TORONTO — McDonald’s Canada is ramping up its McCafé coffee empire with plans to sell its ground coffee in retail stores starting November.

“It's a great opportunity to extend the brand. People like the coffee. It's the reason we're headed for a fifth year of double-digit breakfast growth. You cannot talk about coffee today in Canada without talking about McDonald's,” John Betts, president of McDonald’s Canada, told the Montreal Gazette.

The bagged coffee will be priced at $6.99 for 340 grams. To kick off the launch, the company will offer a free coffee promotion next week in stores across Canada.

Betts also revealed the company is preparing to open at least 30 more units in 2012. “This year, we’re going to build more restaurants than we’ve built in the last seven or eight years,” he told Reuters. “Next year, it’s going to ramp up from that.”

McDonald’s currently has approximately 1,400 outlets in Canada.

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