Hotel guests no longer need to have any reservations about where to get a great cup of coffee or delicious breakfast sandwich. Dunkin’ Donuts has entered the lodging market with the opening of the brand’s first hotel restaurant location at the Great Wolf Lodge in Concord, North Carolina, one of North America’s largest indoor water park resorts.
Dunkin’ Donuts is offering a variety of store models to suit any lodging property, including full retail shops, kiosks, and self-serve hot coffee stations perfect for gift shops and general stores. Models can be designed to suit specific areas such as snack bars and convention registration areas. Dunkin’ Donuts’ bakery products can be prepared in the property’s own kitchen, with the addition of some simple equipment, allowing the food and beverage team flexibility to manage product inventory in accordance with guest traffic.
Chris Burr, Dunkin’ Donuts director of alternate points of distribution and a 20-year veteran of the lodging industry, will lead the development efforts. Dunkin’ Donuts will focus initially on larger airport hotels, resorts, and vacation ownership locations throughout the East, Midwest, and Southwest portions of the country.
The new Dunkin’ Donuts at Great Wolf Lodge, accessible to guests from the resort’s lobby, will serve Dunkin’ Donuts’ full menu of delicious foods and beverages that can be enjoyed all throughout the day, including:
- A full range of hot and cold coffee and espresso beverages
- Oven-toasted breakfast sandwiches
- Baked goods, including a variety of freshly made donuts, muffins, danishes, and croissants
- Foods and beverages from Dunkin’s DDSMART menu of better-for-you items, including two varieties of egg white flatbread sandwiches
According to Kevin Houser, Dunkin’ Donuts’ vice president of development, Dunkin’ Donuts is offering Great Wolf Lodge and other lodging properties the opportunity to offer a valuable amenity that greatly enhances the quality of their guests’ experience.
“By adding Dunkin’ Donuts, hotels and resorts not only provide an improved alternative to the usual retail coffee concepts currently offered in lodging properties,” he says, “they allow travelers to continue to enjoy an important part of their daily lives even when they are away from home.”
The launch into the lodging market coincides with Dunkin’ Donuts’ worldwide expansion program. The company is steadily and strategically expanding in existing cities while entering new markets throughout the country, including Phoenix, Minneapolis, and St. Louis. Dunkin’ Donuts also opened its first store in mainland China, in Shanghai in January. Additionally, Dunkin’ Donuts launched the brand’s first-ever theme park restaurant at Hershey Park, new coffee kiosks at sporting venues such as Fenway Park and the TD Banknorth (Boston) Garden, and new stores at airports including Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth and New York City.
