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Why do both McDonald's and KFC begin to pay attention to the promotion of freshly ground coffee?

Published: 2026-01-12 Author: World Gafei

Last Updated: 2026/01/12, Food and beverage does not leave home, stay in such a busy area, on the basis of eating more, of course I hope you drink more; on the basis of what you want to eat, of course I hope you can come when you want to drink. By introducing freshly ground coffee, a more expensive drink, it can naturally increase ARPU (per capita consumption) or attract more passenger flow. McDonald's McCoffee is an old brand (since 1993)

Food and beverage does not leave home, stay in such a busy area, on the basis of eating more, of course I hope you drink more; on the basis of what you want to eat, of course I hope you can come when you want to drink. By introducing freshly ground coffee, a more expensive drink, it can naturally increase ARPU (per capita consumption) or attract more passengers.

McDonald's McCoffee is an old brand (founded in Melbourne, Australia in 1993) and began to expand at home in 2010. KFC, aware of the growing acceptance of coffee as an imported drink in China and its importance to the chain, began to upgrade its previous coffee quality to launch freshly ground coffee in late 2014 and early 2015.

In terms of product and positioning, there is a big difference between them:

McCoffee is operated by separate facades or counters and brands. McCoffee currently belongs to the "in-store" of McDonald's restaurants, with independent ordering counters, special baristas, high-end coffee machines, desserts and so on. and provide more comfortable sofa seats. On the other hand, KFC's freshly ground coffee is sold at the original counter, and there is no independent counter and seating area.

KFC generally offers about six kinds of coffee products, the cheapest American coffee is 10 yuan per cup, and the most expensive product is 19 yuan mocha. This price is not only much lower than the average price of around 30 yuan for Starbucks and Costa Coffee, but also lower than that of McDonald's coffee. McDonald's McCoffee has the cheapest small cappuccino for 12 yuan, most medium products for 13 to 19 yuan, and large ones for more than 20 yuan.

From the perspective of the promotion effect of coffee (using semantic analysis to find out the probability of coffee users who may have consumed coffee in McDonald's and KFC), the probability change of coffee users coincides well with several major events. As you can see from the chart below:

After McDonald's promotion of McCoffee in 2010, the proportion of coffee consumption increased significantly, but two years later, the proportion continued to decline.

Five years later, at the end of 2014 and early 2015, KFC followed up to vigorously promote freshly ground coffee (students who went to KFC will notice that KFC stores in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen will ask if they want coffee or deliver coffee to the set meal for free). The proportion of coffee consumption has also increased significantly, and is basically on a par with that of McDonald's.

From the effect of coffee driving per capita consumption, the index used is: coffee user consumption / average consumption-1) x 100%. The per capita consumption of coffee users is lower than that of ordinary users.

After the promotion of McCoffee, this trend is more obvious, and it is estimated that the role of coffee is not to increase per capita consumption, but to attract more passengers. However, after 2014, the per capita consumption of coffee users in McDonald's is higher than that of the average consumer, and the premium is still gradually rising. Difficult McDonald's consumers have fully approved of coffee, buying a hamburger while replenishing a cup of coffee?

KFC has not focused on coffee before, but only tried it on a small scale, so before vigorously promoting freshly ground coffee, the per capita consumption of coffee users was lower than that of ordinary users, or even larger than that of McDonald's. And with the introduction of ground coffee at the end of 2014 and the beginning of 2015, the gap has further widened, which is estimated to have something to do with the promotion of activities to attract a lot of passenger flow.

Finally, the differences and advantages of KFC and McDonald's coffee with Starbucks and Costa

On quality and environment: Starbucks / Costa > McDonald's > KFC. However, sometimes Starbucks is too crowded, and McDonald's offers double the size of the coffee area and fast food area, which makes people feel very comfortable.

On price: Starbucks / Costa > McDonald's > KFC

On coverage: KFC and McDonald's win

On cross-selling opportunities: KFC and McDonald's are more likely to sell a cup of coffee while selling brunch, since few people buy Starbucks or Costa dinners. But the challenge is, have the Chinese got into the habit of having a cup of coffee with dinner? Judging from the current curve of McDonald's development, it may be coming true, while KFC has just begun this year, the promotion is very strong, but the effect is unknown, everything is on the way.

(source of this article: Zhihu Daily selection)