Discover

'Dunkin' Donuts' is an international coffee and donut retailer founded in 1950 in Quincy, Massachusetts, U.S. by William Rosenberg.

Contents

Corporate Profile

History

Facts and figures

Products

Ingredients and health

Advertising

Commercials

Promotions

Television and movie references

Licencing

Countries with Dunkin' Donuts

See also

External links

References

Corporate Profile

History

In 1946, William Rosenberg founded Industrial Luncheon Services as a company to deliver meals and "coffee break snacks" to customers in the outer reaches of Boston, Massachusetts. His business saw success and Rosenberg soon followed by opening up his first coffee and donut shop called "The Open Kettle". In 1950 he opened the first store known as "Dunkin' Donuts", which is still standing today at 543 Southern Artery in Quincy, Massachusetts^[1]. Dunkin' began franchise operations in 1968 when William and Arleen Adie opened the first franchised Dunkin' Donuts in Chelmsford, MA.^[2]
About 1960, Rosenburg started Howdy Beefburger, a chain of fast food restaurants similar to McDonald's. To save on rent, Howdy restaurants frequently shared parking lots with Dunkin' Donuts shops. Howdy Beefburger could not compete, and had disappeared by 1980.
For a while, Dunkin' Donuts and its other quick-service brands - Togo's and Baskin Robbins - were owned and operated by Allied Domecq. Allied Domecq has since been bought out by Pernod Ricard for its Spirits and Wine division, breaking off the quick service brand to create Dunkin' Brands, the current owner of Dunkin' Donuts. Currently, there are 5,505 Dunkin' Donuts franchises in the United States, 79 in Canada, and 1,856 throughout the rest of the world.

Facts and figures

DD claims to be the "world's largest coffee and baked goods chain," serving 2.7 million customers per day at over 7,000 stores globally which includes approximately 5,300 Dunkin' Donuts locations in 34 states throughout the USA. This figure compares with the 10,800 stores of coffee chain Starbucks, whose baked goods are usually prepared out of shop. Most Dunkin' Donuts stores are franchises.

Dunkin' Donuts, along with Togo's and Baskin-Robbins, is owned by Dunkin' Brands Inc. (previously Allied Domecq Quick Service Restaurants, a part of Allied Domecq). Dunkin' Brands was owned by French beverage company, Pernod Ricard S.A. after it purchased Allied Domecq. They reached an agreement in December 2005 to sell the brand to a consortium of three private equity firms, Bain Capital Partners, the Carlyle Group and Thomas H. Lee Partners.
In the U.S., Dunkin' Donuts is often paired with Togo's sandwich shops (sometimes called Dunkin' Deli) and Baskin-Robbins ice cream shops (especially in the Chicago and New York City areas). Most of their business competition comes from small locally owned stores, Krispy Kreme doughnuts and Starbucks; in Canada, Maine, and parts of the Great Lakes region, Tim Hortons is a major competitor. Mister Donut had been its largest competitor in the United States before the company was bought by Dunkin' Donuts' parent company. The Mister Donut stores were re-branded as Dunkin' Donuts.
In the province of Quebec, Canada, Dunkin' Donuts is operated completely by Alimentation Couche-Tard.

Products

★ Baked Goods

★
★ Doughnuts (35 varieties)

★
★ "Fancies", including eclairs, fritters, crullers, bismarcks, and coffee rolls (9 varieties)

★
★ Munchkins-brand donut "holes" (9 varieties)

★
★ Stick donuts (6 varieties)

★
★ Bagels

★
★ Muffins

★
★ Danish

★
★ Cookies

★ Breakfast Sandwiches

★
★ Egg and Cheese

★
★ Egg and Cheese with Meat (Choice of Ham, Bacon or Sausage)

★
★ Supreme Omelet (a more savory egg patty with the addition of onions and peppers and often served with meat)
Any of the above sandwiches may be served on any bagel, a croissant, an English muffin or any other available bread carrier.

★ Hash Browns: Oven toasted potato hash browns that can be added to any combo or ordered separately.

★ PM Products

★
★ Flatbread Sandwiches (3 varieties including Turkey Bacon and Cheddar, Ham and Swiss, and Three Cheese)

★
★ Personal Sized Pizzas (3 varieties: Four Cheese, Pepperoni and Supreme)

★ 'Coffee': Over the past several years, DD has heavily emphasized its coffee offerings and related coffee products. It now offers several types and styles of coffee drinks, in hot and iced forms.

★
★ 'Espresso', 'Cappuccino' and Lattes: These traditional Italian style coffee beverages are available at most of its locations.

★
★ 'Flavored Coffee': The flavor options are: French Vanilla, hazelnut, cinnamon, toasted almond, caramel, coconut, raspberry, blueberry and chocolate. Each of these flavors can be added to any of their coffee beverages, allowing the possibility of combining more than one flavor.

★
★ 'Turbo': The product adds an extra shot of espresso to its contents. Its individual product slogan says that "Turbo provides you the boost you need to power you through your day".

★
★ 'Latte Lite': Espresso is combined with skim milk and then Splenda for sweetness.

★
★ 'Iced Lattes': Their two varieties are Iced Caramel Swirl and Iced Mocha Swirl. Each of these drinks is made of espresso, mocha/caramel syrup, and milk and is topped with whipped cream and more syrup.

★
★ 'Bulk Coffee': DD sells its coffee and flavored coffee in bulk packaging for in-home consumer preparation. It offers whole bean and ground varieties in 1/2 pound, 1 pound and 2 ounce tester sizes. It is sold at most DD restaurants, online from the DD web site, and at other retail outlets such as supermarkets, gift shops and convenience stores.

