Wake up and smell the McCafe ... at home. McDonald's plans to start selling its packaged coffee at supermarkets nationally next year, a move intended to help raise the profile of the coffee at its restaurants. The world's biggest hamburger chain has made a deal with Kraft Foods to manufacture and distribute bags of McCafe ground and whole bean coffee, as well as single-cup pods that can be used in coffee machines. Other chains, such as Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts, already sell branded packaged coffee at retailers. McDonald's has highlighted coffee as a key growth opportunity, with CEO Don Thompson saying it can be a way to get customers into its more than 14,000 U.S. restaurants. The chain has redesigned its coffee cups to have a more appealing look that people would want to carry around. At an investor conference last year, a McDonald's executive noted the chain's coffee sales have surged 70 percent since the introduction of McCafe in 2009.
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- The Associated Press