The fast food chain had a major weakness in their menu that they mostly ignored.
McDonald’s has always walked the line between convenience food and cheap, low-quality food. People love the hamburger chain, but most understand that it’s more a case of familiarity than actually doing good food.
We may love Chicken McNuggets and Filet O’ Fish, but we don’t ask a lot of questions about how they’re made. This has been shown to be a successful strategy when it comes to food. Quality and quality are not the same when it comes to fast food burger chains.
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Nobody goes to McDonald’s, Wendy’s (n) – Get a free reportor Brands International’s (QSR) – Get a free report Burger King because they have the best burger. Everyone knows that Five Guys or any fast casual sit down chain serves quality hamburgers, but people still eat at fast food chains.
As a society, we seem to have decided that we like inferior burgers due to their knowledge. This seems to be an exception we make with food a lot. That’s literally how Domino’s is (DPZ) – Get a free report Become the largest pizza seller in the world. Not by having the best pizza, but by offering a convenient product and making it super easy to get.
This is the model that McDonald’s embraces (Wendy’s and Burger King fight that naming a bit more) but it doesn’t operate in one major area. McDonald’s has struggled in its efforts to compete with Starbucks (sex) – Get a free report And Dunkin’, largely because it has lower quality coffee. McCafe, the corporate name for both the coffee and coffee business, served as an addition to the beloved breakfast menu, but no one ever goes to McDonald’s to try coffee.
Now, the chain has been testing a fix that could fix this issue.
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Why is McCafe important to McDonald’s?
McDonald’s has tried to build the McAfee brand to make its business easier. The chains generate the majority of their sales during the traditional breakfast, lunch, and dinner hours. This is not how things work at Starbucks. In the coffee chain, customers flock throughout the day because coffee and pastries are snacks and drinks that can be consumed at any time.
In some McDonald’s locations, a separate coffee shop counter has been built in order to create a kind of coffee shop atmosphere. It didn’t quite work out, perhaps, because nobody wants the coffee shop experience at McDonald’s, but at least some of the blame goes to coffee.
McDonald’s makes good enough coffee if you’re already there. It’s airport coffee – a good and fulfilling product, but not one you would cross the street for. The problem, at least if McDonald’s wants to steal some business from Starbucks, is that the coffee giant is all over the place and has a distinctly better product.
McDonald’s Cold Brew Tests
It is unlikely that McDonald’s will convince people that it is a real alternative to the coffee shop. However, it can benefit from its restaurant footprint and cheaper prices over Starbucks if it offers a similar product. It seems the company is also aware of this because it has been testing cold brew at select locations.
Fellow Chewer and YouTube Reviewer Peep this out! I spotted Cold Brew at a local McDonald’s in Pasadena, California. According to Ian, McDonald’s serves cold coffee as well as Marble Cold Brew,” Chuboom mentioned.
Marble Cold Brew serves cold brew coffee mixed with chocolate and caramel syrup, along with cream, and served with ice.
You can also order cold black brew or customize it with milk, cream, and even flavored juices.
Cold brew has become a staple of the coffee business and it’s surprising that McDonald’s waited this long to introduce it. If he can create a coffee-based product that people want, it could be a huge driver for the chain (and steal business from Dunkin’ and Starbucks).