Class Action Claims McDaniel’s Coffee Canisters Can’t Make ‘Anywhere Close’ to Advertised Number of Cups

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A proposed class action alleges consumers have been misled in that canisters of McDaniel’s Coffee Co. ground coffee cannot make the number of servings stated on the product’s label.

The 10-page case claims that although the label on 30.5 oz cans of McDaniel’s-brand coffee, produced by defendant Moran Foods, LLC, states that it’s possible to make “UP TO 240 6 FL OZ CUPS,” consumers who follow the stated directions cannot make “anywhere close” to 240 cups of coffee.

The suit alleges independent testing has shown that the canisters, in truth, produce around 137 cups of coffee when the brewing directions, which instruct consumers to measure out one rounded teaspoon of coffee for each six-ounce cup of water, are followed.

“This means that the Product delivers forty-three percent fewer cups of coffee than promised on the label and what consumers paid for,” the complaint says, describing the defendant’s representations as “false, deceptive and misleading.”

According to the lawsuit, consumers who view an advertised “Makes Up To” claim expect the target number to be “in the ballpark” of the actual number, “even if it is not exact.” It is misleading, the suit says, to advertise a target number that is substantially larger than the actual number of servings that can be produced.

The case claims that no reasonable consumer who views the defendant’s representations would expect that the McDaniel’s coffee product can produce only around 130 cups of coffee, roughly 100 cups fewer than the advertised number of servings.

“Reasonable consumers must and do rely on a company to honestly identify and describe the components and features of the Product, relative to itself and other comparable products,” the lawsuit states.

The case claims Moran Foods has sold more of its McDaniel’s coffee products, and at higher prices, than it would have absent the allegedly misleading “Makes Up To” representations.

Other coffee brands, including Folgers, Kroger, Walmart, Maxwell House and Market Basket, have also come under fire for allegedly overstating the number of cups packages of their products can produce.

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