A Quebec judge has authorized a class-action lawsuit accusing Starbucks, Second Cup, and Tim Hortons of charging disproportionately high surcharges for plant-based milk, in a province where lactose intolerance is common and non-dairy options have become routine coffee orders. Superior Court Justice Catherine Martel issued the judgment in Montreal on June 10, 2026, clearing the way for Quebec consumers to challenge how three of Canada’s largest café brands priced dairy alternatives over several years, according to Montreal Gazette and CTV News.
In her written decision, Justice Martel highlighted Starbucks’ own figures showing that replacing cow’s milk with a plant-based alternative cost the company about 12 Canadian cents per drink, while customers were charged 80 cents. Quoted by the Montreal Gazette, she wrote: “By its own admission, Starbucks therefore charges consumers more than six times the cost it incurs when it replaces cow’s milk with plant-based or lactose-free milk in its beverages,” calling it “not frivolous or manifestly unfounded to argue that it is disproportionate” to charge more than six times cost and that this gap could cause “serious harm” to consumers.
The lawsuit alleges that the three chains treated non-dairy milk as an add-on rather than a simple replacement, enabling them “to literally keep ‘le beurre et l’argent du beurre’ … by charging an additional $0.80 plus taxes (Starbucks and Second Cup) and $0.50 plus taxes (Tim Hortons) for non-dairy substitutes that cost them a fraction of that amount, at most,” according to the application filed by plaintiff Liel Ohayon and attorney Joey Zukran, as cited by the Toronto Sun and the Montreal Gazette. The suit was originally filed in Quebec Superior Court on December 30, 2024, under file number 500-06-001351-242, LPC Avocats reported.
Cost and surcharge figures differ across the three brands. The Montreal Gazette reported that Second Cup’s parent company, Foodtastic Inc., disclosed that an 80-cent surcharge corresponded to a substitution cost of about 43 cents. Tim Hortons, operated in Quebec through TDL Group, reportedly charged 50 cents for plant-based milk that cost about 28 cents in eastern Quebec. At the same time, Starbucks told the court that dairy alternatives cost it about 16% more than cow’s milk, Foodtastic stated its costs were 98% higher, and TDL Group said franchisees paid 63% to 67% more for dairy alternatives depending on region, according to the Montreal Gazette.
The authorized class covers Quebec consumers who paid extra for plant-based milk at Starbucks between December 30, 2021 and November 7, 2024, at Second Cup between December 30, 2021 and February 27, 2025, and at Tim Hortons between December 30, 2021 and January 2, 2025, the Montreal Gazette reported. LPC Avocats notes that approximately 44% of Canadians are lactose intolerant and about 5% identify as vegan, suggesting that many coffee drinkers rely on soy, oat, almond, or other dairy alternatives as a necessity rather than a preference.
The case will test Quebec’s Consumer Protection Act, which prohibits unconscionable pricing. According to structured legal analysis summarized by CTV News and LPC Avocats, Quebec legal doctrine holds that a retail price set at double the merchant’s cost can be sanctionable. Justice Martel, however, rejected the plaintiff’s argument that supermarket prices showed parity between cow’s milk and dairy alternatives, noting that retail cow’s milk prices in Quebec are regulated while wholesale prices for alternatives are not, complicating the comparison, the Montreal Gazette reported.
All three chains have since ended their surcharges in Quebec. Starbucks announced in October 2024 that it would stop charging extra for non-dairy substitutes as of November 7, 2024, according to the National Post. The end dates for the authorized classes indicate that Tim Hortons dropped its surcharge on January 2, 2025, and Second Cup on February 27, 2025, as reflected in the class definition reported by the Montreal Gazette.
Responses from the companies have been limited. “We are aware of the class action and cannot comment on pending litigation,” Starbucks said in a January 8, 2025 statement to the National Post. In an email to the Toronto Sun on the same date, Tim Hortons spokesperson Michael Oliveira stated that “it has never been our policy to charge a fee to have a non-dairy beverage added to an original or dark roast coffee, or tea — contrary to the claim (made in the lawsuit) that this may have occurred more than a billion times within the last three years.”
According to CTV News and the Montreal Gazette, the class action will now proceed to trial in Quebec Superior Court, where the plaintiff is seeking full or partial reimbursement of surcharges paid by class members during the specified periods, plus punitive damages, as outlined by LPC Avocats.
