I'll Have a Soy No Foam Latte... and a McGriddle

McDonald's has recently introduced gourmet coffee in an effort to capture some of the lucrative upscale coffee market dominated by Starbucks.

"Obviously we have watched the growth of this market for many years," said McDonald's spokesperson Lucas Adler. "We understand that our customers may want to have a Latte or Mocha with their McGriddle or their Egg McMuffin, so we're giving them that choice."



"It will be interesting to see how this plays out," according to Stephanie Alquist, who follows the fast food industry for Morgan Stanley.

"It's certainly possible that this could give them some much-needed growth. Of course, we don't see them as competing with Starbucks as much as with 7-11 and Dunkin' Donuts, in what we call the 'crappy gourmet coffee' segment."

Other measures that McDonald's is taking to compete with Starbucks:

- Increasing the limit on piercings-per-employee.
- Introducing McDonald's label compact disks, beginning with "Toby Keith sings the Cole Porter Songbook"
- Instead of Super-Sizing, customers wil be asked, "would you like to 'Venti-Size' that?"
- Raising prices.

McDonald's new coffee will have rich gourmet taste, but with the same crotch-burning properties as their original coffee.