McDonald's vs. Starbucks

First McDonald's, Southern California
(photo from interesting story
in the UK newspaper Daily Mail)

Fred Turner, a former chief executive at McDonald's, passed away recently. While I was reading his New York Times obit, I was struck by Turner's insistence on a simple success formula for fast-food restaurants: "quality, service and cleanliness." What was left out of his equation was "inexpensive." McDonald's and its fellow travelers tend to be the dining venue of choice for poor and working class people. Judging from McDonald's stock price, they seem to have struck a nerve.

The NPR/PBS crowd, generally speaking, doesn't like McDonald's. It's too low rent for their tastes. They're more inclined to visit Starbucks and linger over a made-to-order cup of coffee. I've even heard people argue that Starbucks is more "sophisticated" than McDonald's, although the evidence for that assertion seems to be based on a combination of expensive coffee, groovy music, and occasionally comfy seating.

What one pays for at Starbucks is brand perception. The message, similar to NPR's and PBS' "value proposition," is that it attracts a better class of citizens. How else does one explain an audience that rolls over and plays dead in exchange for no free wi-fi (something McDonald's does provide), dreadful pastries (far worse than anything McDonald's offers), and infrequent cleanliness (something Mickey D's plebians apparently are attentive to)?

First Starbuck's, Seattle
(photo: seattle.gov)

For the record, I happen to enjoy Starbucks and McDonald's. There's one Starbuck's style of flavored coffee I like sharing with my wife. I have a Starbucks app and, yes, I knowingly give my transaction data to the Seattle-based firm. Sometimes I meet the excellent writer Richard Torres in a Manhattan Starbucks. We talk for a long time, and we don't get hassled or thrown out.

I go to McDonald's every now and then. I have an unreasoned desire for their French fries, especially when I'm on the road. I like their Southern chicken sandwich and I trust their salads. (I profoundly mistrust salad bars.) McDonald's coffee is cheap and acceptable. The seating doesn't bother me. I also find it somewhat reassuring to be in a venue where children are welcomed, something Starbucks does not in its heart encourage.

I am fully aware of the "factory" nature of McDonald's food and atmosphere. However, I don't find Starbucks any different in those respects. Ironically, the adults who patronize Starbucks very likely grew up going to McDonald's. Sometimes, familiarity breeds contempt.

Starbucks to Offer $450 Gift Card

Starbucks Metal Card
(photo: USA Today)

Need a little pizzaz for this year's stocking stuffer? Consider purchasing an uber-expensive Starbucks gift card.

The limited-edition Starbucks Metal Card, according to an article in today's Chicago Tribune, will be available for sale this Friday via gilt.com, or Thursday for rewards members. The stainless steel item will cost $450. Not all the four-fifty goes to custom-made lattes, other beverages, or the range of Starbucks stuff. Fifty dollars is taken off the top to pay for the card itself.

OK -- it's not for everyone. However, at four dollars per cup, the card would provide the lucky gift-getter with one hundred cups of coffee. That's a lot of Joe, even for the person who has "everything." Would you pay a fifty dollar premium just for opportunity to own a nice, shiny Starbucks card?

Camping Out in Starbucks

In the unlikely setting of Fox Business, an article discusses "Starbucks Etiquette." I don't think the piece was a well-written one. However, the topic was a clever choice and does touch on a phenomenon obviously apparent to anyone walking into a Starbucks.

The article notes that some people make plans to stay for hours at a Starbucks. Some of them use the coffee shop as a sort of mobile office. Some have nowhere else to go. Others really do patronize Starbucks for the coffee. What do you do?

I've done my share of hanging out in a Starbucks. I meet people there, particularly in New York. Few friends and acquaintances can afford the disturbingly high price of a more refined New York cup of coffee. Diners, once a City mainstay, are vanishing faster than gas stations in the suburbs. That eliminates venues for a cheap cup of coffee and the implicit compact that one can linger at diner counter seating. Given the dreadful economic realities of life in Gotham (and elsewhere in the United States), where else can I indulge in my version of cafe society?

I hold to a theory that most adults go to Starbucks because they grew up going to McDonald's. They're used to the experience and truly only feel comfortable in a contemporary environment similar to the one in which they were socialized. Is that why someone would pay five dollars for a custom-made latte?

For the record, I'm not writing this at a Starbucks. I'm not writing it in a McDonald's, either. But I'm comfortable where I am now -- in bed.