Starbucks to Further Align Its Menu With ‘Make America Healthy Again’ Agenda: RFK Jr.

The health secretary met with the CEO of Starbucks.

People are seen leaving a Starbucks in New York City. Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke positively about Starbucks after meeting with the national coffee chain’s CEO Brian Niccol.

Kennedy said in a June 18 social media post that he met the day prior with Niccol, “who shared the company’s plans to further MAHA its menu.”

MAHA refers to Make America Healthy Again, an agenda promoted by Kennedy while he was running for president and forwarded by him after he became health secretary earlier this year.

The agenda includes removing artificial ingredients from foods and beverages.

“I was pleased to learn that Starbucks’s food and beverages already avoid artificial dyes, artificial flavors, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, and other additives,” Kennedy wrote this week.

A spokesperson for Starbucks told The Epoch Times in an email: “At Starbucks, we believe choice should come with confidence. Our diverse menu of high-quality foods and beverages empowers customers to make informed nutritional decisions, with transparency on ingredients, calories, and more.”

Some supporters of Kennedy have been critical of Starbucks. Vani Hari, an influencer known as the Food Babe, for example, appeared with Kennedy at a press conference in April where Kennedy announced regulators were banning two artificial dyes and plans to work with companies to remove the remaining dyes that are cleared for use in foods and drinks.

“This is a win for every American who doesn’t know the truth about the food industry,” Hari said at the time.

On Thursday, Hari wrote on the social media platform X that some of Starbucks’s limited-time summer drinks contain additives that pose health risks, including potassium sorbate, a preservative.

Starbucks declined to comment on Hari’s post.

Kennedy has met with a number of CEOs since joining President Donald Trump’s administration, including executives with PepsiCo., Kraft Heinz, and Tyson Foods.

Some have been moving to eliminate artificial dyes from their products, including Kraft Heinz, General Mills, and the In-N-Out fast-food chain.

Niccol was Chipotle’s CEO from 2018 to 2024, when he took over a Starbucks that had been struggling financially. He said in early statements that he planned on delivering a great customer experience, with a focus on making Starbucks “the community coffeehouse.”

In the most recent earnings call, in April, Niccol said that the initiatives are moving forward. He also said the company has been working on its menu, including recently removing sugar from its Matcha drink. The move was driven by customer feedback and has resulted in a jump in Matcha sales, according to Niccol.

“We want to be about being a solution, frankly, for all those that want that third place experience with a customized handcrafted drink,” he said in a January call. “And the nice thing is we can do that through tea, we can do that through cold, we can do that through coffee. And so, we’re seeing nice progress on all those fronts.”