Will Gourmet Coffee be the Deciding Factor in the Fast Food Breakfast war?
Whether it started with Starbucks or the fast food restaurants, it is hard to say. It seems that some fast food chains were losing breakfast business to establishments with better coffee. After all, who wanted to stop twice on the way to work, one place for coffee and another to eat? People were apparently growing content with a mere muffin or croissant as long as the coffee was good.
The next thing we knew, Jack-in-the-box had their own coffee, which Jack introduced in a commercial. You may not remember the commercial, but you likely remember, “It’s hot, it’s fresh, and it doesn’t cost four bucks.” This was an obvious dig at Starbucks, whose regular coffee does not cost $4.00, though their coffee drinks often do. Since then the breakfast war has raged in an ever-escalating cycle of upgrades to one chain or another.
Dunkin’ Donuts has also entered into the fray with the marketing of their house coffee at supermarkets. They have actually been serving high quality coffee for over 50 years, but not everyone realized it. Now they are actively promoting this fact in addition to creating breakfast foods other than doughnuts. This combination makes them real challengers in the fast breakfast with good coffee war.
Last September, McDonalds made some serious upgrades regarding their coffee service by introducing McCafe. In the field of fast food, McDonald’s coffee has always been better than most. It is not clear who their supplier is, but they have a blend that is made exclusively for McDonald’s. Since introducing McCafe, they have expanded their coffee service to include items such as mochas and lattes, which are surprising good.
Now Burger King is ready to answer back with their own upgrade, though it will not happen until fall 2010. This is when Seattle’s Best will replace their current coffee, BK Joe, their supposedly “manly” coffee. They are not the first fast food chain to serve Seattle’s Best, as Subway also sells Seattle’s best. This was a necessary move on Subways part when they started serving breakfast including a familiar-sound egg on English muffin.
Starbucks has fired back a few volleys of its own by adding hot breakfasts in addition to bagels and pastries. This includes some gourmet offerings such as a Black Forest ham and Parmesan frittata with cheddar on an artisan roll. It also includes some healthier choices such as hot oatmeal with nuts and an egg white, spinach, and feta wrap. Patrons can also buy a breakfast sandwich that consists of the ubiquitous egg and English muffin sandwich.
With changes occurring almost every day, a winner in the fast food, good coffee war is hard to predict. For right now, however, it looks as though the clear winner is we, the customers. As various establishments work harder to give us better products for less money, we are the ones to benefit. Patrons can get a breakfast sandwich and quality coffee for less than $3.00, quite a break in the current economy.
brewed on Apr 11th, 2010
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