One more dairy checkoff story to share tonight – and it’s definitely the best one! If you’ve been to or even near a McDonald’s® restaurant in the last few weeks, you’ve heard about the new McCafe® specialty coffee drinks. But as a dairy farmer, did you know that these specialty coffee-house drinks consist of up to 80 percent milk?
McDonald’s has officially launched the McCafe coffee line at the chain’s nearly 14,000 restaurants nationwide. Dairy producers, through their checkoff investment, are partnering with McDonald’s to increase milk sales through the new beverages.
“The dairy checkoff’s long-standing partnership with McDonald’s — the world’s largest quick-serve restaurant chain — helped increase single-serve milk sales among kids and adults,” said Paul Rovey, Arizona dairy producer and chair of Dairy Management Inc.™, which manages the national dairy checkoff. “We are now growing this relationship to focus on short- and long-term innovation to help develop specialty coffees, a market that relies heavily on fluid milk and has grown 84 percent over the past five years, according to NPD CREST.”
This month, McDonald’s launched a campaign aimed at boosting McCafe espressos that will thereby boost milk sales. In total, McDonald’s invested more than $1 billion in store remodeling and equipment costs, and $100 million a year in advertising and marketing support for the new beverages.
Dairy producers, through the dairy checkoff, supported the McCafe launch by:
· Providing consumer data and insights on milk and specialty coffee
· Assisting McDonald’s on the introduction of specialty coffees and nationwide sampling efforts to build local awareness of McCafe espresso beverages
“This is just the beginning,” Rovey said. “The dairy checkoff is entering into a longer-term agreement with McDonald’s that could lead to new milk and dairy menu options, including yogurt smoothies, espresso drinks, new cheeseburgers, and new single-serve, flavored milk options.”