NEW YORK – Launching specialty donuts with higher price points is one example of how Dunkin’ Donuts may expand its menu.
“So it is something like a bacon-topped donut, a filled croissant donut,” said Chris Fuqua, vice-president of brand marketing for Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc., on June 9 at the Piper Jaffray Consumer Conference in New York. “The cheesecake squares are something we are very excited about. Last week, we launched the Chips Ahoy! and Oreo donuts that would leverage a new relationship with Mondel?z.”
He added a grande burrito and a sweet black pepper bacon breakfast sandwich are in the pipeline. In the coffee category, the dark roast launch has helped the company expand beyond its original blend.
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| Chris Fuqua, vice-president of brand marketing for Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc. |
“We think we have some other coffees that are in the pipeline that could be interesting,” Mr. Fuqua said. “The espresso-based beverage business is interesting to us, where you will see us focus more on that going forward as we go after specialized coffee.
“And then we are rolling out blenders system-wide. Starting in July this year, we will have more frozen beverages across a number of different categories that we are pretty excited about, and then the last thing, we are testing tea later in the year as well.”
The Dunkin’ loyalty program, which involves preloading a Dunkin’ card, may boost beverages.
“We are spending a lot of money and time thinking about how we can roll our loyalty program out so that we can capture more consumers and kind of raise the switching cost, if you will, on somebody coming in to get a cup of coffee versus going to one of our competitors,” Mr. Fuqua said.
He also talked about how conversations with franchisees will focus on employee turnover cost.
“So what does it cost, and is that worth paying someone an extra 50 cents or giving them vacation time or things of that nature?” Mr. Fuqua said. “What are those trade-offs to reduce turnover so you don’t have to rehire and retrain?”
