Why was McDonald’s coffee so bad? The reputation of McDonald’s coffee was so poor at its drive through outlets and in stores that people were boycotting its product. Whilst there are other drive through coffee retailers, McDonald’s already had the infrastructure in place so it was convenience more than anything. As such, McDonald’s sells a lot of coffee, it is one of the largest coffee retailers in the country.

Firstly, McDonald’s bean selection was poor, they sought the cheapest beans and then stored them in a manner that allowed them to deteriorate. It was certainly a case of profit before quality. Naturally, this led to poor outcomes, this was exacerbated by poor training, inconsistent equipment at fast food outlets and poor maintenance practices. Yes, we all know McDonald’s hires young people and that is not a problem; however, failing to train young people was the issue and providing them with the necessary guidance was an issue.

Poor cleaning practices certainly impacted, if no proper procedures were used then the inconsistent cleaning practices were utilised, this would lead to poor outcomes. As servers were not trained, issues such as machine calibration, grind size and water temperature all result in poor and bitter coffee from over extraction and burning. As I was never a McDonald’s coffee drinker, I struggle to remember if I have ever had one, I am thinking back to around 2002 where I was out with some people and picked up a McDonald’s breakfast and if I had a coffee then.

With respect to McDonald’s, they turned it around. So how did they do it? Firstly, you need to recognise there is a problem and then seek a solution. McDonald’s even made a public apology for its poor coffee back in 2011, so they owned the problem.This began with high quality Arabica beans implementing Rainforest Alliance Certified sourcing. So with the coffee bean problem sorted, the management moved on to training where staff members received barista training, equipment and technology and processes were improved and McDonald’s now produces a coffee that the majority of people are happy with.