Dunkin Donuts vs Starbucks

ABC had a pretty good spot at 11:30 PM on these two.  DD sales are still growing in this down economy by 5% while Starbucks is having problems, eliminating stores and cutting staff.
 
DD just won a taste test vs Starbucks and now they are using this as a basis for a new ad campaign to try to get more of Starbucks' customers to come into DD and try their coffee. 
 
The show also showed the DD test kitchen where they developed their new egg white flatbread sandwich.  Also showed off a new berry donut.
 
Starbucks is fighting back with a lower cost value deal for their customers.
 
Krispy Kreme just closed down a beautiful store in our town.  I'd love to see a corporate operated DD move into the space.  But, I doubt it will happen.  Maybe Java Junction will take a try at it?
 
 

I prefer Tim Horton's to DD.

DD is way better, hands down. The only reason we go to Sbux is because we don't have a Dunkin's anymore.

I don't like Starbucks for plain coffee, just because I am a coffee weiner.  I like what a lot of folks would consider weak coffee.  And the presence of raspberry filled donuts would make me a lock for DD.  Now I do like the fussy hot chocolates from Starbucks.

  Just like a lot of national chains & products, it takes forever (if all) for them to get to our area:
  (currently no 7-11s & Mobil has a small presence)  Dunkin Donuts is opening up their first store
  in Dothan & Starbucks has about 5 stores in Dothan & Panama City. 
 
  But, since the nearest locations are about 30-40 miles away, we'll have to settle for the new
  "McCafe" that just opened at McDonald's 2 blocks down the road.  

I'd like to try Tim Horton's.  I love DD when they are fresh..right from the fryer.  The high volume stores have the best donuts because their turnover is so good and they keep the oil clean, too. 

Love their cake donuts..That's all I get..Buttermilk cake, chocolate cake, blueberry cake, cherry cake...Their coffee is good..I don't like strong coffee so there's is good for me.

for a regular cup of joe, I'd pick DD over Sbux. On Cap Hill, near Eastern Market, DD is across the street from Sbux. DD always has more people. This particular DD has comfy louge chairs like Sbux.

On pure coffee alone, DD beats Sbucks hands down. Starbucks coffee tastes awful to me - too strong and with a bad taste overall to it. I think my tastes have changed over the years, though, because I used to like stronger coffee than I do now; now I prefer what could be called a "breakfast blend," which is fairly light.  The fancy coffee drinks--mochas, lattes, etc., esp. the white chocolate mocha (LOL) at Starbucks are a whole 'nother thing now!

Haven't tried any of the Starbuck sandwiches but have had the DD ones - they use a microwave to make em, at least the franchises I've been to. Not that great. Of course, I should NOT be eating any of the stuff ... and probably shouldn't be drinking that coffee!

It's not often I'm near these coffee places as I'm not a big coffee drinker, but we went to Starbucks recently and it kinda confirmed it for me that I don't like the place.  I had a dark cherry mocha and blackforest cupcake and my partner a chai latte and rice crispy square, for what we paid for that we could have gotten something proper to eat, we paid more to sit in only for them then to tell us they had ran out of cups, so we ended up drinking from the paper cups anyway.  Everything seemed far too sweet and the coffee wasn't the best.

We prefer Dunkin Donuts as they do good hot chocolates and their muffins and donuts are good. Cheaper than Starbucks too. Tim Hortons we grabbed some hot chocolates and donuts to go recently and it was pretty decent too, they do breakfast sandwiches, soups, etc I noticed too.

i often switch between dd and tim hortons every few days.both are very good.i really dont care for starbucks coffee  ,way to strong for me.i was wondering i find the tim hortons coffee in canada is better than the locations in buffalo area.i dont know if they brew it at a hotter temp but i find it to taste better.anyone else notice this?

Starfire-

Everytime I go back home to WNY, it seems another dozen Tim Horton's have opened up there. We went to my nephew's wedding in Batavia last summer, and they're talking about opening  a second Tim's location there. Remember when Tim played for he Sabres?

Sadly, we don't have either Tim's or DD here in Kansas, but we do have Starbuck's.

Nancy owes me a new keyboard.

