“We usually set our prices at the beginning of the semester, and they usually stay that way for the whole year,” said Carol J. Bird, an employee at the Dash Café.
But the Starbucks competition doesn’t think the company’s higher prices will necessarily be a boon to their business.
“I think people continue to be customers wherever they are used to going,” Kelley, the Toscanini’s manager, said.
Some Starbucks customers agree, saying that the price change will not prevent them from patronizing the coffee chain.
“The drinks were already overpriced anyway,” said Mark F. Costley, a customer at the John F. Kennedy Street location.
Sunny M. Lacefield, a patron of the Mass. Ave. store near Porter Square, said she will continue to come to Starbucks despite the increase in prices.
“Now the employees just won’t get a tip,” she said. “I used to give the change I had as a tip, but now it’s paying for the drink.”