McDonald's trialing barista coffee service

McDonald's coffeeMcDonald's coffee
McDonald's coffee
McDonald's is trialling a barista service in some of its UK restaurants after finding that coffee drinkers are its most frequent customers.

Baristas are already serving customers in outlets at St Paul's and Oxford Street in London and the trial will soon extend to the East Midlands.

The coffee is the same price as the regular McCafe coffee range, made from the same Arabica beans and served in the same cups.

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McDonald's UK and Ireland chief executive Paul Pomroy said the trial was an effort to keep pace with "changing customer expectations".

He said: "Coffee has been a key driver of sales and guest count growth; coffee drinkers are our most frequent customers and people may be surprised to know that we are second in this market.

"To keep pace with changing customer expectations, we are trialling barista-made coffee in some of our London restaurants, and like the rest of our coffee range it is made from freshly ground 100% Arabica beans from Rainforest Alliance-certified farms.

"Our barista coffee will remain true to the values of McCafe - great tasting, served quickly, simply and at an affordable price. Barista coffee is outperforming projections, so we will soon be expanding our trial to restaurants in the East Midlands."

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McDonald's announced global sales were up 4% in the second quarter, with positive like-for-like figures in all regions including the UK.

The UK helped drive a 4.9% rise in international division sales in the quarter, with the unit also seeing a 9% surge in earnings over the three months with currency movements stripped out.

The UK and France helped offset slowing US growth, with overall group-wide net income of 1.49 billion dollars (£1.13 billion) for the quarter, up from 1.39 billion dollars (£1.06 billion) a year earlier.

McDonald's revenue dropped 12% to 5.35 billion dollars (£4.07 billion) from 6.05 billion dollars (£4.6 billion) a year ago.

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It now has 971 restaurants in the UK, up from 960 a year earlier.

Mr Pomroy said: "We have enjoyed a strong Q2 performance and together with our franchisees have now delivered 49 consecutive quarters of sales and guest count growth, against a backdrop of increasingly fragile consumer confidence and high street footfall decline.

"As we enter the second half of the year we must stay laser-focused on doing right by our customers and our people, and continuing to invest for the long term."

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