Starting this year, lovers of Mochas, Cappuccinos and Lattes will be able to get them at McDonald’s. The Golden Arches is overhauling its front counters to install an espresso machine where customers can watch a McDonald's barista make the drinks. The move is the biggest addition to McDonald’s menu since it launched breakfast 30 years ago.

The new drinks put McDonald’s more closely into competition with Starbucks and other coffee houses, and could reshape the way Americans buy their upscale coffees. McDonald’s has about 14,000 locations in the US while Starbucks has about 10,000. McDonald's is pricing the drinks about 60 cents to 80 cents below competitors.

John Betts (McDonald’s, vice president of national beverage strategy) "We thought we could get into this business because our customers have been asking us to. Their tastes have changed over recent years, we've done a lot of work in this area, and we think we'll be able to deliver great products to them."

McDonald’s has told franchisees, the drinks could add about a billion dollars a year to the company’s sales. The chain also hopes they will help increase its reputation as a provider of, what it calls, premium products, not just hamburgers and French fries.

John Betts "We thought it's important to position these products front-in-center, for the customers to watch them being prepared, to create a little theater if you will, our employees really enjoy being upfront and preparing beverages, and it also happens to be very closed to our drive-through window, and we sell a lot of beverages through there."

In addition to the coffees, McDonald’s also plans to offer smoothies and bottled drinks, in test markets. Those have included Lipton green tea and RedBull energy drink and Mountain Dew made by Pepsi. Coke also gives McDonald’s a drink fountain that contains flavor shots, which allow customers to create new flavors of soda, like Vanilla Diet Coke or Blueberry Sprite.

From the Wall Street Journal. I'm Janet Adamy.

Ada's Note:

I had been one of those waiting for McDonald's Coffee service for a long time. Yes, now we have Mc Café.

To take a close at the market promotion strategies of Mc Café, I do find how smart McDonald's is!

The coffee competition is just to meet the public needs.

But the smoothies, bottled drinks and creative flavors of soda really surpass people's expectation.

Well done!