to refocus on coffee instead of an increasingly complex and colorful array of frappuccinos and bubble tea-inspired drinks that can run north of $9. That is where the Pairings Menu was supposed to come in; it was a way to bring financially overextended customers back in for the basics.
However, less than a week after Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan’s latest earnings call with analysts last Wednesday, the company quietly discontinued its value meal.
Users of the Starbucks app on Tuesday began to notice the Pairings Menu was no longer available on the platform. Meanwhile, the landing page for the promotion was directing visitors back to the Starbucks homepage. Some took to r/Starbucks, the subreddit dedicated to the chain, to express their disappointment and see if it was possibly a temporary glitch. “The Pairings Menu has left the building,” one Reddit user grimly posted.
“Oof, I was hoping the app just needed to update,” another user commented. “They’re gonna lose some business from me on this one. I love taking my dog and getting a pup cup, but that pairing menu was saving me [$3] per order. I won’t go back to paying more.”
Some subreddit members who identified themselves as Starbucks employees reported that the promotion had, indeed, been discontinued. “So fun that they did it with no warning to customers so multiple people got really mad at me about it yesterday!” one such user wrote. “I have never had to bring a supervisor into a conversation that many times.”
I visited two Chicago-area Starbucks on Thursday afternoon to ask employees if their locations still had the Pairings Menu. Staff at both locations said they were no longer offering the meal, and one barista added that employees were instructed to guide customers towards other options. “No Starbucks is doing it anymore,” he said. “Isn’t it a shame? It was a good deal.”
Later that evening, a representative from Starbucks corporate confirmed to Salon the promotion had been discontinued.
“Starbucks has a long history of surprising and delighting our customers with periodic offers and promotions such as Double Star Days, Buy One Share One offers, 50% off beverages and more,” a Starbucks spokesperson wrote via email. “Starbucks Pairings were a limited time offer, and we look forward to continuing to create value for our customers through compelling offers. The Starbucks app continues to be the best place for the most current Starbucks deals.”
The promotion wasn’t without its detractors. Fox Business, for instance, collected a handful of customer complaints about the relative value (or perceived lack thereof) of the deal for an article headlined: “Starbucks 'Pairings Menu' panned: 'Where's the meal?'” However, some staff members in r/starbucks have simply attributed the discontinuation of the menu to bad timing.
“They made an enormous mistake launching Pairings over the summer, when our business is always at its lowest,” one store supervisor wrote. “If they had waited for fall launch and school to start back up, it would have been one hell of a success.”
For now, it looks like Starbucks may be refocusing on delivery in the next quarter. In June, the chain announced it would begin delivery via GrubHub in select markets in Pennsylvania, Colorado and Illinois, with national availability anticipated in all 50 states across the U.S. by this month.
Editor's Note: The original version of this story included a quote about the Pairings Menu that had been erroneously attributed to Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan. The quote has been removed, and the story has been updated with additional context.
