Starbucks' 15 Yuan Breakfast Combo Discontinued! Netizens "Mourn" the Loss of the "Budget Meal"

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"Born from the pandemic, gone with the pandemic... Starbucks has once again taken away the happiness of the poor! Will this week's coffee and breakfast combo make a comeback!!"

The cheapest coffee of the week has been discontinued, and Starbucks' breakfast combo, which was mockingly called the "poor person's meal" by netizens, has also been removed from shelves.

End of an Era: Coffee of the Week Discontinued

At the end of 2021, Starbucks China quietly discontinued its veteran product, the "Coffee of the Week" (fresh drip coffee), which could be purchased for just 20 yuan.

Simultaneously, they launched a completely new Fresh Brew Drip Coffee, made using a semi-automatic drip coffee machine independently developed by Starbucks China, extracting one cup at a time. However, the price is significantly higher than the machine-made Coffee of the Week.

At that time, many netizens mentioned that many stores had stopped providing this coffee before the Coffee of the Week was discontinued, because making Coffee of the Week required consuming large amounts of coffee beans, and typically only one cup was sold per batch, making machine cleaning too troublesome. The Coffee of the Week product can be described as both very conspicuous and very inconspicuous. What's conspicuous is that the machine used to make this coffee is very large and typically positioned behind the checkout area, making it extremely noticeable.

However, despite this, the words "Coffee of the Week/Fresh Brew Drip Coffee" only appeared on paper menus, rarely appearing on the menu boards behind the bar. Additionally, the coffee machines gradually stopped displaying signs telling customers which coffee beans were available for drip coffee that week. As a result, many new customers were unaware of what the machine was used for, and old customers gradually forgot that Starbucks offered fresh drip coffee. Recently, Starbucks struck again... announcing the discontinuation of the 15/19 yuan limited-time breakfast combo after February 27th. Regarding Starbucks' decision, many working people expressed: "My poor person's meal is gone!!"

"The happiness of saving 4 yuan with a personal cup is gone!!"

The Rise and Fall of Starbucks' Breakfast Strategy

Starting from October 2020, as the pandemic continued to recur, for a long time, major restaurants could only provide takeout/delivery services. After banning in-store dining, Starbucks lost its "third space" advantage, and many white-collar workers began working from home. The high product pricing caused store sales to decline for a time. To alleviate this situation, Starbucks ventured into a territory they hadn't explored for years: the breakfast market. Subsequently, they launched affordable breakfast series combinations. Each combo included a main dish plus a cup of freshly prepared steamed milk. Consumers could also order individual items according to personal preference or choose to upgrade the beverage in the breakfast combo to Starbucks coffee for an additional 15 yuan or more.

After resuming the service of using personal cups for drinks, customers using their own cups could get an additional 4 yuan discount, meaning they could purchase a Starbucks breakfast combo for as low as 11 yuan! The launch of the combo meals made many working people say it was an amazing deal! So convenient.

Public Reaction to the Discontinuation

Now, as the pandemic recedes, Starbucks has also discontinued the breakfast combo. Many netizens have collectively "mourned" on social media platforms, some calling it a "forced breakup," while others have started lighting "digital incense" to "mourn" the demise of this poor person's meal.

In response, many netizens in the comment section below mentioned that McDonald's and KFC's breakfast combos are also very good deals! There's no need for this! To this, sad netizens replied: There's definitely a Starbucks on the way to work or near office buildings, but not necessarily McDonald's and KFC.

A large portion of the breakfast consumer group consists of office workers, traveling between home and company. Few people are willing to make a special detour to buy breakfast, instead choosing to solve their breakfast needs nearby. Starbucks' store network distribution gives it a significant advantage.

Why Didn't Starbucks Enter the Breakfast Market Earlier?

So why didn't Starbucks expand into the breakfast market for so many years, despite the high proportion of Chinese consumers eating breakfast outside? Perhaps because before the pandemic began, small restaurants around residential areas could already meet most people's breakfast needs. However, after the pandemic started, these small shops couldn't offer in-store dining, and many chose to close down. Thus, chain restaurants that could maintain daily operations had more opportunities to enter the breakfast market. However, launching such breakfast combos isn't very profitable, with thin margins. At the same time, when other Chinese breakfast shops return, the demand for Western-style breakfast will decrease. Therefore, canceling such breakfast combos, while potentially losing some breakfast customers, can reduce certain operational and material costs.

Image source: Internet

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