Where do your loyalties lie, coffee fans? There have been some interesting developments in two of our favorite big corporate chains that I, for one, never thought would cross paths. On the one hand, here we have the fast food giant that is McDonalds serving us subpar coffee and delicious breakfast sandwiches for years. And on the opposing side, there is the phenomenon that is Starbucks, where you can get any coffee you like with maybe an odd muffin or two to snack on before work. So where you and many others may have found themselves is driving from one drive through to the other and hoping to make it to work on time so that you can have your venti mocha latte and a McMuffin all in one day. Is that too much to ask? Well, where the controversy comes into play is that both of these big name brands are attempting to cross breed into one all purpose quality place where you can get breakfast and great coffee all of the time.

McDonalds started the said rivalry by jumping in to the expensive coffee trend by making their own cheaper coffee creations that inadvertently knock larger chains like Starbucks. You may have noticed that many of their commercials have no shame in comparing themselves as the better deal versus many an expensive coffee chain. If that isn’t direct, then I don’t know what is! They added baristas and espresso machines to around 14,000 of their nationwide chains, which set the red alert out for all of the neighboring Starbucks locations. Starbucks then caught right up by offering their own goods in the breakfast sandwich genre and adding drive-throughs to many more locations. The only difference that you will see is that Starbucks breakfast food is still on the fancier side of baked goods and granolas, though both companies are making the effort to target the health benefits of good nutritional value in your food. To see which of these chains will win out in the fight for your early morning time, it is important to compare the consumers they are targeting. McDonalds, of course, is the cheaper fast food fare, while Starbucks has been seen to be the ritzy coffee clout for sophisticated coffee drinkers. Can the two markets meet in the middle?

The main demographic of Starbucks that has been researched is said to be around 8% more female than McDonalds. McDonalds patrons were in the younger 18-34 age group, while Starbucks has a slightly older crown of 35-44 year olds. The income bracket between the two also splits, with Starbucks being in the above $60,000 range, while McDonalds caters to those earning lower than that. Starbucks drinkers have been classified as families that are more urban and upper class, who were stereotypically noted to enjoy golf as their favorite past time. On the flip side, McDonalds has been grouped into the lower class group of people living in the overpopulated portions of the South. Whether these ideals are true or not, what remains most interesting is that the McDonalds crowd seems relatively stable, while the Starbucks customers have diversified over time. Only time will tell who the true winner is in the battle for the best breakfast combo, but until then we can enjoy various coffee drinks and breakfast sandwiches from two different companies vying for our attention. Game on!