McDonald's Drinks Starbucks' Milkshake

Last week, Starbucks announced that same store sales had dropped 9 percent in their U.S. shops. That news is followed today by McDonald's getting all braggy about their sales increasing 7.7 percent, leading us to wonder whether the other 1.3% just threw in the towel and switched to the hard stuff.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@seattlest.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Brad in News on December 8, 2008 9:30 AM

Comments [rss]

bmessina

I wouldn't say there's no cannibalism from Starbuck's to McD's, but I would bet it's negligible. I think the real story is partly mentioned above, and also how much of a first-to-be-cut luxury good "premium" coffee beverages are when consumers are tightening the purse strings.

I still haven't even tried McD's stuff... The only time I tried, their machine was broken.

MvB

*snort* Or that.

3mpire

actually it just goes to show that nobody needs an excuse to get plowed.

MvB

Yeah, but 3mpire, apples-to-oranges perspective aside, your version doesn't set up that "switch to the hard stuff" joke. Which made me laugh.

bigyaz

I'm gonna guess coffee accounts for a tiny fraction of McDonald's sales. In a falling economy people are eating more fast food and drinking fewer pricey coffee drinks.

3mpire

let's say sbux normally sells 100 lattes a day. if they lost 9% of sales, then they only sold 91 lattes.

let's say mcdonalds, new the the latte business, normally sells 15 lattes a day. if they gained 7.7%, they now sell just over 16 lattes.

::shrug::