Most would agree that a salad and coffee doesn’t evoke the same feeling as a donut and coffee. But, prepackaged salads have made their way into six Dunkin’ shops—three in Chicago and three in Clark, New Jersey, about 25 miles west of New York City. The Chicago-based company, Farmer’s Fridge, is supplying Dunkin’ the salads…
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As 2021 got started, two important events began changing the outlook for the nation’s battered restaurant industry. People started getting vaccines and receiving a new round of $600 government relief checks. Data from the same period shows same-store sales increasing at many chain restaurants, according to the data insight company Black Box Intelligence. That matches…
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The Coffee Café Bakery. It’s a charming, almost quaint, name that belies the state-of-the-art project it represents – a $10 million, highly automated, Centralized Manufacturing Location (CML) being developed in metro Atlanta, and scheduled to open late this year. The Coffee Café Bakery is a subsidiary of a Chunara Food Group (CFG) and ZSC Enterprises…
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What franchisees should remember about Dunkin’s prior history as a private-equity-owned brand For many, 2020 will be a year to forget. But for the restaurant conglomerate Inspire Brands, it will be a year to remember. Having spent billions to acquire Dunkin’ and Baskin Robbins, Inspire has a tall – or Grande – order to fill:…
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When Independent Joe reached out to industry-watchers to get their reaction to the Inspire Brands $11 billion purchase of Dunkin’, we heard terms like “stratospheric” and “through the roof” used to describe the $106.50 per share price Inspire agreed to pay for the Dunkin’ and Baskin-Robbins flag. Jonathan Maze, editor of Restaurant Business magazine, put…
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While the coronavirus pandemic has changed many things in our daily lives, it has not had much of a jolt on coffee consumption. In fact, our collective thirst for coffee is only expected to grow next year. For Dunkin’ franchisees, that is just the kind of reassurance they need after a uniquely challenging year and…
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It’s easy to typecast the Dunkin’ customer as a blue-collar, regular joe, who cares about basic coffee and donuts. It’s especially easy when comparing Dunkin’ to Starbucks. But, Dunkin’ has consistently shown its willingness to shake up the menu and give customers a chance to sample healthier alternatives. Consider the veggie egg-white flatbread, or the…
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New book by Robert Rosenberg, son of the founder, highlights Dunkin’ Donuts’ early growth After a 35-year career devoted to the restaurant industry, it’s only fitting that Robert Rosenberg, describes his new book as “…a buffet.” “There’s something for everyone, from the hopeful entrepreneur, to the company that’s scaling, to the large company with a…
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The Dunkin’ shop on Bragg Boulevard in Fayetteville, N.C. is a microcosm of the impact COVID-19 has had on the chain restaurant business. The newly remodeled next-generation shop is near a cluster of quick serve and fast casual restaurants like Krispy Kreme, McDonalds, Pizza Hut and Dominos, along with local barbeque, Chinese and Mexican take-out…
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On a typical weekday, any Dunkin’ in an urban setting would be bustling: walkers, commuters awaiting public transportation, tourists, and students would populate the register lines while the plan-ahead types would breeze in and out of the mobile pickup station. But since the COVID-19 pandemic first prompted shutdowns across the U.S. in March, urban franchisees…
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