I am a coffee weiner.

Love it!

I like it black with skim. NO FOAM, NO WHIP. Whose idea was it to put whipped cream on top of COFFEE? Blasphemy.

I'll take a grande, half-caf, non-fat, sugar-free, hazelnut cappucino, please.

Most Central Florida locations get their donuts delivered from a jointly owned central bakery. They are delivered around 3 - 4 AM and "finished" at the store. Leftovers are thrown away every night. Things like bagels, biscuits, cookies, etc come frozen and are baked on site.

Their Turbo ovens are a new generation of cooking devices

http://www.microwavespecialties.com/turbochef/tornado.php

Those suckers get extremely hot very fast.

I've been drinking Dunkin' for over 30 years.  Starbucks is just too rank to get down.  I just pour it out onto the parking lot.

/winking at stricken_detective--sorry about that honey.

I mean, let's be honest, they invented those milkshakey coffee drinks for us coffee weiners who would be wandering into a Starbucks along with our junkie friends.  You're even less of a weiner than me because I pretty much need sugar.  Sadly, my consumption is to zero right now although I'm hoping I'll get clearance to go back to coffee later in the spring.  I miss it.

Dunkin Donuts represents everything that's wrong with America. They build one on every street corner, charge an exhorbitant price for what should be a 50 cent cup of joe, which is watered down and tasteless. Overcharge their customers, underpay their help and their logo is on at least 20% of the litter in the community.

The last time I was there (because the GF had to have a Coolatta) the girl behind the counter asked "you know the large Coolatta is $4.20, do you still want it?" When they ask that kind of question it tells me they know they're ripping you off. My response was "I only ordered ONE."  

Of course she doesn't know the GF and I'd rather spend $4.20 than listen to the grief, but that's another story.

I'm not saying that Starbuck's is any better, but they do serve coffee that tastes like coffee. These two companies are the McDonald's and Burger King of the hot beverage world, and neither is a place I will frequent.

Nancypalooza


/winking at stricken_detective--sorry about that honey.

I mean, let's be honest, they invented those milkshakey coffee drinks for us coffee weiners who would be wandering into a Starbucks along with our junkie friends.  You're even less of a weiner than me because I pretty much need sugar.  Sadly, my consumption is to zero right now although I'm hoping I'll get clearance to go back to coffee later in the spring.  I miss it.

Yeah, I'm not a coffee weiner, except for the milk. If I'm at Sbux, they HEAT the milk so I have to ask for it to be 120 degrees. I'll get it flavored, but prefer just the caffelatte (milk & coffee).
 
My mother is the biggest coffee weiner known to man. She didn't even drink any until she discovered Cappuccino Coolers in the grocery store. Now if I make some, she has to have about 2 ounces of coffee (preferably in a yummy flavor!) and 10 ounces of milk over that & oh we can't forget some sugar dissolved into the coffee first. And if we're in a fancy mood, ice cubes, a straw (the thicker ones from Culvers or McD's), and she does love the Redi-Wip. Bleh.

Niagara


I prefer Tim Horton's to DD.

Sam's Club coffee selections include these two plus Starbucks and White Castle.

SD, me and your mom would get along fine, although before I stopped drinking it I had gotten to just half & half.  When I started drinking it it was practically hot ice cream.

I have to hand it to McDonald's though.  My nephew is drinking one or two of those frappucino things of theirs a day, and I thought they were nuts taking on Starbucks.

Just drop me off at Cafe du Monde on Decatur Street in NOLA for a cafe au lait, and I'll be happy. It's my favorite coffee in the world.

I dream of their beignets and chicoree coffee.

I prefer our local Shipley's for donuts over DD but Shipley's coffee sux and DD is good.  I buy DD beans on my regular shopping trips at Walmart and grind them myself.  It's about the only coffee I buy anymore.  I do make it stronger than they do in the stores of which there are very few here.

I tried a bag of Starbucks once from WM, their basic house blend or whatever they call it.  Awful stuff, tasted like burned rubber or the worst, overcooked coffee I ever had from a percolator.  My thought was no wonder they specialize in doctored up coffee drinks.