★ Other hot beverages

★
★ 'Hot chocolate'

★
★ 'White Hot Chocolate': The drink is slightly richer than normal hot chocolate. Made with cocoa butter instead of normal cocoa, it is a thicker beverage with a slight buttery flavor and traces of vanilla. It is optionally served with whipped cream.

★
★ 'Vanilla chai:

★
★ 'Tea':

★ Cold beverages

★
★ 'Coolattas': These are an equivalent to a slush and something to an extent, a rough ice chop, combined with flavors. Available flavors include Tropicana orange juice, lemonade, strawberry, coffee, vanilla bean and SoBe Cherry Citrus.

★
★ 'Smoothies' are made with fruit concentrate and low fat yogurt. Flavors include strawberry-banana, wildberry, mango-passion fruit, and tropical fruit.

★
★ 'Iced tea' DD has recently introduced a line of freshly brewed iced teas; like its coffee products they are available in several varieties including regular, southern sweet and flavored varieties.

Ingredients and health

In August 2007, Dunkin' Donuts announced plans to greatly reduce trans fats from its menu items by switching to a blend of palm, soybean and cottonseed oils. ^[3] In addition to 400 US stores that took part in a four-month blind test, the low trans fat menu will be available nationwide by October 15, 2007. International locations are expected to begin using the new oil within the next few years. ^[4]

Advertising

Dunkin' Donuts is well-known for their advertising which have become popular culture references, especially in their home region of the northeastern United States. As well as being featured in many films, they have a close relationship with the Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots, making new commercials at the start of each team's season for promotions.
Dunkin' Donuts' current slogan is ''America Runs On Dunkin'.

Commercials

★ Dunkin' Donuts' "It's Worth the Trip" campaign, starring sleepy-eyed "Fred the Baker" and featuring the catchphrase "Time to make the donuts", won honors from the Television Bureau of Advertising as one of the five best commercials of the 1980s. Fred the Baker was played by actor Michael Vale for over 15 years until his retirement in 1997. Vale died of complications from diabetes at age 83 on December 24 2005, in New York City.

★ In 2006, a series of Dunkin' Donuts commercials referred to the fictional language ''Fritalian'' which would be a portmanteau of French and Italian: "Is it French? Or is it Italian?" sings a chorus of customers in an unnamed coffee-shop with a long menu of non-English terms. "Perhaps Fritalian?"^[5] The whole commercial was interpreted as a deliberate mocking of Starbucks.^[6] The commercials' punchline, "Delicious lattes from Dunkin' Donuts. You order them in English, not Fritalian", has been a point of discussion with respect to the fact that lattes and cappuccinos, espresso are borrowed words from Italian which have no equivalent in English."

★ Since Dunkin' Donuts changed their slogan in 2006 to "America Runs on Dunkin'," They Might Be Giants songs have been featured in an ongoing series of of Dunkin' Donuts new products to boost summer sales.

★ As of 2007, John Goodman can now be heard as the new voice of Dunkin' Donuts commercials.^[7]

★ Rachael Ray also has decided to do commercials with Dunkin Donuts in 2007

Promotions

★ In early 2007, Dunkin Donuts began running a trivia game promotion called Sip, Scratch, Score! that featured tear-off game pieces on their coffee cups.

Television and movie references

★ In the documentary ''Wordplay'', puzzle constructor Merl Reagle notes in passing "Put the D at the end, you get 'Unkind Donuts'... which I've had a few of in my day."

★ In the 1998 movie ''Dr. Dolittle'', before Dr.Dolittle is about to hit the dog, Lucky, he spills a coffee that was from Dunkin` Donuts. In reality, this would be very unlikely considering the movie takes place in San Francisco, Ca. A City that does not carry the Dunkin` Donuts Franchise.

★ In 2005, ''Saturday Night Live's'' Weekend Update skit featured Amy Poehler saying that she had always dreamed of opening up her own restaurant called "Dunkin' Dognuts," which was followed by a copy of the Dunkin' Donuts logo altered to match her phrase.

★ In ''The Astronaut Farmer'' Charles Farmer convinces Dunkin' Donuts to advertise on the rocket he is building.

★ Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin Robbins references appear in the movie ''While You Were Sleeping'' and there is a scene-related reference to bran muffins tasting like cardboard.

★ ''Futurama'' features a Year 3000 version of the restaurant called "Dinkin' Donuts", emblazoned with the image of former New York City mayor David Dinkins.

★ In ''The Office'' episode, "The Dundies" Michael makes a reference saying, "Who's going to give Kevin an award? Dunkin Donuts?"

Licencing

★ The Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island is the former Providence Civic Center. It is the home arena for the American Hockey League Providence Bruins and the home basketball court for the Big East Conference Providence College Friars. The arena is sometimes referred to as "The Dunk". The website for the Dunkin' Donuts Center can be found here [2]

Countries with Dunkin' Donuts

See also

★ Dunkin' Brands

★ Baskin Robbins

★ Togo's

★ Allied Domecq Plc (Former Owner)

★ Bain Capital

★ The Carlyle Group

★ Thomas H. Lee Partners
Competitors

★ Krispy Kreme

★ Starbucks

★ Tim Hortons

External links

Dunkin Donuts sign

★ Official website

★ Dunkin' Brands (Corporate Parent)

★ Coffee Klatch: Dunkin’ Donuts vs. Starbucks

References

1. Dunkin' Donuts Company History
2. Arlene Adie's obituary
3. "Dunkin' Donuts Dumping Most Trans Fats
4. "Dunkin' Donuts Announces Zero Grams Trans Fat Menu to be Available Nationwide by October 15
5.
6.
7. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000422/otherworks
8.
9.