strawberry cake top

Much like the rest of the world, fast food in Japan is a war of franchises trying to one-up the other. When McDonald’s announced it was getting rid of large-sized fries, Lotteria announced they’d give customers “whatever size they wanted.” When McDonald’s was struggling with the morning crowd, Mos Burger seized the opportunity to strike by offering a traditional Japanese breakfast.

Now that Mister Donut has upped the ante by rolling out a strawberry-chocolate-marshmallow pizza, McDonald’s has answered back with its new strawberry whipped cream donut and shortcake. Who will emerge the victor? Well, so far, it’s looking pretty one-sided.

The two items that McDonald’s is putting out to “welcome in spring” starting on March 3 are the Sugar Donut with Strawberry Whipped Cream and Shortcake with Strawberry Whipped Cream. They’ll be available at any McDonald’s restaurant in Japan with a “McCafé by Barista” installed inside. If you’ve never seen one of those before, it’s basically a small coffee shop inside of a McDonald’s, usually decorated in slightly less gaudy colours than a typical fast food joint.

▼ For your friends who would much rather get a nice, healthy caramel latte and slice of cheesecake instead of a burger.

800px-McCafe_by_Barista_Japan_ShikokuWikimedia Commons

“McCafé by Barista” has pretty much the same menu that you’d find at any Starbucks: espressos, cappuccinos and all those other caffeinated concoctions, with cakes, muffins and other desserts to match. They spice up the menu every now and then with seasonal items, such as the two new strawberry sweets coming in March:

▼ Normally I’d say that when you order it, it won’t look anything like the picture, but this is Japan, so….

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Unfortunately for McDonald’s, though, early reactions to the new items have not been as warm as they were probably hoping. Mostly netizens are upset over the price of the desserts: 260 yen (US$2.16) for the donut, and 360 yen ($3.03) for the slice of cake. Considering Mister Donut’s chocolate-marshmallow-amazing-pizza-thing is almost half the price at just 194 yen ($1.63), they kind of have a point. Here’s what they had to say:

“I’d rather just have a normal strawberry on top instead of the gross cream, thanks.”
“(In response to above) Strawberry cream keeps for longer than normal strawberries, that’s why they use it.”
“If they were 100 yen cheaper I’d buy them.”
“Yeah, the sponge on that cake does not look like 360-yen quality.”
“At that price I can just get a much better cake at a conbini or cake shop.”
“Do they think we’re stupid?”

While the response is not exactly positive so far, we wont blame you if you “accidentally” buy one of the strawberry items. If you do happen to try one, let us know if you thought it was worth the asking price!

Source: Digital PR Platform via Alfalfalfa
Featured/top image: Digital PR Platform