Coffee price war – Starbucks vs Woolworths vs Mugg & Bean vs Seattle and more
Coffee is used by many in South Africa to sharpen their minds and beat fatigue; however, aficionados have recently seen significant price increases for their beloved drink.
Although the latest headline inflation reading dropped from 5.3% in June to 4.6% in July, Stats SA noted that hot beverages have seen a significant price increase.
The statistics body said that annual inflation for hot beverages grew from 8.7% in June to 9.0% in July, with instant coffee growing from 10.3% to 11.5%.
“If it wasn’t bad enough for coffee drinkers to fork out more for their caffeine fix, sugar prices were up too. White sugar is, on average, 20.8% and brown sugar 22.8% more expensive than a year ago,” Stats SA said.
“The sugar, sweets & desserts category recorded an annual inflation rate of 18.7%, up from 16.4% in June. This is the highest reading for this category since May 2017.”
The news also got worse for those who have milk in the coffee, with the milk, eggs & cheese category increasing from 14.1% in June to 14.4% in July.
With this in mind, BusinessTech compared the prices of a medium-sized – or equivalent – Americano, a Cafe Latte, a Cappucino and a single espresso across nine of South Africa’s biggest coffee retailers.
Looking at the results, Motherland offers the lowest prices for all four drinks, sharing the honours with Vida over the price of a Cafe Latte and McCafe for the price of a Cappuccino.
Major coffee conglomerate Starbucks offers the most expensive Cappucino and single espresso, whilst Seattle has the most expensive Americano at R34.00. The Daily Coffee Company offers the most expensive single espresso.
It should be noted that Starbucks offers four sizes – Short, Tall, Grande and Venti – which differ from the three sizes offered by its competitors. We have thus decided to use the prices for both the tall and venti (a Starbucks exclusive) – sizes in this comparison.
| Company | Americano | Cafe Latte | Cappuccino | S Espresso |
| Motherland | R30.00 | R34.00 | R34.00 | R22.50 |
| Mugg & Bean | R32.00 | R36.00 | R36.00 | R24.00 |
| Seattle | R34.00 | R38.00 | R38.00 | R26.00 |
| Woolworths | R32.00 | R39.00 | R39.00 | R25.00 |
| Vida | R33.00 | R34.00 | R36.00 | R24.00 |
| Bootlegger* | R33.00 | R39.00 | R36.00 | R26.00 |
| McCafè | R30.30 | R35.60 | R34.00 | N/A |
| Starbucks** | R33.00 (R41.00) | R40.00 (R54.00) | R40.00 (R54.00) | R28.00 |
| Wimpy | R30.90 | R39.90 | R34.90 | R23.90 |
| Daily Coffee Cafe | R32.00 | R38.00 | R36.00 | R29.00 |
Price increases
Although Stats SA said that coffee prices have increased, a comparison with Businesstech’s February 2023 coffee price war shows that certain stores have lowered their prices for several items.
Mugg & Bean, for instance, lowered the price of its Americano and Single Espresso, whilst Motherland reduced the price of all four of its product categories.
It should, however, be stressed that our comparison used data points from only six months apart, whereas Stats SA looks at a year-on-year increase. The Daily Coffee Company is also a new addition to the comparison and does not have comparable data from February.
In addition, this comparison only looks at price and not overall taste, which is extremely subjective.
Below is a comprehensive breakdown of all the coffee price increases over the last six months:
(All prices were sourced by visiting a store in Johannesburg, visiting the retailer’s website or via email communication with the respective retailer’s head office in the last week of August).
Americano
| Retailer | Americano (Feb) | Americano (Aug) | % Change |
| Motherland | R33.00 | R30.00 | -9.1% |
| Mugg & Bean | R34.00 | R32.00 | -5.0% |
| Seattle | R32.00 | R34.00 | 6.3% |
| Woolworths | R30.00 | R32.00 | 6.67% |
| Vida | R33.00 | R33.00 | – |
| Bootlegger | R32.00 | R33.00 | 3.1% |
| McCafè | R28.60 | R30.30 | 6.0% |
| Starbucks | R31.00 (R38.00) | R33.00 (R41.00) | 6.1% (7.9%) |
| Wimpy | R30.90 | R30.90 | – |
Cafe Latte
| Company | Latte (Feb) | Latte (Aug) | % Change |
| Motherland | R37.00 | R34.00 | -8.1% |
| Mugg & Bean | R36.00 | R36.00 | – |
| Seattle | R36.00 | R38.00 | 5.6% |
| Woolworths | R37.00 | R39.00 | 5.4% |
| Vida | R35.00 | R34.00 | -2.9% |
| Bootlegger | R39.00 | R39.00 | – |
| McCafè | R33.80 | R35.60 | 5.3% |
| Starbucks | R37.00(R50.00) | R40.00 (R54.00) | 8.1% (8.0%) |
| Wimpy | R38.90 | R39.90 | 2.6% |
Cappuccino
| Company | Cappuccino (Feb) | Cappuccino (Aug) | % Change |
| Motherland | R37.00 | R34.00 | -8.1% |
| Mugg & Bean | R36.00 | R36.00 | – |
| Seattle | R36.00 | R38.00 | 5.6% |
| Woolworths | R37.00 | R39.00 | 5.4% |
| Vida | R35.00 | R36.00 | 2.9% |
| Bootlegger | R36.00 | R36 | – |
| McCafè | R32.70 | R34 | 4.0% |
| Starbucks | R37 (R50) | R40 (R54) | 8.1% (8.0%) |
| Wimpy | R34.90 | R34.90 | – |
Single espresso
| Company | S Espresso (Feb) | S Espresso (Aug) | % Change |
| Motherland | R25.00 | R22.50 | -5.0% |
| Mugg & Bean | R28.00 | R24.00 | -14.3% |
| Seattle | R23.00 | R26.00 | 13.0% |
| Woolworths | R23.00 | R25.00 | 8.69% |
| Vida | R25.00 | R24.00 | -4.0% |
| Bootlegger | R25.00 | R26.00 | 4.0% |
| McCafè | N/A | N/A | – |
| Starbucks | N/A | R28.00 | – |
| Wimpy | R23.90 | R23.90 | – |
Read: Government promises to tackle South Africa’s big ‘rocket and feather’ food price problem
Loading ...