Dunkin' Donuts

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Dunkin' Brands Inc.
Dunkin Donuts logo
Type Private
Founded 1950 in Quincy, Massachusetts
Headquarters Flag of United States Canton, Massachusetts, USA
Key people Jon L. Luther, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

Joe Scafido, Chief Creative & Innovation Officer Will Kussell, Chief Operating Officer, U.S. Kate Lavelle, Chief Financial Officer Stephen Horn, Legal Officer and General Counsel Paul Leech, Chief Administrative Officer

Robert Rodriguez, Dunkin' Donuts Brand Officer
Industry Restaurants
Products Coffee
Doughnuts
Bagels
Muffins
Breakfast Sandwiches
Iced Coffee
Revenue $3.6 billion USD (2004)
Employees 120,000 (est)
Slogan America Runs on Dunkin'
Website dunkindonuts.com

Dunkin' Donuts is an international coffee and donut retailer founded in 1950 in Quincy, Massachusetts, USA by William Rosenberg. It claims to be the "world's largest coffee and baked goods chain," serving 2.7 million customers per day at 6,200 stores globally [1]. This figure compares with the 10,800 stores of coffee chain Starbucks, whose baked goods are usually prepared out of shop. Most Dunkin' Donuts stores are franchises.

Dunkin' Donuts, along with Togo's and Baskin-Robbins, is owned by Dunkin' Brands Inc. (previously Allied Domecq Quick Service Restaurants, a part of Allied Domecq). Dunkin' Brands was owned by French beverage company, Pernod Ricard S.A. after it purchased Allied Domecq. They reached an agreement in December 2005 to sell the brand to a consortium of three private equity firms, Bain Capital Partners, the Carlyle Group and Thomas H. Lee Partners.

In the U.S., Dunkin' Donuts is often paired with Togo's sandwich shops (sometimes called Dunkin' Deli) and Baskin-Robbins ice cream shops (especially in the Chicagoland and New York City areas). Most of their business competition comes from small locally owned stores, Krispy Kreme doughnuts and Starbucks; in Canada and parts of the Great Lakes region, Tim Hortons is a major competitor. Mister Donut had been its largest competitor in the United States before the company was bought by Dunkin' Donuts' parent company. The Mister Donut stores rebranded as Dunkin' Donuts.

In the province of Quebec, Canada, Dunkin' Donuts is operated completely by Alimentation Couche-Tard.

Contents

[edit] History

In 1946, William Rosenberg founded Industrial Luncheon Services as a company to deliver meals and "coffee break snacks" to customers in the outer reaches of Boston, Massachusetts. His business saw success and Rosenberg soon followed by opening up his first coffee and donut shop called "The Open Kettle". In 1950 he opened the first store known as "Dunkin' Donuts", which is still standing today at 543 Southern Artery in Quincy, Massachusetts. For a while, Dunkin' Donuts and its other quick-service brands - Togo's and Baskin Robbins - were owned and operated by Allied Domecq. Allied Domecq has since been bought out by Pernod Ricard for its Spirits and Wine division, breaking off the quick service brand to create Dunkin' Brands, the current owner of Dunkin' Donuts.

[edit] Popular Culture

Dunkin' Donuts is well-known for their advertising and popular culture references, especially in their home turf of the northeastern United States and eastern Canada. As well as being featured in many films, they have a close relationship with the Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots, making new commercials at the start of each team's season for promotions.

[edit] Commercials

  • Dunkin' Donuts' "It's Worth the Trip" campaign, starring sleepy-eyed "Fred the Baker" and featuring the catchphrase "Time to make the donuts", won honors from the Television Bureau of Advertising as one of the five best commercials of the 1980s. Fred the Baker was played by actor Michael Vale for over 15 years until his retirement in 1997. Vale died of complications from diabetes at age 83 on December 24, 2005, in New York City.
  • Prior to the 2004 season, after Curt Schilling was acquired by the Red Sox, he was shown working on his Boston accent while listening to a recording with such phrases as "Wicked hard" & "Go to the park".
  • In 2005, (then current) Red Sox center fielder Johnny Damon was shown to be actually using a wig for his infamous "caveman look," with the club's general manager, Theo Epstein walking in, seeing Damon, and trying (ultimately failing) to restrain his laughter. Damon replies by saying, "Promise me you will NOT tell anyone." Epstein gets Damon's Caramel Swirl with Whipped Cream iced latte as compensation.
  • A commercial made with the Patriots at the start of the 2005-2006 NFL season featured wide receiver and cornerback Troy Brown. The commercial portrayed Brown as being able to do just about anything, including making a new Super Bowl XXXIX ring for team owner Robert Kraft, parodying the incident between Kraft and Russian President Vladimir Putin in which Putin somehow got Kraft's Super Bowl ring during Kraft's visit to Russia (Kraft let Putin keep it).[citation needed]
  • In 2006, a series of Dunkin' Donuts commercials referred to the fictional language Fritalian which would be a a portmanteau of French and Italian: "Is it French? Or is it Italian?" sings a chorus of customers in an unnamed coffee-shop with a long menu of non-English terms. "Maybe Fritalian?"[1] The whole commercial was interpreted as a deliberate mocking of Starbucks.[2][1] The commercials' punchline, "Delicious lattes from Dunkin' Donuts. You order them in English, not Fritalian", has been a point of discussion with respect to the fact that lattes and cappuccinos, espresso are borrowed words from Italian which have no equivalent in English."[1]
  • As of 2007, John Goodman can now be heard as the new voice of Dunkin' Donuts commercials.[citation needed]

[edit] Television and Movie references

  • Wordplay ("You put the D at the end of Dunkin' you get Unkind Donuts. I've had a lot of those.")
  • In 2005, Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update skit featured Amy Poehler saying that she had always dreamed of opening up her own restaurant called "Dunkin' Dognuts," which was followed by a copy of the Dunkin' Donuts' logo edited to match her phrase.

[edit] Trivia

Fred the Baker
Fred the Baker
Dunkin Donuts sign
Dunkin Donuts sign

[edit] Locations

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Jan Freeman. "Defining 'manhood,' translating 'latte'" (2007-03-01), Brainiac, Boston Globe, 2006-09-13. Retrieved on 2007-03-01.
  2. ^ Jesse Noyes. "Java gibe: Ads mock Starbucks", Abstract, Boston Herald, September 13, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-03-01.
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