This week, McDonald’s introduces McCafé Real Fruit Smoothies in its gazillion U.S. stores. Even if you hate McDonald’s, you have to suspend that for a second and think about the amazing ramifications.
These 12-ounce, strawberry-banana and wild berry deals for $2.29 aren’t going to be freely sampled, as originally planned, because the fast-food behemoth is pretty sure there aren’t enough ingredients available to support that. I have a healthy respect for that situation. There are about 14,000 Golden Arches in the U.S., and just how many berries and bananas would it take to satisfy all that smoothie sampling curiosity? It would take a world of berry vines and bushes. I’ll bet it took at least a year of meeting with growers to plan supplies and distribution before the smoothies could be added to the lineup. I know that when McDonald’s introduced its Asian salad in 2006, it had to move mountains to source enough edamame to support the salad. (It has since been discontinued.) Anytime McDonald’s introduces produce to the menu, it’s a serious and welcome boost to produce growers. What better industry to boost.
And back to fruit. There is the hugest fruit consumption deficit in the U.S. – not for lack of availability, but because we have a greater national taste for cookies and potato chips. We are the laughing stock of other countries because we barely fit through doorways, when some clothing stores in Asian countries offer XXX small clothes sizes. Maybe McDonald’s will help more of us learn to love fruit.
The third amazing thing about this new introduction is the amount of money McDonald’s spends on advertising – a choking $1.2+ billion annually overall. National television and print ads and promotional materials come easy for them, when the whole of the produce industry doesn’t own that much money to spend on advertising. Yeah that McDonald’s has championed fruit advertising this week.
So don’t anyone complain about these fruit smoothies. They are really a national blessing.
Jody Shee
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