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Coffee chain giant Starbucks is now testing vegan cashew-based cream cheese from plant-based brand Miyoko’s Creamery at one U.S. location. The move comes after the company launched its campaign to increase the number of plant-based options and shift away from conventional dairy products as a part of its sustainability commitments and to meet the growing demand from customers.
Yes, you can now have vegan cream cheese on your Starbucks bagel. Miyoko’s vegan cream cheese, made from cashew milk, coconut cream, cane sugar, sea salt and cultures, are now available at one single Starbucks in Issaquah, Washington. The plant-based cream cheese will come in two flavours – Everything and Cinnamon Raisin – and will be retailed for US$1 per 1.5-ounce packages. There are no details on how long the trial will run for, and whether more locations will be rolling out Miyoko’s cream cheese.
The move comes after Starbucks made a highly publicised company-wide pledge to become more eco-friendly earlier this year, with a central part of the plan to include more plant-based products and reduce its reliance on conventional dairy products in order to reduce the chain’s carbon footprint.
During the announcement, CEO Kevin Johnson revealed that dairy consumption was accountable for a whopping 21% of the corporation’s global carbon footprint.
Soon after, Starbucks launched a slew of campaigns, from revealing its plans to ditch the “vegan milk tax” for plant-based milk options for its beverages, to partnering with leading vegan food techs Beyond Meat, Omnipork and Oatly to launch an all-vegetarian menu nationwide in China.
Most recently, the coffee giant rolled out plant-based options across eight key markets in Asia, including new food options made with Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods’ plant-based meat alternatives, and new vegan beverages made with Oatly’s oat milk. In Hong Kong, Starbucks partnered with Impossible Foods to debut the food tech’s Impossible Sausage, marking the first time the product has launched outside of its U.S. domestic market.
Miyoko’s has also made headlines recently for winning a legal battle to describe its plant-based products using dairy terms such as “butter”, and was also given the go-ahead to use “cruelty-free” and “lactose-free” on its labelling against accusations that these terms would be misleading.
Lead image courtesy of Starbucks / Miyoko’s / designed by Green Queen Media.
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