McDonald’s Tries Serving Fancy Coffee With Baristas

McDonald’s will start looking more like Starbucks, at least for Londoners. Baristas are coming to a handful of McDonald’s in London to compete with upscale coffee shops.

It is part of the company’s efforts to remind people it sells coffee too.

“Coffee drinkers are our most frequent customers and people may be surprised to know that we are second in this market,” Paul Pomroy, the McDonald’s U.K. and Ireland chief executive, told The Sun.

The new baristas are not expected to affect the price of cappuccinos or lattes. They will still be £1.59 each, and the coffee will still be made using 100 percent Arabica beans from farms approved by the Rainforest Alliance. Even the cup designs are not changing. All that is changing is the title of the person making that cup of joe for you.

Pomroy insisted the McDonald’s coffee will still be “great tasting, served quickly, simply and at an affordable price.”

The trial started in London and is expected to expand to the East Midlands next. Beyond that, there are no immediate plans to add baristas in other U.K. and Ireland McDonald’s.

While there is no word on this change coming to the U.S., the chain did recently introduce new coffee drinks. In June, McDonald’s announced two new McCafe Cold Brew Frozen drinks: Cold Brew Frozen Coffee and Cold Brew Frappe.

The frozen coffee features “a strong but smooth cold brew extract is blended with ice into a cold, creamy frozen drink,” while the cold brew Frappe adds “light whipped cream and chocolate drizzle.”

Both drinks are seasonal only, available for a limited time and are only $2 each. They also quickly earned fans, many of whom said it was better than some Starbucks drinks, notes Foodbeast.

“No offense but the new frozen cold brew at McDonald’s is better than anything Starbucks has ever come up with,” one fan wrote.

While moves like adding baristas and frappes are clearly designed to compete with Starbucks, McDonald’s teamed up with its rival earlier this month to develop a new recyclable cup with Closed Loop Partners, through NextGen Cup Consortium and Challenge.

“McDonald’s is committed to using our scale for good to make positive changes that impact our planet and the communities we serve,” Marion Gross, Senior Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer, McDonald’s USA, said in a statement. “We are excited to join Starbucks and Closed Loop to help solve this pressing challenge as collaboration is key to finding a scalable, lasting global solution.”

Photo credit: McDonald’s Corp.