Swiping my Starbucks Duetto Visa Card, I couldn’t help but feel guilty. And, sipping on my McCafe hot chocolate, the feeling worsened because I knew it was true: my beloved Starbucks is threatened.

Since the mid-90s, when Starbucks expanded beyond its Seattle roots, it has strived to become “the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world.” Serving specialty coffee drinks to billions of customers, daily, and worldwide, resulted in extremely attractive profits that helped achieve Howard Schultz’s deluxe coffee powerhouse dream. Starbucks became a great investment for stockholders and the success made the gears churn inside other profit-crazed and envious corporations.

Like McDonald’s, for example.

When I was little, my dad would drop my brother and me off at McDonald’s so my mom could sleep after working the third shift. My equally imaginative and hyperactive brother and I spent countless Ritalin-free hours in the PlayPlace on Sundays while my dad ran errands with my little sister.

When I think about McDonald’s, I don’t think of cozy couches or wide-screen TVs with CNN or high-top tables or soothing jazz playing subtly in the background or Caramel Cream Frappes. No, I think about crappy Happy Meal toys, my parents’ odd view of childcare and grimy plastic booths.

But times, they are a-changing. McDonald’s locations across the world are changing the décor to become more like an inviting and cozy living room. Beautifully photographed lattes and macchiatos are joining the Big Mac and other Mickey D favorites on the menu — at prices much more attractive to customers than those offered at Starbucks.

Welcome to the McCafe. The world’s leading fast food restaurant has plans to add espresso counters to as many as 14,000 existing locations, while continuing to create new McCafe sites, according to Bloomberg News.

Starbucks lovers should be concerned about the growing popularity of the McCafe. Fortune magazine reports the value of the company’s stock halved last year.

If Starbucks wants to stay afloat in what TIME magazine called a “brewing” battle with McDonald’s, the company should instead focus on the other half of its mission statement: “maintaining our uncompromising principles while we grow.”

What first drew customers to Starbucks was the uniqueness of the store. The friendly baristas, the high-quality products and the perfect blend of drive-thru service for yuppies and plush sofa chairs for casual get-togethers were all things that initially helped Starbucks surge to success.

Focusing on profits rather than personality, Starbucks is digging its own grave. It should face the competition by bringing back the things that made it stand out against other venues, rather than ditching organic milk and filling up the store with excess merchandise.

In the 1998 film You’ve Got Mail, director Nora Ephron stated in the film’s commentary that the reason Starbucks is so successful is because it’s such a successful “third place.” In daily life, people have home, work and the “third place” to spend their time. Will Starbucks be able to retain its king-of-the-third-place title? Or will the burger-slinging giant we call Mickey D’s come in and steal the golden latte right from under Starbucks’ nose? It’s a question for the ages … the modern ages of the 21st century. It’s the question that will waft in your mind next time you’re in line for your Grande, no-whip, triple Caramel Macchiato … or your double cheeseburger.

What corporation do you think will the battle for coffee supremacy. E-mail viewpoint@technicianonline.com