McDonald’s Expands McCafé

The burger chain is testing three new beverages in Northern California.

March 15, 2017

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A trio of new McCafé beverages are being tested at some Northern California McDonald’s locations, Nation’s Restaurant News reports. Caramel Macchiato, French Vanilla Cappuccino and Americano are available in both hot and iced versions in and around Modesto, Stockton and Sacramento, California.

The approximately 170 McDonald’s locations in those areas also received new equipment to make hot chocolate, lattes and mochas. “Coffee remains a significant opportunity for us,” Chris Kempczinski, president of McDonald’s USA, said last month. “There’s so much more we can do with this.”

McDonald’s has become more focused on selling more drinks, including those on its McCafé menu. Already in 2017, the chain has lowered the price of a cup of coffee to $1 and has extended the $1 price to fountain drinks.

The company views coffee as a $30 billion opportunity with annual growth; thus the renewed focus on its McCafé inside restaurants. Generally, coffeehouse chains have done better than the rest of the restaurant industry, with sales at same-stores in the United States averaging a 2.2% increase during the fourth quarter, a much better performance than the 0.7% average drop for publicly traded restaurants during that same period. Meanwhile, limited-service chains averaged a 1.2% bump, but McDonald’s registered a decrease of 1.3% in same-store sales in the fourth quarter.

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