Local coffeehouses unaffected by fast food prices

While coffee franchises across the country are lowing prices to compete with fast food restaurants, coffeehouse owners in Whitewater are comfortable with their prices.

Starbucks in Seattle are running a test plan to offer coffee with free refills for $1, according to an article from Yahoo Finance. The price decrease is being tested to compete with restaraunts like McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts.

Some McDonald's restaurants are offering premium style coffee, but the McDonald's in Whitewater is not.

"From what I hear it's in the works," Samantha Markham, McDonald's store manager, said about gourmet coffees.

The restaurant offers cappuccino and iced coffee, but not a premium type coffee that may compete with coffeehouses.

"People who come in here are not coming in for [just] a cup of coffee," Markham said. "They're coming in here to get a meal and things like that and out the door. If they're going to a coffeehouse, they're going for specifically a cup of coffee."

Because the local McDonald's is not directly competing with coffeehouses, there does not seem to be any worry from local coffeehouse owners.

Part of the reason local coffeehouses do not have to lower their prices to compete is the quality of their product. Linda Platner, owner of the SweetSpot Coffee Shoppe, said the beans she makes coffee with are high quality and always fresh.

"We are a specialty coffee," Platner said. "Our beans are a higher quality than what you would find at McDonald's. We think we have a better bean. [Since] it's roasted in Madison, it is here sooner and we have a fresher bean."

The Coffee Stop grinds its own beans to keep its coffees tasting fresh.

"We grind our own beans right before we make the coffee," Coffee Stop employee Katie Spanel said. "We use Alterra Coffee. They have a lot of different varieties of beans."

A variety of coffee is something coffeehouses can offer, which McDonald's is not set up to do. McDonald's has four flavors of syrup for coffees, while the SweetSpot offers more than 30.

It seems the biggest reason coffeehouse prices differ from fast food's is the different clientele.

"I have my regulars, my seniors that come in [to McDonald's]," Markham said. "They come here because they're sitting down and chatting and visiting. They can't do that at the coffeehouses because they're so busy and people are standing around."

Lacey Reichwald, a barista at the SweetSpot, said different places have regular customers.

"We have a very loyal fan base," Reichwald said.

The cost of a small coffee at McDonald's is $1. The Coffee Stop's coffee starts at $1.25 and the SweetSpot is $1.32.