Almost 4 years ago now (2006), McDonald's entered the coffee wars, completely replacing its regular coffee with something that it felt embodied "gourmet." Essentially, it followed the leads of 7-Eleven convenience stores, Dunkin Donuts, and direct competitor Burger King. The idea, pair a re-formulated "premium roast" coffee with items on its regular menu at McDonald's value-oriented prices. It's not a bad one. Whereas most large coffee house chains like Starbuck's offer snacks to tempt the sweet tooth, sandwiches, and the odd soup, McDonald's offers a more meal-oriented menu. McDonald's, in turn, does not offer scones or biscotti, but does sell muffins. Presumably, its intention was to increase the convenience of purchasing coffee for harried parents of Happy Meal-aged children and young adults who stop by for a quick and inexpensive bite.

In Canada, the battlefield McDonald's entered with its premium roast coffee is presently dominated by national chain, Tim Hortons (Timmies). While Timmies doesn't serve burgers or fries, its many franchises are equipped to serve a full menu for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It does offer scones, tarts, and, its primary product, doughnuts. Also, a number of Timmies are paired with Wendy's, so patrons can pickup burgers and fries, walk a few paces, and purchase coffee.

Me, I tried McDonald's premium roast coffee last year. I found it on par with Timmie's, quality-wise.

Left: Tim Hortons, Right: McDonald's Coffee
Please note that I prefer coffee from any one of Ottawa's Bridgehead coffee houses, that only serve fair trade coffee. I find Timmie's a necessary evil, when I am not in the walking vicinity of a Bridgehead coffee house. I very rarely visit a McDonald's restaurant, but am a fan of their fries.

On January 25, 2010, Timmies, with 500 franchises in the United States since 2008, entered the breakfast wars by offering an English muffin-based breakfast sandwich at $1.99/each for a limited time. According to the Financial Post, NPD Group Canada tabulated a statistic that "Canada's biggest coffee chain has seemingly triumphed in the breakfast-sandwich segment over competitors McDonald's and Starbuck's with a 51% share." Analysts feel that Timmies intends to further its lead by directly competing with McDonald's.

To date, Timmies has avoided the confrontation, selling bagel-based and home-style biscuit-based breakfast sandwiches. Here is one I picked up while traveling on business to North Vancouver last summer.

Tim Horton's Breakfast Combo

Biscuit-based Breakfast Sandwich
The biscuit-based breakfast sandwich consisted of a hash brown (yes...a hash brown), a sausage pattie, an egg, a slice of processed cheese. It was a very salty and greasy meal.

Regarding English-muffin based breakfast sandwiches, McDonald's McMuffin breakfast icon was created in 1972 when the late Herb Peterson (a franchisee), decided to make a portable eggs benedict. I have yet to try Tim Horton's interpretation. It will be interesting to see what Tim Horton's does with it.



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