The first Dunkin' Donuts was technically opened in 1948 by Bill Rosenberg on Southern Artery in Quincy, Mass. under the name Open Kettle. It was not until 1950 that it became Dunkin' Donuts. Rosenberg opened his coffee and donut shop with the philosophy "Make and serve the freshest, most delicious coffee and donuts quickly and courteously in modern, well-merchandised stores." In 1955, the first franchise agreement is signed in Worcester, Mass. officially beginning the expansion of Dunkin' Donuts. By 1963 there were 100 Dunkin' Donuts open across the country and only 16 years later that number grew to 1,000. In 1970, the franchise saw its first international restaurant open in Japan. Up until 2004, the headquarters was still in Quincy, however with the company growing so rapidly, a new space was required so headquarters was relocated to Canton, Mass. Many of Dunkin' Donuts big corporate moves have come within the last decade, such as their partnership to be the official coffee of Jet Blue Airlines, unveiling a new prototype restaurant in Pawtucket, R.I. and launching its "America Runs on Dunkin'" campaign, its most successful ad campaign yet.
The "original Dunkin' Donuts experience" was just a coffee and a donut. However, in the last 63 years, the menu has grown to include an infinite number of coffee options, other hot and cold beverages, varieties of bagels, donuts and pastries, sandwiches and other snacks.Since Rosenberg opened his first shop, the franchise has grown to 9,700 restaurants in 31 countries making it the fastest growing quick service restaurant. I think adding the other products has helped immensely with Dunkin's popularity. I know a bunch of people who don't drink coffee but still go through the drive-thru every morning for a bagel or tea.
Dunkin' Donuts' mission statement is "Dunkin' Donuts will strive to be the dominant retailer of high quality donuts, bakery products and beverages in each metropolitan market in which we choose to compete." In my opinion, as a very loyal Dunkin' consumer, they are achieving their goal of producing high quality products, especially coffee.
The company says it's target customer is "busy people on-the-go--people who take what they do seriously without taking themselves too seriously. Dunkin' Donuts customers perceive themselves as authentic and true to themselves--they make the country run, they take pride in knowing who they are and where they come from and they feel comfortable in their own skin." Personally, I think they're thinking too much into this. I agree that their customers are busy people on-the-go. They typically aren't the kind of people who want to go sit at a coffee shop (aka Starbucks people) all day and lounge around, but past that I think Dunkin' went a little far in this description. Personally, I find a lot of Dunkin's speed comes from the fact ordering doesn't take a half hour. I'm overwhelmed when I try to go to Starbucks because I have no idea how they want to order. Last time I checked, "grande" meant large in a couple languages, not medium.
