Services

A Dunkin' Donuts Plan to Deliver Food to Customers

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: November 19, 2015 6:45 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 5:01 pm

Not wanting to be left behind in the race of fast-food companies to offer new ways to sell their menu items to consumers, Dunkin’ Donuts will offer delivery in several cities. The program, based on orders placed via the doughnut company’s app, could fail quickly, unless Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc. (NASDAQ: DNKN) has strong research to support the plan. If it does have that research, it is a wonder the service will be available in so few cities.

The company’s PR department released a description of the plan:

Dunkin’ Donuts, recognized for keeping America running by serving its entire menu all day long, today announced two programs that will make it even easier and more convenient for people to run on Dunkin’ from morning to night. Starting this week, Dunkin’ Donuts will begin testing mobile On-the-Go Ordering in Portland, Maine and Dunkin’ Delivery in Dallas, Texas. In the coming weeks, Dunkin’ Delivery will also be available in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington D.C.

Also:

According to Scott Hudler, Dunkin’ Donuts’ Vice President of Global Consumer Engagement, “Our guests appreciate that we make our full menu available all day, and we are committed to seeking new ways to make our products even more accessible to our guests throughout the day.

Put another way, people do not want to stand in lines because this takes the “fast” out of fast food.

The plan might be extraordinarily expensive, depending on the staff required to execute it and the logistics of getting food from stores to consumers. And consumers may not want to order items the delivery of which, according to Dunkin’ Donuts, could take 45 minutes.

The delivery of fast food, beyond pizza, is not common in most cities. The reason for that is that the system is too expensive.

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