McDonald's is set to take on Starbucks in Japan with a new chain of coffee shops brewing up bargain lattes, the fast food chain said Thursday.
The Japan unit of U.S.-based McDonald's Corp. will launch 15 pilot McCafe shops in the Tokyo area on Aug. 29, according to a company release.
The stores, the burger chain's first foray into the coffee shop business, will offer drinks at low prices to target families, the release said. McDonald's said it will consider opening McCafes across Japan next fiscal year.
The cafe business in Japan has been shrinking and stood at 1.052 trillion yen in 2006, down 5 percent from the previous year.
Still, sales at specialty coffee shops like Starbucks have soared. The Seattle-based coffee chain, which launched in Japan in 1997, has almost 700 stores across the country and saw sales jump 16 percent last year to 78.9 billion yen.
For related stories:
McDonald's to charge urbanites more
Coffee shops on different tracks in Japan