Dunkin Donuts Menu Will Have Less Donuts, More Drinks As It Moves West To Challenge Starbucks

Dunkin Donuts menu is changing again. Dunkin Donuts will have less to dunk but more to dunk in as it revamps itself into more of a beverage company as it competes with the trendy and expensive Starbucks chain. Dunkin Donuts will roll out a national media campaign that focuses on Dunkin Donuts drinks instead of its food offerings.

Dunkin Donuts menu has been changing since the franchise unveiled its “America Runs on Dunkin’” slogan in 2006. Dunkin Donuts has been focusing more on its coffee, which is a cheaper alternative to the massive franchise of Starbucks. One of Dunkin Donuts most popular drinks is the frozen Coolatta.

Now that Dunkin Donuts has its eyes on expanding westward, it is really pushing its coffee. Coffee and drinks made up about 58% of Dunkin Donuts sales in 2012. The company sees that people aren’t going to Dunkin Donuts for the donuts anymore.

Speaking to investors and analysts last week at the annual consumer conference at investment bank, Dunkin Donuts CFO Paul Carbone recalled the chain’s mascot from the 1980s and 1990s when he said, “We are a beverage company. Fred the Baker is not coming back.” Carbone said the be beverage business is the “holy grail” as far as profits because drinks account for the highest margins of all its sales categories.

Carbone says Dunkin Donuts is headed “west of the Mississippi,” and wants to hit California, where Dunkin Donuts has no outlets but where its top competitor, Starbucks, runs more than 2,000 stores. This is more than triple the number of stores Starbucks has in Texas, its most saturated state. Carbone says Dunkin Donuts has been hitting California with coffee ads since 2010, even though it won’t open its first store in the state until 2015. Carbone said “By the time we’re in California, they’ll have seen five years of national media focused on beverages.”

Dunkin Donuts runs about 7,400 stores in the United States. The franchise focuses on New York, New England, Pennsylvania and Florida. The coffee chain opened its first store in Las Vegas in 2005. Carbone wants to have 15,000 outlets up and running over the next few years, with an emphasis on California.

To hit California Dunkin Donuts will also push its healthier menu items like gluten-free muffins and donuts.

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Dunkin Donuts
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