Dunkin’ Donuts understands that it takes more than doughnuts and coffee to fuel a nation. So, to back up its current advertising claim that “America Runs On Dunkin’,” the Canton, Massachusetts-based chain is rolling out a sweet and savory snack strategy designed to keep consumers going (and coming back) from morning to night.
“Today, people are so busy that the idea of three square meals a day has become passé. We’ve pretty much become a world of perpetual snackers,” says Joe Scafido, Dunkin’ Brands’ chief creative and innovation officer. “As a brand that has been known since 1950 for our beverages and baked goods, it made sense that Dunkin’ would respond to today’s changing eating patterns with a broader line of portable, fast, fresh, and affordable snack items.”
In addition to formal proprietary consumer research, brisk afternoon breakfast sandwich sales provided Dunkin’ with a “real-world signal” that customers were looking for savory snacks throughout the day, Scafido says. He explained that items such as flatbread sandwiches and single-serving pizzas also provide increased opportunities to turn mid-day iced coffee and Coolatta breaks into eating occasions.
Dunkin’ began testing its flatbread sandwiches, baked on-site from par-baked, pre-filled, frozen loaves, a little more than a year ago. It took the company’s research and development department somewhere between three and four months to achieve the desired thickness and texture of the dough, which was developed to crisp up in a special “small energized oven that allows us to bake and heat at the same time,” Scafido says. The oven is a microwave-convection hybrid from TurboChef.
Available in three varieties—Three Cheese; Turkey, Bacon & Cheddar; and Ham & Swiss—the flatbread sandwiches are in national roll-out mode, a process that Scarfido estimates could take another year or so to complete. “Not surprisingly,” test runs of chicken biscuits have quickly caught on with Southern customers. “You can’t be successful in the South without a chicken biscuit,” he says. And “somewhat surprisingly” with New Englanders as well, he adds.
Individual hand-held pizzas are about three-quarters of the way through the test marketing process. “So far, the results seem positive,” Scafido says. And Dunkin’ is also looking to give customers in selected locations a taste of their silver-dollar-size hash brown medallion with an eye toward their bundling potential with biscuit and flatbread sandwiches.