Be it Starbucks or McDonald’s, the popularity of both food chains is freaking massive. While Starbucks had almost 35,711 outlets in 80 countries by 2022, McDonald’s defeated it by a few numbers with 3,800 restaurants in 100 countries, making it the largest food chain worldwide. But have you ever wondered who is the top seller when it comes to coffee?
Starbucks might seem like a clear leader here, but a bigger picture exists to explore. Disregarding McDonald’s growing influence would be unwise when we compare both brands in terms of their coffee sales, including:
- Per day sales
- Monthly sales
- Yearly sales
In this blog post, we’ll compare Starbucks and McDonald’s coffee sales from top to bottom and shed some light on the factors that will decide which brand can continue to reign in the future.
Best-of-Coffee: McDonald’s vs. Starbucks
Starbucks and McDonald’s are the most loved coffee brands by people of all ages, especially youngsters; however, their popularity factor is determined by various factors.
For example, if we discuss which brand has more branches, the clear winner is McDonald’s. Similarly, Starbucks grabs the number one spot for youngsters due to its unique style, taste, and professionalism.
Here’s the simple breakdown of coffee sales of both food chains.
1. Per Day Sales of McDonald’s and Starbucks
Starbucks is the most admired coffee house that serves customers a flavorsome cup of joe to want them to buy more and more. On average, they sell approximately 4 million to 6 million cups of coffee worldwide, including different coffee menus such as latter, cappuccino, cold coffee, etc.
Whereas McDonald’s is a little behind here, as they only have hit the mark of 2.1 million cups just in the USA.
2. Monthly Estimated Sales of McDonald’s and Starbucks
With per-day sales data, it’s no more complicated to calculate how many cups of coffee both brands sell monthly.
As per our estimation, Starbucks accounts for a fair share of 120 million cups monthly. While McDonald’s is just near with monthly coffee-selling figures of almost 82 million cups worldwide.
3. Yearly Sales of McDonald’s and Starbucks
We can point out the leading coffee brand among the two by evaluating the yearly sales.
When we speak about McDonald’s, they have managed to close a deal of one billion cups each year, of which almost 500 million are sold only in the USA. However, if we go through the reported data, these figures have increased by a considerable margin since the inauguration of the McCafe line.
Comparatively, the annual coffee sales of Starbucks are slightly higher, with 1.46 billion cups by the year. Now, these figures clearly state that Starbucks is the epitome of the coffee industry. But the future might have something else stored in the box.
Coffee-Selling Leader in the Coming Years: McDonald’s vs. Starbucks
Looking at the data for 2021, Starbucks has generated around $29.1 billion in revenue through its beverages and other side food items. At the same time, McDonald’s stayed around $23 million. Although Starbucks offers first-class drinks, consumers are slowly drifting away from Starbucks due to its high prices, mainly due to inflation.
On the other hand, McDonald’s coffee is significantly more affordable, making it a perfect match for those on a tight budget. Besides that, McDonald’s has been stepping up its game recently, focusing more on the McCafe line of coffee drinks.
Considering all these factors, reports suggest that the gap between the two chains is slowly narrowing. So, we can see McDonald’s taking over Starbucks or at least getting equal to it in the coming years.
Final Takeaway
To sum up, Starbucks is currently the second leading coffee-selling brand after Subway. McDonald’s also has secured third place on the list. However, this food brand might see a boost shortly, thanks to affordable drinks.
Moreover, they are focusing more on introducing premium drinks in their McCafe section to give tough competition to Starbucks. But this does not mean that Starbucks will stay behind. On the contrary, with its top-quality offerings and environment-friendly options, this brand will continue to soar to new heights of success.
