McCaf é sales are up 30%! How did McDonald's successfully establish a new "coffee brand"?

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Are you the one who doesn't have a cup of coffee every day? On average, each person in Taiwan drinks more than 100 cups of coffee every year, and the size of the market is as high as 70 billion yuan. But as the coffee market grows, competition among operators is becoming increasingly fierce.

McDonald's, the leader of Taiwan's fast food industry, has not missed this wave of black gold economy. McDonald's introduced the "McCaf é" brand in 2009, broke out the 80 per cent growth in the number of selling cups in 2016 and maintained a growth rate of 30 per cent in 2017. However, McDonald's has a strong impression of the existing brand, and it is not easy to equate it with coffee. How on earth can consumers enter McDonald's for coffee?

Build a restaurant in the restaurant and set up an easy chat cafe in McDonald's.

Kou Biru, vice president of marketing and one of the driving forces behind McCaf é, pointed out that if McCafe's brand is deeply rooted in the hearts of consumers, it is not enough to make a good product. Their first step is to turn McCaf é into a "restaurant in the store" in the form of a separate counter. "the intention of the store in the store is to distinguish McCaf é from McDonald's 's existing brand route with physical space. "

However, consumers can now buy coffee with prices ranging from 30 yuan to 45 yuan at the original ordering counter of McDonald's. Are they not worried that there will be product rivalry in the form of restaurants in the store?

Kou Biru explained that McCafe's product line is different from the original ordering counter, is a higher professional ability of Italian coffee, the price is between 70 and 90 yuan. Coupled with the different situations in which consumers drink coffee, McCaf é mainly hopes that consumers can sit down and enjoy it, but if consumers need to take it away quickly, or if they want cheaper coffee, they can still choose coffee from the general ordering counter, so there will be no doubts about product competition.

Then, from the opinions of consumers, they give McCaf é a clear positioning of the space. Unlike the haste of convenience stores or quiet in general cafes, McDonald's is an easy place to chat. "McCafe's real value to consumers through coffee is dialogue. "

This positioning also extends to their marketing techniques. McCaf é, for example, has room for words on a series of paper cups. The goal is to make consumers think of McCaf é and think of a cafe where they can have good coffee and talk easily.

McDonald's Vice President of Marketing Kou Ru (middle) and his team.

No, please hurry! Front-line baristas increase interaction and care to train regulars

The baristas who serve McCaf é also clearly show a different brand impression from McDonald's.

Kou Biru believes that in the past, when ordering food at the fast food counter, customers just quickly said what they wanted and paid for it, but selling coffee was completely different from selling fast food. Because coffee is not like an ordinary meal, you must get tired of eating it every day. On the contrary, coffee is a drink that many people have to drink every day. Front-line shop assistants must cultivate "regular customers" through more frequent interaction in order to effectively increase the share of McCaf é in the hearts of consumers.

As a result, Kou Biru spends more than NT $20 million a year on training to set up the position of "barista." They focus on the coffee business, wear different uniforms from McDonald's employees, and show not only coffee expertise in the store, but also the starting point for McCaf é to interact with consumers, such as actively recommending meals according to the guest's age and mood, asking if there is a need for customization, and even caring about whether there is a favorite flower pattern.

Second, McCaf é can understand the hidden needs of consumers through baristas. Kou Biru, for example, because some regular customers would ask for the whole apple to be made in a smoothie at the same time, they found that consumers had such a demand, and eventually became a fixed menu item.

The next step of differentiation is to spread the stronghold to improve visibility.

With the division of stores and the setting up of baristas to improve interaction with customers, McCafe's brand volume is not only reflected in the number of cups sold, but also in other areas. Kou Pieru says that in the past, when working with the design department in industry-university cooperation, students were often asked to design McDonald's paper bags and hamburger boxes. To their surprise, in recent years, students have taken the initiative to design coffee cups.

After consumers have a certain understanding and acceptance of McCaf é, their pace this year is to expand from a total of 122 McDonald's restaurants with independent McCaf é counters to 376 branches in Taiwan, so as to improve the visibility of the brand. However, not every McDonald's branch can see a separate McCaf é counter.

Kou Biju admits that one of the advantages of McCaf é is its emphasis on interaction and dialogue, but due to factors such as the size of each branch and the preferences of customers in the neighboring area, although she wants to reach more consumers, it is difficult to set up a store in every branch. Therefore, they first put most branches at the existing counter to offer McCaf é specific coffee items.

This can be seen as one of the ways for them to assess where they will stay in the store in the future. If the number of customers around them is stable and there is a certain demand for coffee, they cannot rule out upgrading to a separate counter. With this horizontal expansion, she expects to bring in an additional 50 per cent of sales for McCaf é.