McDonalds Versus Starbucks
I have blogged about McCafe before as if it was an anomaly in the marketplace. Things change fast in the fast food business…
McDonald’s, whose U.S. coffee sales increased 39 percent during the first nine months of 2007, plans to add espresso counters at as many as 14,000 locations.
I had the theory that McDonalds were sticking to areas with little or no Starbucks presence for their cafe add-ons. It turns out that they are now going head to head in many markets. Starbucks has 15,000 locations in 43 countries.
I used to be a professional coffee roaster. I found out during the course of my thousands of coffee tastings that my sense of taste is less keen than a lot of experts. Using my average palate, I have decided that McCafe coffee is just as good as Starbucks. Starbucks does have a wider variety of specialty coffees and coffee drinks. The quality of espresso is somewhat dependent on how well the equipment is maintained and operated.
Source: Bloomberg
January 9th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Gosh….Starbucks and McDonald’s. Hard to know who to root for there…
January 10th, 2008 at 2:51 am
Our local McD’s coffee is swill.
January 10th, 2008 at 6:56 am
The coffee service from a regular McDonalds is not the same as the 100% Arabica fresh ground that can be had at a McCafe. The vacuum carafes at a restaurant are usually left for too long before they throw out the unserved coffee. Hot coffee undergoes a lot of chemical reactions shortly after it is made and the end products of several of these are acids that do not taste good.
January 11th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
I have noticed when I have gone to other states (even cities), that different Mcdonalds have different tastes.
So far the coffee I have tasted at our local Mcdonalds sucks. I would much prefer Starbucks over them.