In an escalating game of “me too”, Starbucks has just announced the roll-out of English-muffin-based egg sandwiches for breakfast. The news comes just days after McDonalds introduced its new premium brewed coffee.
Once premium java percolated into the mainstream, it was only a matter of time before major fast-food and doughnut chains got more serious about their coffee. Bracing for that threat, Starbucks Corp. started trying out toasty egg and cheese sandwiches in its hometown coffeehouses three years ago.
Now, as McDonald’s Corp. and Burger King Corp. offer premium brew, and Canton, Mass.-based Dunkin’ Donuts sells caramel swirl lattes, the Seattle-based coffee behemoth is more than doubling the number of stores that sell hot breakfast sandwiches this year. Offering such trimmings as peppered bacon and Black Forest ham, Starbucks added the English muffin sandwiches to stores in Washington, D.C., last year, and in Portland, Ore., last month. That will expand to San Francisco in early April, and Chicago later this year.
Source: AP