KNOXVILLE, TN ? Led by McDonald's, sweet tea, a beverage that used to be difficult to find anywhere north of the Ohio River or west of the Mississippi, is generating billions of dollars in sales across the country, the Knoxville News reports.
"Our customers love it," said Tom Cochran, franchise owner of 26 Knoxville-area McDonald's restaurants. "It hits home with Southerners," adding that even some of his friends from California love the beverage.
According to Bill Hall, a partner at The Charleston Tea Plantation in South Carolina, while people across the U.S. sweeten their tea, in the South, it's more of an expectation.
Indeed, while McDonald's restaurants throughout the South sold sweet tea for years before the introduction of Mickey D's Sweet Tea, its production process has since been refined in order to bring consistency to the beverage.
"It is a beautiful product that's crystal clear," said Cochran when asked what distinguishes Mickey D's Sweet Tea from its competitors. "We certainly saw it was an excellent product."
John Faris, who owns 17 area McDonald's restaurants, agrees. "We started with $1 tea in this area, and now it's blown throughout the whole country." Farris said that he brews as much as 40 gallons of tea each morning, making more in 5-10 gallon batches as demand requires.
A McDonald's spokesperson said that more than 1.5 billion cups of sweet tea have been sold since it was launched, whose price point has fueled its growth. A 32-ounce Mickey D's Sweet Tea is $1. "I'm sure that has a major thing to do with it," Cochran said.
Competing with McDonald's, at least in Knoxville, are other quick and full service restaurants, including Wishbones, Bojangle's, and Weigels.
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