Dunkin' Donuts Wants to Dominate Starbucks: So Is NOW The Time For L.A. Locations?

Photo by Qfamily via Flickr

This could be great news for Los Angeles, or double the hurt: Dunkin' Donuts has (re)announced they plan to double their U.S. locations over the next two decades. But whether any of those locations will be in Dunkin' Donuts-denied Los Angeles remains to be seen.

"The coffee and doughnut chain currently operates nearly 7,000 stores nationwide," notes CNN Money.

The thing is, the whole "double the locations" isn't really news (although it's all over the news today)--the company said as much last year.

What is news is what they've done to change how they're doing business from here on out: In a statement issued yesterday, Dunkin' Donuts explains "they ha[ve] signed a long-term, performance-based agreement for [National DCP, LLC (NDCP), a Dunkin' Donuts franchisee-owned cooperative] to be the exclusive supply chain provider for all Dunkin' Donuts restaurants in the continental United States." Basically what they've done is found a way to make it easier to franchise new locations.

The theory is that DD is aiming to take over Starbucks in terms of market share. To do that, well, they'd certainly have to come to Los Angeles. Right?

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By Lindsay William-Ross in Food on January 5, 2012 11:30 AM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

Paul

Not a fan of donuts or coffee, but am amazed how many people get sucked into paying so much for coffee.

COFFEE.

destroy_all_humans

i dont see how another donut and coffee shop is anything to get excited about in LA. I've had DD fat innertubes or sugar before and their donuts suck and you can buy coffee everywhere.

Joseph Voves

from HuffPo...

UPDATE: After we posted this piece, several readers wrote in, via Twitter and on the comment board, asking for more detail on the geographic distribution of the Dunkin' Donuts expansion. Many of you were especially eager to hear whether Dunkin' would be headed for California -- so we wrote to the company to find out. Jessica Gioglio, the brand's Public Relations and Social Media Manager, wrote back to us with the following statement:Dunkin' Donuts is currently focused on a contiguous growth strategy, recently announcing plans to expand into the following areas: Colorado (Denver), Louisiana (Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Shreveport) and New Mexico (Albuquerque). As we continue to expand our footprint across the country, the western part of the United States represents a significant growth opportunity for Dunkin' Donuts, and we are focused on a disciplined development in contiguous markets that are adjacent to our existing base.