McDonald’s reveals its coffee success as it launches espresso

The move marks a bid to grow coffee sales beyond breakfast, and take a greater slice of the high street coffee market, which is predicted to grow to £2 billion by 2012. Despite an overall drop in high street coffee sales during the recession, McDonald's has seen the number of cups sold climb by 39% over the last two years since re-launching its coffee range in 2007. Last year alone, the fast food giant sold 84 million cups of coffee and McDonald's sales of freshly-ground coffee now account for more sales than any other brand on the high street, including those of the major coffee chains. Alistair Macrow, newly appointed VP Marketing, McDonald's UK, said: "The combination of freshly-ground, sustainably-sourced coffee at affordable prices, available early in the morning or late at night, has seen our coffee sales rise steadily since we re-launched the range in 2007. It's a strategy that's clearly working, but we're confident there's even more opportunity to grow this part of the business. By offering Espresso, we'll give people another reason to consider McDonald's for their fresh coffee over the traditional coffee houses."