McCafé and McDonald's Breaking Up?! McCafé Renames Latte to Milk Iron Coffee!

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McCafé's Breakup from McDonald's?

What? McCafé is breaking up with McDonald's?! Recently, a photo of a huge banner on a building has attracted many netizens to join the discussion!

Facing this situation, McDonald's China quickly responded: ??? What's going on?! Let me ask!

In fact, on the morning of the same day, McCafé had already announced on its official public account that it was breaking up with McDonald's, but specifically "breaking up with McDonald's coffee"!

The Difference Between McCafé and McDonald's Coffee

Here's what happened: For many years, because McCafé has been located within McDonald's restaurants, many people have equated McCafé with McDonald's coffee. In fact, McCafé is actually an independent coffee brand that simply operates in a store-within-a-store format.

McDonald's coffee generally refers to the drip coffee sold in the fast-food area, which uses pre-ground coffee powder. It's typically brewed in a pot and kept warm, or brewed and then portioned into individual cups waiting for serving, with free refills available!

McCafé, on the other hand, focuses on freshly ground coffee, which is made by grinding coffee beans after customers place their orders (no free refills!). The difference between the two lies in the aroma, taste, and richness of freshly ground coffee being superior to pre-ground coffee powder.

McCafé's Independence

To help people further experience the charm of freshly ground coffee and develop an independent understanding of McCafé, it was announced on the 30th that starting from September 1st, McCafé would emerge with an independent image!

McCafé's independence has received support from many netizens! Some netizens even said this should have been done long ago! We can't let people not know about this treasure brand McCafé!

Introducing the "Naitie" Series

Today, latte is no longer the latte it used to be; it now has a brand new name: Niohuru McCafé Naitie! According to McCafé's menu, the Naitie series includes four products: Naitie, Oat Milk Naitie, Thick Coconut Naitie, and Thick Milk Naitie.

It still uses McCafé's exclusively customized M10+ blend beans, made from a combination of coffee beans from Guatemala, Colombia, Ethiopia, and Rwanda, with natural citrus, caramel, and dark chocolate flavors. However, the ratio of coffee to milk has been adjusted!

According to McCafé, the extraction uses more coffee powder than before, making the coffee flavor richer. But the amount of milk has increased by 30% compared to McCafé's original regular latte formula, making the milk flavor richer than latte coffee, hence the name "Naitie" (milk iron).

With the launch of the Naitie series, a McCafé barista revealed on Xiaohongshu that the amount of coffee powder used has increased to 22 grams. A barista claiming to have worked at McCafé for 11 years stated that the ratio of coffee liquid to milk in the new Naitie coffee is 1:11. This brand new milk coffee product will serve as McCafé's exclusive star product, sold long-term in nearly 2,500 McCafé stores nationwide.

McCafé's History and Future

McCafé was born in Australia in 1993, appearing as an independent coffee zone, similar to McDonald's dessert stations, set up in a corner of McDonald's restaurants, and entered the Chinese market in the new millennium.

As China's coffee market enters rapid development, and it's expected that by 2025, China's coffee industry market size will exceed 1 trillion yuan, with the ready-to-drink coffee industry market size reaching 8.97 billion yuan. Therefore, McDonald's China announced in 2020 an investment of 2.5 billion yuan over the next three years to accelerate its布局 in China's mainland coffee market, with the goal of opening McCafé in every McDonald's restaurant, operating in a hybrid (store-within-a-store) model.

The store-within-a-store business model has brought great advantages to the development of the McCafé brand. With less cost from independent store rent, more investment can be put into products, and high value-for-money product prices can be set, which also brings more advantages to McCafé's "independence." According to data, there were only 800+ McCafé stores in 2020, and now it has expanded to 2,500+ stores. It is expected that about 1,000 new McCafé zones will be added by 2023, mainly distributed in third-tier cities.

Image source: Internet

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