With every turn of the menu, McDonalds becomes more like Starbucks becomes more like Jamba Juice becomes more like — well, you get the idea.

Apparently reacting specifically to the opportunity to compete with Massachusetts-based Dunkin' Donuts for the morning sweet tooth of New Englanders, McDonalds is expanding its breakfast lineup in its stores in the region to include baked goods: cheese danish, two kinds of muffins, banana bread, and vanilla scones. They join traditional standbys such as Egg McMuffins and recent additions such as oatmeal on the morning menu, but unlike those staples, the new bakery fare will be available at McDonald's all day.

The goods will be baked on-site at each of the McDonald's involved. "The fact that we bake them on the premises is a unique piece," he said. "We actually bake them — they're not frozen," Lou Provenzano, a franchise owner who operates 13 McDonald's locations in Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island, told the Boston Globe.Continue reading...

Once Starbucks reached its saturation point (one location on practically every block), it had nowhere else to go but down – and that’s exactly where it went. Stores were underperforming, the stock price plummeted, and the brand was forced into a steamed-milk showdown when the McCafé coffeehouse concept began brewing front and off-center at most McDonald’s restaurants.

But less than two years after Howard Schultz returned as CEO, following an eight-year hiatus, Starbucks’ future looks as sweet as a Strawberries & Crème Frappuccino.

Every brand experiences growing pains, and Starbucks, which opened new locations at an arguably pathological rate, was no exception. Speaking at Thursday’s Ernst & Young Strategic Growth Forum, Schultz felt his brand lost its focus after 15 years of infallibility: “Somehow, along the way, the level of that feeling” – the love inspired by a people-based business – “got somewhat blurred by success.”Continue reading...