Starbucks customers are delighted as the coffee chain launches ‘value meals’ with lower-cost foods

Starbucks has lost millions of customers this year, but it has a plan to win them back.

The coffee chain has reached an agreement to recover them, copying the manual of McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King.

Their new pairing menu offers a tall iced or hot coffee or tea and a butter croissant starting at $5.

Customers can get a breakfast sandwich instead, for $6 or $7, depending on which one they choose.

Chains are reeling from falling customer numbers as Americans, fed up with two years of price hikes, stay away, as are the rollout of deals.

Burger King’s new $5 Your Way Meal hit restaurants last week.

Fast food fans can choose from one of three sandwiches: Whopper Jr, Bacon Cheeseburger or Chicken Jr, plus four chicken nuggets, fries and a soft drink.

The BK deal comes as McDonald’s plans a nearly identical $5 meal package starting June 25 for a month.

Golden Arches customers will receive a McDouble or McChicken sandwich, fries, soda and four McNuggets.

Wendy’s has launched a $3 breakfast, as the fast food price war appears to be heating up.

Starbucks in recent months has been criticized for its slow service. Along with its high prices, it has been cited as one of the main reasons it has lost customers this year.

One in 12 customers currently waits between 15 and 30 minutes. Before the pandemic, almost no one expected that much, new figures from industry data experts show.

Incredibly, during the first three months of this year, one in 50 orders took more than half an hour.

And there is a very simple reason for all this, the staff says. That’s because Starbucks bosses, in a bid to cut costs, are cutting staff while implementing an increasingly complicated drinks menu.