Friday, May 29, 2009

Will McDonalds Finish Off Starbucks? Coffee Wars!

click on title for link

A follow up to my post on Starbucks "What are the plans of McDonald's" as they continue to increase their pressure and capture a larger share of the coffee market.


A new plan for McDonald's to crush Starbucks

Posted May 27 2009, 05:50 AM
by Douglas McIntyre

American management has been trained that any company can think and execute its way out of trouble. That means that there is a solution to every sales or cost problem. It is just a question of finding it and pulling the right strings to make it work.

Often making the best of a bad situation is not that simple. Sometimes competition is so powerful that there are no answers to maintaining or saving a business.

McDonald’s (MCD) plans to march into Europe and will have 1,300 McCafe locations within the next few years. McCafe only has one significant competitor and that is Starbucks (SBUX), which has already been beaten by McDonald’s at every turn in the U.S.

Starbucks has done its best to fight back. It has gone “down market” with inexpensive instant coffee. It offers combinations of food and coffee as part of a new breakfast menu. But so far, the only thing that has helped keep Starbucks earnings at anything other than a dismal level is its ability to close stores and fire people.

McDonald’s will press the advantage of its brand and financial might in Europe. The region is already one of the best for McDonald’s in terms of sales growth. It can afford to finance the rent and construction costs for new locations. It has a nearly bottomless marketing budget. And, in most cases it can and will undercut Starbucks on price.

Starbucks has been in trouble because the recession has hurt its sales and McDonald’s has been a formidable competitor. Its troubles are getting worse and the solutions are non-existent.

Top Stocks blogger Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.

4 comments:

The Topiary Cow said...

The name alone (mcCafe') is enough to keep Topiary out.

Moo!

linda said...

Why can't they just leave things alone. Who wants to have coffee in a stinky hamburger joint anyway. Besides, I think there coffee would be blech.

Catastrophe Waitress said...

i don't like McDonalds coffee - for a start, if you go to a cafe, you want the ambience. there's no such thing at McDonalds, it's generally teeming with noisy children and fed-up parents. plus the coffee is awful. i only know of one Starbucks within a 20min drive from where i live. i get mine from a couple of places where the staff know my name, it's a little bit more expensive but i figure i'd rather pay a bit more for decent coffee or not have any coffee at all.

raydenzel1 said...

Ah ambience. Can't find it at a table with happy Meals and a big Mac. Agreed. Too bad we can't all meet for a coffee blog-athon. Now that would be fun!

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