McDonalds management has a bit more smarts than the average PHB. They recognize that to keep expanding once the amrket is saturated, they hav to have a strategy. I’ve seen seevral:
-Breakfast - they tried bagels over muffins, better coffee, and all sorts of other enticements, since they were getting less breakfast than daytime burger customers -opportunity for improvement.
-About 10 years ago, it was all about drive-through speed; people who thought they would be stuck in the lane would avoid the store. I don’t understand drive-thru, I’d rather park… but Americans are lazy.
-they’ve tried McRIbs, Pizza, deli sandwiches, etc. - throw several menu items at the wall and see what sticks. give the consumer some variety.
-they have something called “Boston’s” in the USA (IIRC) and the McCafe’s. Real food?
-dollar menu…
After all, once you have a store everywhere, the only other strategy is to steal customers from Burger King and Wendy’s. That’s not as easy…
McCafes have been around in Ohio for three or four years, I’d say. I’ve had their mochas twice and it’s just OK - not as good as Starbucks, IMHO, nor as good as the small independent coffee stand in the courthouse where I work, but potable.
A sidenote: My mom, age 75, has never eaten at McDonald’s. Never. Now it’s become a point of honor with her, and she jokes that she wants us to put it on her tombstone when she slips this mortal coil.
I have no idea, but I have a family member who works in the corporate HQ of a chain of gas sations. They used to sell plain coffee for little to no profit then a few years ago they started selling all the frappa-mocha-latte stuff and immediately started making a few million a year from their coffee.
'Nother Canadian here. Ottawa. Saw these in Florida but never went there, stuck to Starbucks. IMHO, I actually like McDonald’s coffee; it’s pretty much the same as Tim Horton’s coffee for my taste. Whatever happened to their “Higgins and Burke” partnership? They used to hustle that like crazy to show how gourmet their coffee had gotten.
I don’t think we’ll see McCafe outside of maybe Toronto. People who religiously drink Starbucks will not buy McDonald’s coffee. Commodity Fetishism and what what.
People who buy coffee on the cheap like Tim Horton’s up here. I’m drinking my Donut Shop, Timmie’s blend with that lovely tobbaco chewer’s aftertaste as I type. McDick’s standard fare ice coffee and hot coffee are competing very strongly with Tim Horton’s for that market segment, IMO.
