Dunkin' Donuts Dropping Donuts In Name

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Alpha8472
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Dunkin' Donuts Dropping Donuts In Name

Post by Alpha8472 »

Dunkin' Donuts is dropping the Donuts from its restaurants in California as a test. A new Dunkin will open in Pasadena without the word Donuts.

The restaurant wants to emphasize that they are a drink company first. Their donuts have gone downhill in quality over the years. They are often stale and made hours earlier. Some Dunkin locations ship their donuts from other locations and do not bake in the store.

The coffee is weak and tastes watery. It is drastically different than Pete's Coffee or Starbucks.
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Re: Dunkin' Donuts Dropping Donuts In Name

Post by storewanderer »

The donuts are terrible. The muffin is surprisingly quite good. The coffee is an east coast style coffee which tends to be more watery than our preferred coffees out west.

The iced coffee is actually quite good. Dunkin in Sparks and Carson City is really struggling, I am surprised the locations are even still open. They were supposed to open 10-12 locations around here and they did not get past the 2 opened a few years ago.

There are actually a number of spots around town where I think a Dunkin could do pretty well. The problem is the new Dunkin wants to be Starbucks and locate in Starbucks-style locations. The problem is Starbucks is already in all those locations in this market, the Starbucks are run in a much more professional manner, and are just a lot more popular. In my area, Dunkin needs to be the one who will open in locations where Starbucks won't open that are not very well served. Some lower income neighborhoods where the concept would actually do well, the underserved industrial area of Sparks, etc. Starbucks is not in those areas (they are on the edges) and there are many potential opportunities.
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Re: Dunkin' Donuts Dropping Donuts In Name

Post by BatteryMill »

Seems to be a similar situation as to stores such as Starbucks and Target forgoing their wordmarks lately in favor of simple brand recognition.
I would understand this if they want to bolster the presence of Baskin Robbins or make it a corporate name, I'd not really want that to be the main thing otherwise.

As for experiences, I admit it varies near me (I've eaten decent donuts sometimes), however I have not tried the rest as of now.
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Re: Dunkin' Donuts Dropping Donuts In Name

Post by rwsandiego »

Back in the 1980s I ate there all the time, but not for the donuts and coffee. They had the best soup/bread combo and it was only a few dollars. If memory serves, the would have 4 or 5 varieties every day. Was definitely a budget-stretcher for a recent college grad. They also had very good breakfast sandwiches and muffins. Now, they are testing the "Dunkin" name when (I think) they have dropped other menu items. Seems 30 years too late.
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Re: Dunkin' Donuts Dropping Donuts In Name

Post by Brian Lutz »

It's now official:

https://news.dunkindonuts.com/news/releases-20180925

"Donuts" is now being officially dropped from the name. In some cases, it appears that the name is even being shortened to "DNKN".
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Re: Dunkin' Donuts Dropping Donuts In Name

Post by BatteryMill »

Brian Lutz wrote: September 25th, 2018, 12:21 pm It's now official:

https://news.dunkindonuts.com/news/releases-20180925

"Donuts" is now being officially dropped from the name. In some cases, it appears that the name is even being shortened to "DNKN".
Not a fan of this one either. While many know Dunkin for the donuts they have, as well as coffee I see it as another example of weak simplification of chains. Having the Donuts as well honestly makes the chain have more class and even at that - is half the ring to their classic name.

That being said... will their locations act on this change fast?
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Re: Dunkin' Donuts Dropping Donuts In Name

Post by mbz321 »

BatteryMill wrote: September 25th, 2018, 2:46 pm
Not a fan of this one either. While many know Dunkin for the donuts they have, as well as coffee I see it as another example of weak simplification of chains. Having the Donuts as well honestly makes the chain have more class and even at that - is half the ring to their classic name.

That being said... will their locations act on this change fast?
[/quote]


Their donuts are now so nasty and unpopular, they have to distance themselves from them. (And IMO, their coffee isn't much better).
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Re: Dunkin' Donuts Dropping Donuts In Name

Post by BatteryMill »

mbz321 wrote: September 27th, 2018, 6:39 pm
BatteryMill wrote: September 25th, 2018, 2:46 pm Not a fan of this one either. While many know Dunkin for the donuts they have, as well as coffee I see it as another example of weak simplification of chains. Having the Donuts as well honestly makes the chain have more class and even at that - is half the ring to their classic name.

That being said... will their locations act on this change fast?
Their donuts are now so nasty and unpopular, they have to distance themselves from them. (And IMO, their coffee isn't much better).
I wonder what is on their menu there? The donuts being frozen is the sad part - but at least they're still a core part of their sales. Perhaps it's their partnership with Baskin Robbins carrying everything.
Last edited by BatteryMill on October 6th, 2018, 3:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Dunkin' Donuts Dropping Donuts In Name

Post by storewanderer »

BatteryMill wrote: September 27th, 2018, 7:06 pm
mbz321 wrote: September 27th, 2018, 6:39 pm
BatteryMill wrote: September 25th, 2018, 2:46 pm
Not a fan of this one either. While many know Dunkin for the donuts they have, as well as coffee I see it as another example of weak simplification of chains. Having the Donuts as well honestly makes the chain have more class and even at that - is half the ring to their classic name.

That being said... will their locations act on this change fast?

Their donuts are now so nasty and unpopular, they have to distance themselves from them. (And IMO, their coffee isn't much better).
I wonder what is on their menu there? The donuts being frozen is the sad part - but at least they're still a core part of their sales. Perhaps it's their partnership with Baskin Robbins carrying everything.
[/quote]

This is a really stupid move. The cost to change signs is not one that should be bothered with. But I expect they will go through with the change and current management will proclaim success. Then new management, maybe it won't be for 20 years, but new management will at some point say they are "refocusing the brand back to its roots" and rebrand Dunkin Donuts again. Just like how KFC turned back into Kentucky Fried Chicken again lately.

Dunkin has tried to open more "cafe" style locations with more seating, etc. and is basically a joke. Their execution is terrible. The old "Dunkin Donuts" small format concept with coffee and donuts and microwaved breakfast sandwiches concept makes sense in big cities/space limited locations; that is their customer and has been for years; a customer "in a hurry" looking for a moderately priced quick coffee and donut.

I don't know why but in general I do not like these logo refresh projects. That new Circle K logo, I do not like. Those new former Kroger-owned c-store logos, I did not like much and preferred the classic logos. The new Safeway logo is one of the few new logos that has come out over the years that I kind of liked... and I'm neutral on the new Wal Mart logo.
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