Consumers Still Love Regular Joe, and From Non-Specialty Sources

Australian drivers may prefer their mixed coffee drinks, (http://www.roaste.com/CafeRoaste/News/2011/08/17/Australians-Would-Rathe...) but that was comparing specialty drinks vs instant coffee. According to writer Tiffany Hsu, a study from Technomic comes to tell us that plain regular coffee is far from dead, but rather, it’s causing a run for the money for specialty coffee shops. In fact, 60% of consumers have ordered a regular hot coffee from some kind of food service provider in the past month. That percentage – 60% - is not far behind the most ordered drink, a non-diet, carbonated soft drink, which 62% have ordered. It’s well ahead of tea, ordered by 28% of consumers. This is in spite of coffee and tea price increases. Another finding of the survey was that coffee drinkers weren’t that picky in where they bought their non-specialty coffee, although they do require a level of quality. It appears they look for the most convenient location offering quality coffee, which explains why one mass merchandiser – Target - has seen a 53.1% increase in prepared coffee sales since 2007. Other non-traditional sources which have become hot coffee sellers include McCafe at McDonalds, and over 7000 Burger Kings with their Seattle’s Best line. Even Jamba Juice has jumped on the coffee bandwagon, as it now offers a “made-to-order coffee option” along with its fruit juices. The article implies that the fast food joints have improved coffee quality such that, because of their convenient locations and high number of outlets, they are strong competition for the specialty drink coffee shops. Douwe Egberts used to be the coffee of Burger King. Now ROASTe carries it. Regular coffee - brew on!