Never been to a Starbucks and don't plan to try one.

the thing about charbucks, i mean starbucks..:)  is that they roast their beans for a rich flavor when mixed with milk in a mocha or latte. for any other use, their coffee is over-roasted and burnt to cinders....
 
  as a seattle native, i look at starbucks as a representative of seattle coffee the same way we look at mcdonald's as a representative of american hamburgers.. lots of locations but there are certainly better choices elsewhere....
 
 tully's or even sbc (seattle's best coffee) are better than charbucks and are drinkable without milk or sugar :)
 
 dunkin donuts had pretty good coffee while they were in the area. all of the stores dissapeared about 10 years ago before krispy kreme arrived.. i'm not a kk fan at all (too much sugar glaze on everything.. nasty)

marzsit


the thing about charbucks, i mean starbucks..:)  is that they roast their beans for a rich flavor when mixed with milk in a mocha or latte. for any other use, their coffee is over-roasted and burnt to cinders....
 
  as a seattle native, i look at starbucks as a representative of seattle coffee the same way we look at mcdonald's as a representative of american hamburgers.. lots of locations but there are certainly better choices elsewhere....
 
 tully's or even sbc (seattle's best coffee) are better than charbucks and are drinkable without milk or sugar :)
 
 dunkin donuts had pretty good coffee while they were in the area. all of the stores dissapeared about 10 years ago before krispy kreme arrived.. i'm not a kk fan at all (too much sugar glaze on everything.. nasty)

I've seen SBC here somewhere, maybe at WM I don't remember.  Maybe I'll give that a try.  Thanks for the info on Charbucks.

marzsit

...i'm not a kk fan at all (too much sugar glaze on everything.. nasty)

Glad to see that I'm not the only one that thinks this about KK!
 
Even when I first started drinking coffee (many years ago), I thought that DD's was too mellow. I enjoy the flavor of coffee & theirs was lacking. The DD near where we now live no longer makes the Black Raspberry jelly donut, so they're completely off the list.
 
Don't get the $tarbuck$ thing...If I want a coffee milkshake, I'll go to a place where I can order one without learning a whole new language.
 
McD's premium coffee is pretty good if you're someplace where you don't know the lay of the land.

I have a massive sweet tooth, and KK doughnuts are too sweet even for me. They remind me of that sickeningly sweet icing they put on kid birthday cakes... where I eat the cake part but leave the thick, gloppy overly sweet icing shell.

Starbuck's basic coffee has been a French Roast.

I like Peet's description of French Roast:

French Roast

Our darkest roast. An intense, bold coffee with pronounced smoky overtones.

We blend only high-grown, hard-bean coffees that are dense enough to stand up to this roast. It is not a coffee for the cautious. The deep, dark glistening beans brew a bold cup of coffee with pronounced smoky overtones.

In the United States, the name "French Roast" usually denotes a very dark roast. Peet's French Roast delivers on the promise and more. With high-grown, top-quality arabicas, the result is a complex, intense cup of coffee.

I like Starbucks coffee but then again I like a strong brew coffee with no milk, cream or sugar. Starbucks fits for me. Starbucks does roast to the strong side of the scale. Keep in mind when they started out a good strong gourmet blend of coffee was unheard of in a restaurant. We had grown up on Folgers in a can and most were pretty bland and a generation killed it even further with cream and sugar. But it seems most of the public likes bland be it diluted coffee or beer. What can you say?

marzsit


the thing about charbucks, i mean starbucks..:)  is that they roast their beans for a rich flavor when mixed with milk in a mocha or latte. for any other use, their coffee is over-roasted and burnt to cinders....
 
  as a seattle native, i look at starbucks as a representative of seattle coffee the same way we look at mcdonald's as a representative of american hamburgers.. lots of locations but there are certainly better choices elsewhere....
 
 tully's or even sbc (seattle's best coffee) are better than charbucks and are drinkable without milk or sugar :)
 
 dunkin donuts had pretty good coffee while they were in the area. all of the stores dissapeared about 10 years ago before krispy kreme arrived.. i'm not a kk fan at all (too much sugar glaze on everything.. nasty)

..I do like their expressos..