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Dunkin' Donuts Opens First Public Franchise In California

McKenna Aiello |
November 12, 2013 | 8:52 a.m. PST

Staff Reporter

Dunkin' Donuts is set to sweep the west coast with its coffee and bakery delicacies. (Wikimedia)
Dunkin' Donuts is set to sweep the west coast with its coffee and bakery delicacies. (Wikimedia)
Coffee and donut joint Dunkin’ Donuts has officially made its way to the golden state when its first publicly accessible installment of the franchise opened on Nov. 4 in Barstow, Calif. Donut fanatics will have to travel more than 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles to the historic Barstow Station, a spot frequented mostly by truckers and road trippers on their way to Las Vegas. 

This franchise will technically be the second Dunkin Donuts in California, as one restaurant opened on San Diego’s military base Camp Pendleton last year. Unfortunately for civilians, this Dunkin’ Donuts location only serves to those who live and work on the base. 

In January, the Canton, Mass.-based company announced plans to bring 1,000 Dunkin’ Donuts locations to California, confirming that 70 of these donut shops are set to open across Southern California starting in 2015. 

It will be interesting to see just how this Dunkin’ Donuts infiltration will resonate among California donut connoisseurs. Privately owned donut shops are more of the norm and a Dunkin’ Donut invasion may suffer the same fate that Krispy Kreme did. 

Krispy Kreme became a hot spot for glazed donut consumption in the early 2000s, only to suffer from a huge financial fallout during the recession and was later forced to shut its doors on most of its California locations. 

ALSO SEE: Dunkin' Donuts Debuts Red Velvet Latte

Dunkin’ Donuts undoubtedly does have a more heavily established following of fans in the northeast of the United States that may translate to the west coast. But the location of the first California installment poses a possible inconvenience for those who don’t necessarily want to make the trek out to Barstow. 

“I love that Dunkin’ Donuts is finally making its way to the west coast, but I don’t think I would go out of my way to get to Barstow just to have some. Maybe if I was in the area, but I think I’ll probably just wait until there is a location more local to me,” said Stephanie Stevens, a Los Angeles resident originally from Maryland. 

Dunkin’ Donuts has almost 10,800 restaurants across 31 countries worldwide and in 2012 reported sales of $6.9 billion, according to the company. 

Reach Staff Reporter McKenna Aiello here, and follow her on Twitter.



 

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