McNugget. McFlurry. McLatté? McNugget. McFlurry. McLatté? (December 05, 2003)

First McCafé on West Coast opens in Mountain View

By Julie O'Shea

Just when you thought you knew McDonald's, the worldwide fast food conglomerate goes and gets itself a whole new gimmick.

In an effort to appeal to the coffee-centric Silicon Valley and with the hopes of attracting new eaters to its popular restaurants, the corporation Wednesday opened McCafé -- a cozy espresso retreat for moms and business folk to unwind with their laptops -- tucked inside the McDonald's on El Monte Avenue right off of El Camino Real.

With Starbucks' tight grasp around the coffee/café market, McDonald's officials say they want to give residents a choice when it comes to their mochas and cappuccinos and iced chocolates.

"It's high quality coffee without the attitude," said Con Freeman, who, along with his wife Lee Ann, owns the Mountain View McDonald's, as well as 12 others around the Peninsula.

McCafé's coffees, Freeman stressed, will come in sizes small, medium and large, unlike the Starbucks' selection of tall, grande, and venti.

Launched in Australia in 1992, McCafé didn't make its U.S. appearance until just three weeks ago, when the company opened one in Raleigh, N.C.

The café on El Monte Avenue is the first one for the West Coast. And another one is set to open in Palo Alto this March.

"This is a very sophisticated part of the Bay Area," Freeman said.

This point obviously did not allude McDonald's officials when they presented the McCafé idea to Freeman in September. "It's about location," Denis Weil, McDonald's senior director of business development, said.

With its vastly diverse demographics and its proximity to several college campuses, not to mention all the tech industry's coffee hounds, Weil feels Mountain View was a prime location to launch McCafe.

And if business at its 500 overseas locales is any indication of what's ahead, McCafé will soon start popping up all over the U.S.

"Consumers' tastes have changed," Weil said, using McDonald's salad menu as an example. And now there are coffee and cheesecake, which is among the many treats that stare back at patrons from a glass display rack.

"We feel the McDonald's brand can bring something really authentic to the community."

While its not quite as chic a joint as Central Perk on "Friends," the El Monte Avenue café seems no less inviting with its cushioned seats, bar stools and wireless Internet access. Off to the side of the main McDonald's restaurant, Freeman hopes McCafé becomes a place where the community comes to just hang out relax and have a latté, brewed fresh by trained barristas.

Lee Ann Freeman says the café is targeting young moms who may not really be into cheeseburgers and French fries, but who could go for, say, a turkey sandwich on rye. The café, Freeman said, will give these moms a reason to let their children goof around longer on the outside play set.

"The kids will be happy and the moms will be happy," she added.

The Freemans are hosting a grand opening party on Saturday where there will be live music and some holiday cheer.

E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com

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