Fill in the Blanks Listening Online version Listening about McDonald's by Claudia Benhumea 1 restaurants chairman company Reports restaurants foods thousand warned Premium windows taste enjoyed international cost coffee sales risk specialty executive barista drinks competition expansion credited growth service Chocolate experience McDonald's , the fast - food , is heating up competition with the Starbucks Coffee Company . McDonald's plans to put bars in its fourteen thousand in the United States . Fewer than a thousand now offer coffee drinks like lattes and cappuccinos . Just like Starbucks , each coffee bar would have its own , the person who makes and serves the . Company documents reported by the Wall Street Journal said the plan would add one billion dollars a year in . McDonald's has several years of strong . The company had almost twenty - two billion dollars in sales in two thousand six . Still , the move to compete against Starbucks carries some . Some experts say it could slow down at McDonald's restaurants . And some people who are happy with McDonald's the way it is now may not like the changes . As early as two thousand one the company tested McCafes in the United States to sell specialty coffee at McDonald's . But the drinks were not available at the drive - through that provide two - thirds of its business . McDonald's thinks its new plan has a greater chance of success . Starbucks , on the other hand , has faced slower growth and increasing . Its stock has lost about half its value since last January . Starbucks has about ten stores in the United States . Its high - priced coffee drinks have names like Iced Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha and Double Chip Frappuccino . Lately Starbucks has added more , including breakfast foods , and put drive - through windows in some stores . This week , the company replaced its chief officer , bringing back former C . E . O . Howard Schultz . He remains of the board . He joined Starbucks in nineteen eighty - two , when it had just four stores . He is with building the Seattle company into an success story . But a year ago he that its fast growth had led to what he called the watering down of the Starbucks . Some neighborhoods have a Starbucks on every block or two . Now , Starbucks will speed up its international growth while slowing its in the United States . Millions of people have a for Starbucks . But last year , McDonald's coffee got some good press . Testers from Consumer thought it tasted better than Starbucks , and it less . And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report , written by Mario Ritter . I'm Steve Ember .
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