Burger King App Turns To Coffee Subscriptions Amid Breakfast Wars

Amid the breakfast wars, Burger King App is turning to coffee subscriptions. The offering could help bring diners into its restaurants at the beginning of the day to discover its other breakfast menu items, CNBC reported.

Restaurant Brands International CEO Jose Cil told CNBC, “We thought the coffee subscription would be a good way to bring people in, raise some excitement at Burger King.”

As it stands, the outlet reported that quick-service restaurants (QSRs) such as Dunkin’ and McDonald’s have been vying to bring diners into their stores during the early morning – a battle that “has been ramping up over the last few years.”

The outlet also reported that the restaurant rolled out Burger King Café after the lead of McCafe from McDonald’s. Tim Hortons, another firm in the portfolio of Restaurant Brands, rolled out a loyalty program to help sell 8 out of 10 cups of coffee in Canada. As it stands, the company sells 7 out of every 10 cups in the nation.

Burger King began to allow consumers to sign up for its BK Café coffee subscription program on Friday (March 15). With a $5 monthly fee, members of BK Café can receive one small coffee each day from the quick-service restaurant (QSR) company. “That means for February, the shortest month of the year, a daily cup of BK’s Arabica bean coffee would set you back roughly 17 cents per cup,” one report noted.

While the program is reportedly not limited to morning purchases of coffee, it cannot be combined with any delivery orders. As a result, diners wanting to use the subscription offering for coffee have to visit the inside Burger King Stores or use the drive-thru. At the same time, program members of BK Café must download the Burger King app and use that to sign up for the coffee subscription service. As it stands, the Burger King app has been downloaded 1.5 million times since the chain launched the $0.01 Whopper offer in December of 2018 per the PYMNTS Mobile Order-Ahead Tracker.