Shop Talk: Fast-food hybrids
Will coffee snobs hazard to drift from their artisanal grottos to the fluorescent lighting of the Golden Arches?
There are days when only pizza will do. By virtue of its provenance, an authentic Italian purveyor would be a natural first choice. Its menu, incontestably, would be free from adulterating or diluting influences. So no coleslaw or incantations of potato — wedges, mash or otherwise. By nature, I am a purist. Smythson for stationery, Kérastase for shampoo. You follow? About four years ago I met Greg Solomon, MD of McDonald’s SA, for one of the chain’s back-of-house tours at a store in Woodmead, Johannesburg. He offered me carrot cake and a cappuccino. The combination, he inferred, would be the best I’d taste in SA. Sacrilege, I thought (but was too polite to say). He went on to tell me how McCafé, the group’s in-house coffee chain, was transcending the archetypical McDonald’s offering.Business people, he said, were even holding meetings at McCafés. "Coffice", one calls such a place. Equal parts coffee and office, plus free Wi-Fi. McDonald’s proverbial bread and butter was (and is) bur...
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