Friday, September 16, 2005

Dunkin' Donuts

Living in the Seattle area it's probably considered bizarre for me to make note of this: there are no Dunkin' Donuts out here. Not a single one in the whole state of Washington.

You may laugh and say "Who cares?". Seattle is up to its eyeballs in coffeehouses. Fine but I still miss Dunkin' Donuts. No, it's not for the doughnuts. It's the coffee. Dunkin' Donuts is good for a quick, unfussy cup of decent coffee. And then there's the difference in price and speed. Starbucks is expensive and slow. You're expected to linger while you sip your Quad Soy Vente Latte. Dunkin' Donuts may sell some weird coffee drinks too but most people order basic coffee.

Is the lack of Dunkin Donuts a result of the Starbucks Divide? (ie. liberals go to Starbucks while conservatives get their coffee at Dunkin' Donuts). Nope, Washington State may have been blue for the 2004 election but so was Massachusetts. And Dunkin' Donuts was originally founded in Massachusetts.

Perhaps the explanation is that the Dunkin' Donuts chain just doesn't stretch this far West. But then again, according to their web site, they have stores in 29 countries including the Philippines, Indonesia, South Korea, and Thailand. They're all over Asia and couldn't open just one franchise in Seattle?
posted by Bob at 9/16/2005 09:00:00 AM  | | digg | del.icio.us | reddit