A Clean, Well-Lighted Place

I have been away from my TV for too long, but McCafe? Please explain? Au Lait

Modeled after a successful experiment at a Melbourne, Australia McDonald’s, McCafés hit the States in 2001 and expanded to 13 different countries by the end of 2003. Although the Illinois based Company hasn’t confirmed sales figures, reporting estimates that McDonald’s with McCafés generated 15% more revenue than the chain’s café-less fast-fooderies. Coincidentally, McCafés will be found in the majority of McDonald’s US outlets by the end of 2009.

Starbucks, a company you’d believe is synonymous with caffeine in the US, is actually third in the coffee sales behind Dunkin' Donuts and McDonald’s. The Seattle based giant will close 800 more outlets this year, but they are responding to the changing market with its own concept: True cafés featuring alcohol, community events and hand-pulled instead of the inferior automated espresso. Rather than carrying the name of the Quaker pilot from Moby Dick, these new non-Starbucks will be named after the neighborhoods they are located in - the concept stores are slated to open in Seattle later this year.

In many ways it is easy to bag on McDonald’s: The food has been accused of blandness and worse fattening (Super Size Me). An economy based McJobs is not really a healthy one, advertising directly to children is not ethical, the company’s supply chain is so expansive that the McNuggets fried at the Mall come from chickens raised on feed grown on land that was formerly Amazon rainforest. While all that is fundamentally true, it is also a little more complex - Not every meal is going to be haute cuisine and fat satisfies, an entry level job is not one you will have for life, no excuses for their under-tween marketing and McDonald’s is one of the world’s largest buyers, for better and worse, with 70 billion dollars in annual sales, the golden arches purchasing power has the ability to alter markets.

In 2004, McDonald’s began offering reusable cups for milk. By 2006 per capita milk consumption had risen for the first time in 20 years – analysts believe this singular event caused the turn around. Corporate specs for beef changed the way cattle chutes were designed quicker than the EPA or the marginal PETA could have enacted more humane standards. Trans-fats are being phased out from McDonald’s – The fast food giant is twice as large as their 4 closest competitors combined, meaning trans-fats will disappear from all fast food menus as demand dries up for the not good fat. The energy used in manufacturing their packaging has been reduced by ½ in the last 20+ years. In the UK, some coffee offered at McDonald's is fair trade. The corporation has the ability to transform the market with their purchasing might and unlike Wal-Mart, McDonald's has a reputation for developing partnerships with their suppliers, rather than beating them up for every last quarter of a cent.

As the US’s coffee habit switches from drip coffee to espresso based drinks, McDonald’s has followed suit. Some will sneer and complain this expansion will drive the small independent shops out of business, I’d counter a dairy-laden, sweetened coffee drink isn’t directly competing with the fair-trade, estate-grown, micro-roasted beans prepared on the archaic brass and copper espresso maker by a dude or chick who builds custom made fixed gears spare time – don’t worry your tastes are still pure and above commercialism.