Oak Brook, Ill. – Fast-food giant McDonald’s is rolling out premium- roast coffee in all 13,700 of its U.S. restaurants this week, hoping to provide an extra boost to breakfast sales as well as caffeine-loving customers.
Sales of the new coffee launched in Colorado on Tuesday. While the company is raising coffee prices in some markets, a McDonald’s spokeswoman said menu prices in Colorado locations – which currently range from $1 for a small coffee to $1.39 for a large – will not go up.
The new product, roasted in California, has been in the works for a long time and takes the world’s largest restaurant chain into a premium category already occupied by many of its competitors for consumers’ breakfast dollars.
Burger King and Dunkin’ Donuts have recently beefed up their coffee offerings, following in the footsteps of Starbucks, which is largely credited for bringing premium coffee and specialty coffee drinks to the mainstream.
“The objective is to increase both coffee and breakfast sales,” said Mike Roberts, McDonald’s president and chief operating officer. “Premium coffee and specialty coffee are a really important part of the American breakfast experience.”
The company also is testing specialty coffees such as lattes, espressos and frappucinnos at 50 other restaurants, Roberts said.
A premium cup of java continues McDonald’s strategy of not only strengthening its breakfast menu, which added the popular McGriddles in 2003, but also adding higher-priced items to increase the average amount spent by customers.
The introduction of salads, Chicken Selects and other sandwiches at premium prices has helped sales surge the past three years, and a new Asian salad due out in U.S. McDonald’s this spring will further the price trend.
Last year, company revenues rose 7 percent worldwide to $20.5 billion, with the U.S. market the key contributor to the gain.
Denver Post staff writer Kristi Arellano contributed to this report.
