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Starbucks, schmarbucks. Dunkin' Donuts thinks it can rule the world. It's rolled out corny commercials with the likes of Naomi Campbell and Rachael Ray leaving skidmarks on a floor. The next step in world domination starts this month, when our beloved Dunkin' Donuts begins selling packaged Dunkin' coffee across the United States at Wal-Mart, Kroger, and other stores.
This is excellent news for anyone who no longer lives in New England yet who still feels a hankering for Dunkin' Donuts coffee. Remember, not everyone has the luxury of having more than 50 Dunkies within a 5-mile radius of Downtown Crossing. We've known people who have imported packets of Dunkin' Donuts coffee from the East Coast, stashed it in California freezers, and broke it out for only special occasions.
Dunkin' Donuts is putting its coffee in the hands of Procter & Gamble to distribute the coffee: "P&G will roast the Dunkin's packaged coffee according to Dunkin's specifications and be responsible for distribution as well as a national marketing campaign based on the coffee shop chain's current 'America' runs on Dunkin" theme." But will it be the same?
Leila at Menu Pages has the same question: "We worry that brand extension will inevitably result in quality dilution. On the other hand again, assuming the product is good, why should we be so selfish as to deny our Midwestern (and Western and Southern) brethren the pleasures of a good (and reasonably priced...40 ounce bags of beans will sell for about $16) cup of coffee? On the first hand again, what if the product isn't good? The beans will, after all, be roasted by Proctor & Gamble, rather than Dunkin' Donuts. What if the quality isn't up to snuff?"
Good question. Usually bigger isn't better, and when a product branches out, it loses what made it special in the first place. Plus, as it expands, Dunkin' will have more palates to please and may be tempted to become ever more generic. Bluntly put, it isn't "ours," anymore, and the thrill will wear off once everyone else in the USA is drinkin' Dunkin'. But Dunkin' has been expanding for a long time, and they've already opened a store in Taiwan, so we'll have to get over our nostalgia of the days when Dunkin' was a New England treasure.
We've said it before, and we'll say it again. This giant donut won't rest until it is filled by the entire globe. Image courtesy of Flickr user Lall.
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Dunkin Donuts has been no good since they stopped making the donuts on site. I guess their coffee is ok though.
Explain then why Dunk's dumped all its Seattle franchises four years ago. Say what you want, but Dunk's cowers from Starbucks. (There's no Dunks in the PNW, but there's plenty of 'Bucks in the NE.) Krispy Kreme, now there's some fearlessness for ya.
(OMG, there's one in Salem, OR.)
Two words: Tim Horton's.
It's coming... slowly, but surely. It's like a creepy Canadian amoeba slowly devouring the northeast... sure it's only in the border states for now... but you just WAIT my friend!
(excessively ellipses deemed necessary)
I'll tell you why Dunkin dropped their PNW stores. They're too salt of the earth for the pretentious PNW coffee snobs. It was a waste of their time and taste. I was born in the PNW, lived in Boston for many years, and have recently moved back to the PNW; and I'm so thankful for the friend that mails Dunkin to me once a week. Their quality dwarfs any overpriced poorly brewed crap from any of the PNW shops. And that's a fact.
I live in San Diego, and one of the things i look forward to when I come home to Mass is a good cup of D&D coffee. I would LOVE to see some out here!!
I even found one at a South Korea airport (not quite the same, tho), but I can't get it here in So. Cal. :(
-Melissa in San Diego