Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts

Coffee has been around the market and homes for a very long time now. The first coffee shop in the United States opened in 1697 in New York. Today, nearly two-thirds of americans drink coffee. Coffee is usually associated with ‘waking up’ or ‘staying awake’ due to your high caffeine level, and it’s invevitable to these two coffee chains be overcrowded during the rush hours in the morning. Coffee shops are always trying to innovate with different coffee flavor or mixtures to make them standout more than the other competitors. Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts are the two coffee chains most popular in the United States. Starbucks was founded in 1971 in Seattle, Washington. While Dunkin’ Donuts has been a bit longer around the market, being founded in 1950 in Quincy, Massachusetts. Dunkin’ Donuts is famous for your convencience and for your coffee accompainments as donuts and sandwiches. On the other hand, Starbucks catches the customer’s attention with its stress-free athmosphere and the extensive options of coffee mixed drinks.

The price is a major factor when differentating the two companies. For a medium Dunkin’ Donuts iced coffee, the price is $2.09, while at Starbucks, the same sized drink is priced at $2.79 (“The Coffee”). The customer will be paying more at Starbucks due to the experience, environment, fancy names, and a different taste (not necessarily a better taste as it depends on the customer’s preference).The menu options of both shops are particularly similiar, and just a few unique items make them differ from each other. Starbucks for example, use italian language to name their cup sizes and some drinks which causes it to be confusing for the first time customers. Starting off with the drinks, both shops will offer their customers various coffee flavors, cappuccinos, lattes, espresso, smoothies, teas, and various hot chocolates.

At Starbucks, the customer will extend their choices of drinks to frappuccinos and macchiatos, while at Dunkin’ Donuts, the customers will have the options of coallatas and dunkaccinos. But not only from coffee these two chains live off, their breakfast options are mightily attractive and differ a bit more from each other than the drinks. A list of breakfast options in common between these two chains are: muffins, bagels, breakfast sandwiches, cookies, danishes, and oatmeal. Starbucks will embelish their food list adding scones, fritters, parfaits, brownies, cakes, and breakfast wraps. In the same manner, Dunkin’ Donuts has your unique breakfast options as: donuts, hash browns, english muffins and biscuits. As we can see, their best selling times are the mornings and afternoons. These coffee chains do not have an attractive lunch menu for their customers as they will only have panini, sandwiches and wraps as options.

Some Starbucks will carry different types of salads and bistro boxes which can become a standout from Dunkin’ Donuts related to the healthy mind eating customers.These two coffee chains have an alike way of rewarding their loyal customers; both of them require a store card to be eligible to participate on their rewards program. Dunkin’ Donuts for example, offers its customer a rewards program which is called “DD Perks Rewards Program.” By using his/her DD Card, the customer will automatically earn five points for every dollar spent in store, and for every 200 points accounted the customer is rewarwed with a free medium beverage of his/her choice. The customer also is awarded a free medium beverage when he/she signs up for the program and when celebrates his/her birthday. Instead of points, at Starbucks the rewards program will be calculated with stars.

When signing up for ” My Starbucks Rewards”, the customer will be welcomed with a drink and a coupon for 15% off a purchase at the Starbucks online store. By the time the customer reaches 5 stars on his/her rewards account, the customer is automatically put in the “Green Level”, which grants him/her free refills of brewed, iced coffee and tea paid with their Starbucks card. Earning the first 30 stars on the card will grant the customer the “Gold Level” for 12 months, and during these 12 months the customer will be treated with his/her favorite food or drink whenever he/she earn 12 stars. Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts have a very attractive customer rewards program, but Starbucks offers a better rewards program due to the long term benefit.

Athmosphere is a deciding factor for customers on any restaurant or store they visit, and it is not different with these two coffee chains. At Starbucks the customers will have a more homely feeling when sitting at the store to have their coffee or breakfast. The comforting sound in the background makes the store a stress-free and relaxing place to customers enjoy their drinks, and commonly customers describe Starbucks’ athmosphere more like a lounge due to their lights being dim and coozy. At Dunkin’ Donuts, customers will experience more a fast-food type of athmosphere with bright lights and not so commodious seating, which turns it into a place where the customers are just stopping there to buy their coffee and leave.

The cleanness and organization in these both coffee chains is one criteria they have lots ofsimilarities. The two stores are very clean and organized. Also, display foods are always fresh to date and are placed in a closed display avoiding contact with flies, bugs, customer’s touching. In addition, the floor and restroom are constantly mapped during the day, and these two stores execute right the use of caution signs to prevent customers from slip and fall. Employees in either stores are on top of their work and cleanness, as the preparation or handling of foods are correctly perfomed with the use of gloves, tongs, napkins and paper bags.

Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts vary from your stores location in the cities of The United States. Usually Dunkin’ Donuts will be found nearby highways or fast food chains, while Starbucks will be easier to be located in malls and downtown areas. Consequently, the area in which the store is located affects the type of audience that is visiting the store. Starbucks is most likely to serve college students, music lovers, and business people. While Dunkin’ Donuts will supposedly have their target audience based on seniors, sports fans, family travelers, and customers in a rush. Hours of operation tend to be a standout for Dunkin’ Donuts. Starbucks stores usually close early in the night and open a bit more late in the morning than Dunkin’ Donuts does.

The majority of Dunkin’ Donuts stores are open twenty four hours and the ones that are not open twenty fours hours normally close only late at night. A similitary shared between these two stores are the openning days, which they are open seven days of the week. Today, starbucks is innovating their customer’s store accessibility with drive-throughs. It was for many years a determining factor in favor of Dunkin’ Donuts and still is due to the fact that Strabucks just started the last year to build your stores with drive-through and it will take awhile until all Starbucks stores are adequated with this service.

In conclusion, Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts share some similarities on their menu options and customer’s treatment, but they also have their unique items and ways of attract customers to your stores. Eventually, Starbucks is a more sophistcated coffee shop and a place where you can have your coffee while enjoying the great environment it provides. On the other hand, Dunkin’ Donuts is a great place to grab a simple, quick, and less expensive coffee while having some original coffee accompainments on the go. Moreover, it all depends on the customer’s intention and what is the occasion to the customer decide which one will fit better his/her lifestyle.

Works Cited

“The Coffee Battle: The Ongoing Dunkin’ vs Starbucks Feud.”
http://outlook.monmouth.edu/index.php/lifestyle/656-the-coffee-battle-the-ongoing-dunkin-vs-starbucks-feud. Date Accessed: 29 March, 2014.