NEW YORK – Starbucks has seriously entered the breakfast arena by debuting hot egg-and-cheese sandwiches on English muffins, The New York Times reports. The sandwiches have upscale ingredients, such as peppered bacon and sun-dried tomatoes, will be rolled out gradually across the country.”

“We are going to be all about premium and upscale ingredients, bold and layered flavors,” Kathleen Kennedy, the chain’s recently hired director for food research and development, told the newspaper.

Starbucks has maintained consistent revenue growth per store partly because it avoided the messy and expensive business of cooking, said Joe Buckley, a restaurant industry analyst at Bear Stearns. “Starbucks customers have a very high-quality perception of the coffee,” he told the Times. “That pushes their expectations very high for everything in the store.”

With such high expectations for a cup of joe, Starbucks has had trouble maintaining that same excellence with its food. The company itself acknowledges that until recently the food was an afterthought. “What we’re rolling out now is just the beginning of the revolution,” said Kennedy.

“Everyone is watching the breakfast category,” Tom Miner, a principal at Technomic, told the newspaper. Wendy’s and Taco Bell have been test marketing breakfast menus, while Burger King has upgraded its coffee. McDonald’s also introduced a darker-roast arabica coffee line last year.