Raising prices while everyone is might avoid any negative press. Plus you get to test how inelastic your demand / how price sensitive your consumers really are.

Raising prices while everyone is might avoid any negative press. Plus you get to test how inelastic your demand / how price sensitive your consumers really are. Since most people buy coffee out of a habit to get their daily caffeine (and sugar) dosage I would reckon demand is pretty inelastic and management wanted to test that. You can always suddenly lower prices again for consumables like coffee - doesn't hurt your image long term. It's not like a luxury brand starting to lower their prices - which would be detrimental for their brand.