News

Keurig Brewers now available at Dunkin' Donuts

November 14, 2011

Beginning today and continuing through the year, participating Dunkin' Donuts restaurants will sell the Keurig Elite Brewing System.

The Keurig single-cup model features Quiet Brew technology, which brews a cup of coffee in under one minute at the touch of a button.

Dunkin' Donuts began selling K-Cup Portion Packs in August. Flavors are available in Original Blend, Dunkin' Decaf, French Vanilla, Hazelnut and Dunkin' Dark Roast. Suggested retail price for a 14-count box is $11.99.

The launch positioned the brand ahead of coffee rival Starbucks, which didn't roll out the K-Cups until earlier this month.

Dunkin' Donuts first announced in February a promotion, manufacturing and distribution agreement with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. to make Dunkin' Donuts coffee available in single-serve K-Cup portion packs for use with Keurig Single-Cup brewers.

The rollout has contributed to positive sales results for Dunkin' Brands, which recently reported higher tickets and traffic for the third quarter 2011.

It is still too early to quantify specific numbers from the K-cup launch, but CEO Nigel Travis said it has produced solid sales and positive feedback. He added that K-cups are now about 20 percent of total comps, which is in line with expectations.

"We're pleased with the way our franchisees have operated the K-cups business," he said.

Great HoliDDay Giveaway

The company also has launched the "Great HoliDDay Giveaway" on Facebook, a daily sweepstakes with the chance to win a Dunkin' Donuts home brewing package.

Each day between now and Dec. 14, Dunkin' Donuts will select one fan to receive a Keurig Brewing System, two pounds of Dunkin' Donuts packaged coffee, two boxes of Dunkin' Donuts K-Cup Portion Packs and two Dunkin' Donuts ceramic mugs.

Also, Dunkin' Donuts is offering a pound of packaged coffee and a home brewer machine called the "Dunkin'-Matic 5000" to those who play the Sims Social Facebook game.

As part of Dunkin' Donuts' Sims Social brand integration campaign, players can gift one cup of coffee and one food item to their Facebook friends every month, giving Sims characters a boost in the game.

Dunkin's partnership with Sims Social also helped with Q3 results.

"Our social media initiatives added over 1 million Facebook fans this quarter, which is important because our Facebook fans tend to spend more with us than our non-Facebook fans," Travis said.

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