If each store was considered a germ, the Nation’s security, health and welfare would consider this month’s expansion announcement as a forewarning of an oncoming pandemic. Now we have nothing against Dunkin Donuts except to say their lattes are weak and their iced vanilla coffees are great. Did they not use to claim that their donuts were fresh every four hours. Not the case the last time we ate a donut at 6 pm (don’t ask us why, ask Valerie), but it could hardly boast being made before two in the afternoon and it might have been a stretch to say it was made before 2 that morning.
A little back ground that is frightening. Dunkin' Brands Inc. executives plan to rely on multiple formats to rapidly expand to nearly 15,000 US locations by 2020, up from about 5,000 today. To say that Dunkin' is heavily concentrated in the Northeast is an understatement. For example, there are 1,100 Dunkin' Donuts within a 50-mile radius of Boston, or one for every 5,600 residents in that region. Actually it works out more like you can’t swing a dead cat and not hit a Dunkin’ Donut. If they put insurance adjusters in every store, you couldn’t have an auto accident without settling the claim in fifteen minutes over a good cup of coffee. They are on every corner, in every gas station, bank, Wal-Mart, Laundromat, and we swear Valerie was in one the other day and saw a Dunkin Donut store inside a Dunkin Donut store.
You can’t fix your own coffee, as the employee will prepare it for you. Sounds like full service? Not to us, it sounds more like keeping tabs on the Spelenda inventory. Now there is a store in Pawtucket that lets the customer add cream and sugar. It is a prototype. Guess the executives of don’t pay visits to Starbucks and Panera Bread to see that the customer can and is willing to put their own personal touches on their coffee drinks. Rival to Starbucks? Without cozy fireplaces, bulky couches and WIFI, we don’t think so. But it is a good and convenient place to grab a cup of coffee, especially if you like it black.
Why our comments about Dunkin Donuts? With a smaller footprint (like a cat's) and a warmer color scheme, that includes tans and browns, (more like a cat's) as well as the brand's signature pink and orange (a nasty color combination) the hope is that the prototype becomes the workhorse (ie. tiger) of the company's nationwide expansion. Beware, you may find one lurking in your shower one morning. Sometimes, that might not be so bad. You have been warned.
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