Restaurant Brands CEO: Burger King's $5 coffee subscription will help it win the breakfast wars

Subscriptions have become popular across industries — from New York Mets tickets to exercise bikes — as a lucrative way to build brand loyalty. For Burger King, its new $5 monthly coffee subscription is a way to get customers into their stores in the morning to check out their other breakfast offerings.

Restaurant Brands International CEO Jose Cil said Thursday that the subscription should get customers to notice its recently overhauled breakfast offerings.

"We thought the coffee subscription would be a good way to bring people in, raise some excitement at Burger King," he said on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street."

The battle between fast food restaurants, from McDonald's to Dunkin', to get customers through their doors in the early morning has been ramping up over the last few years, but Burger King is the first to turn to subscriptions.

The burger chain also just introduced the Burger King Cafe brand, following the lead of rival McDonald's McCafe.

Cil took the reins of Burger King's parent company in January amid a series of management series. Prior to becoming chief executive, he had served as president of Burger King since 2014.

The company has also been investing in digital across all of its portfolio. Another company in Restaurant Brands' portfolio, Canadian coffee chain Tim Horton's, just launched a loyalty program Wednesday in an effort to sell 8 out of every 10 cups of coffee in Canada at its stores. It already sells 7 out of every 10 in the country.

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