- USA Today -
Beginning this summer, Burger King will start serving the Starbucks-owned brand Seattle\'s Best Coffee at its U.S. restaurants. The premium brew replaces Burger King\'s BK Joe coffee line and will be in 7,250 of its about 10,000 domestic locations by September.
McCafe, the premium coffee success story from McDonald's, is about to get double-teamed by Burger King and Starbucks.
Beginning this summer, Burger King will start serving the Starbucks-owned brand Seattle's Best Coffee at its U.S. restaurants. The premium brew replaces Burger King's BK Joe coffee line and will be in 7,250 of its about 10,000 domestic locations by September.
For fast-food fanatics -- and for coffee aficionados -- it's becoming an increasingly confusing world of who the heck is serving what. But with the recession eating away at fast-food sales -- particularly breakfast sales -- the industry giants are vying for any piece of market share.
The move comes shortly after rival Subway also signed a deal to sell the Seattle's Best brand in roughly 9,000 locations. And last month, Burger King even began to sell beer at a Whopper Bar location in Miami's South Beach area. It's as if all players in the competitive, $120 billion fast-food industry will try almost anything to steal away customers.
"They're all chasing after every tenth of a point share of business," says Mary Boltz Chapman, editor in chief of industry trade magazine Chain Leader. "You can't do breakfast anymore without a decent cup of coffee."
Beyond that, the move is yet another attempt within the industry to try to lure cash-strapped consumers for a fast-food breakfast.
"Fast food has been significantly hit by the recession," says Ron Paul, president of Technomic, a consulting firm. "If people aren't out and about going to work, then they're not going out to eat."
The suggested retail price of the coffee is $1 to $2.79 (depending on size) for a cup of coffee, hot or iced, along with optional vanilla or mocha flavor and whipped topping. Exact prices will be set by the franchisees.
For Burger King, the move "strengthens our ability to remain competitive in a continuously changing industry," says John Schaufelberger, senior vice president at the No. 2 burger chain.
For Starbucks, which is technically a breakfast competitor to McDonald's, Burger King and Subway, the move is slightly more complex. The coffee chain is finally developing a growth and branding strategy for the Seattle's Best Coffee chain that it acquired in 2003.
"Together (with Burger King), we are making premium coffee far more accessible than it has ever been," says Michelle Gass, president of Seattle's Best.