Dunkin' Donuts Will Cut Its Doughnut Menu at 1,000 Locations
Dunkin’ Donuts has a plan to get their classic charm back, but it may not make you happy. The chain has decided to cut their doughnut offerings in certain locations from 30 to 18 varieties. This menu change, which is intended to gauge consumer preferences, will affect 1,000 Dunkin’ Donuts stores by the end of October.
According to National Restaurant News, the president of Dunkin’ Donuts US and Canada David Hoffmann hopes that this stripped-down menu will reset what he calls the company’s “doughnut mojo.” Explaining that this reduced menu (with some locations down to 24 doughnuts, and others to the full 18) is already in effect in certain regions, Hoffmann explained that they’ve already seen an increase in those markets.
While the doughnut menu will shrink, Hoffmann emphasized the rest of the Dunkin’ Donuts menu, including breakfast sandwiches and coffee drinks, will remain unchanged.
The slashed doughnut menu is yet another intriguing change in the Dunkin’ Donuts business plan. Just earlier this summer, a California Dunkin’ Donuts location announced they would drop the word “Donuts” from their store’s name, a decision that echoes Hoffmann’s streamlined goals for the company.
“Menu simplification is all about creating room for growth for the next wave of innovation as a beverage-led, on-the-go brand,” Hoffman said toFood Business News of the store name change in July.
Ultimately, a retrained doughnut menu—and a switch in emphasis on quantity to quality—could be the right move for Dunkin’ Donuts. Do we really need the option to choose between a blueberry cake and a blueberry cobbler doughnut, or between a glazed stick and a glazed round doughnut? Probably not. Planning to test a reduction of doughnut varieties in order to place more attention on other menu items like coffee drinks could be the best way to get the company back to where it hopes to be: a dependable and consistent space for coffee, focusing on the first wave emphasis of an affordable and fast way to caffeinate.
