The new McD coffee got me thinking about what the coffee rankings are (in quantity and quality).

For quantity (number of outlets) the top 10 coffee chains in US:
Starbucks - 8,000
Caribou Coffee - 322
Tim Horton's - 292
Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf - 213
Coffee Beanery - 200
Seattle's Best - 160 (which happens to be a subsidiary of Starbucks!)
Peet's Coffee - 112
Tully's - 100
Dunn Bros. Coffee - 85
Port City Java - 55

Which gives some idea of how big Starbucks is!!!!

For quality, of the ones that I have tried for brewed coffee (non-espresso or Americano):
Peet's
Tim Horton
Caribou
McD
Seattle's Best
Starbucks
Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

For espresso, no contest out of these choices (Peet's by a mile). Also good was Torrefazione but it only had 17 cafes and is now owned by Starbucks (!!!).

Outside of the US, the product Starbucks sells is completely different -- they sell living room space rather than coffee. And this makes them very successful. People want the comfortable furniture and elbow room that Starbucks offers; I've seen many Starbucks in coffee loving countries where they are jammed and the much better coffee-serving cafe next door is empty (but with tiny tables and chairs jammed together).