Free McDonald's mocha, the latest salvo in the coffee war

Photo by permission of McDonald's Corp. 

As reported last week (link to article below), Starbucks is giving away free ice cream. McDonald’s is now offering free mochas. I don’t know about you, but this so-called Coffee War is one war I can enthusiastically support.

Mondays Just Got Better

McDonald’s newest program is called Mocha Monday. July 13 through August 3, you can visit participating McDonald's restaurants and receive a complimentary iced (7 oz.) or hot mocha. These freebies are smaller than the 12 oz. small size that you would regularly receive, but hey, free is free.

Neil Golden, chief marketing officer of McDonald’s USA said, "This is one of the largest sampling initiatives we've taken on as a company.”

No kidding. The company estimates they will be serving about 10 million samples, nationwide. 

Photo by permission from Starbucks Coffee 

“Real” Food vs. Fast Food

Just as McDonald’s wants a piece of the coffee market, so does Starbucks covet the hungry hordes. Sandra Stark, Starbucks Coffee Food Category Vice President said in a June 30 press release,

Looking to improve the taste of its food and focus on real, wholesome ingredients, Starbucks simplified many of its recipes and baked in authentic, high-quality ingredients like whole grains, Oregon blueberries and Michigan cherries.”

They have also removed all artificial dyes, flavorings, trans-fats,and high fructose corn sryup from their food items.

This effort to go healthy isn’t new. In the past two years they claim to have saved their customers 7 billion calories per year by switching from whole milk to 2% as the standard in all their beverages, ensuring new products contain less than 500 calories, and adding healthy menu choices like fruit cups, smoothies, and oatmeal.
 

Photo by shadowmancer76 

The Proof is in the Price

Perhaps Starbucks' wholesome food push is an effort to further differentiate themselves from McDonald's, of "Super Size Me" fame.

Even though McDonald's has more nutritious menu options, it's doubtful anyone will ever think of them as a place to eat healthy. The minute they start "healthifying" their food is the minute I start going to Carl's or Burger King instead. I'm probably not the only one who feels that way. When I splurge on something bad for me, I want the real bad stuff, not the lower-quality, token-effort-to-make-it-good-for-me pseudo bad stuff.

Is the Starbucks' food makeover working? Judging by the current price of their stocks, not really.

McDonald’s - $57.05
Starbucks - $13.75

Stay Tuned

So, what’s next? Starbucks' 100% organic French fries? Vegan Quarter Pounders? America will have to wait. With the economy so uncertain, perhaps the only certainty is that these two huge corporations will continue to vie for each other’s customers.