Dunkin’ is undoubtedly one of the world’s most popular coffee and donuts places, owing to its over 11,300 franchises in over 36 countries globally.
However, one question that keeps popping up among Dunkin’ lovers is whether the restaurant franchise is considered fast-food. So, is Dunkin’ fast food? I scoured the Internet and researched this, and this is what I discovered!
Is Dunkin’ Fast Food In [currentyear]?
Dunkin’ Donuts is a fast-food franchise as of [currentyear]. The fast-food chain makes beverages and baked goods all day and immediately serves customers. There’s no placing an order indoors, sitting down, and waiting for orders at Dunkin’. The restaurant cooks and serves its food and drinks very fast, eliminating the need to wait around.
To learn more about whether Dunkin’ Donuts is fast food or a quick-service restaurant, why the popular franchise qualifies as fast food, and more, keep scrolling!
Why Does Dunkin’ Donuts Qualify As Fast-Food?
Generally speaking, Dunkin’ is considered a fast-food franchise since it offers frozen, preheated, and pre-cooked menu items.
Also, the restaurant chain serves food and drinks that require low preparation and serves them in packaged form for take-away and take-out.
For instance, Dunkin’s donuts are made ahead of time, frozen, and delivered to nearby stores awaiting customers’ arrival.
Upon placing an order, the donuts are freshly baked in on-site baking equipment, and the kitchen crew quickly decorates the dessert according to your order.
This quick response at Dunkin’ Donuts, in turn, reduces the amount of time the customers have to wait for their favorite dessert.
In addition, Dunkin’ Donuts places a strong priority and emphasis on the speed of its services to prevent its customers from waiting long for their orders.
Further, the fast-food restaurant chain brews its coffee every 18 minutes while pre-made baked items are delivered to Dunkin’ stores by 5 AM every day.
As if that’s not enough, the multinational restaurant franchise serves its drinks and baked items via a drive-thru, thus, eliminating the need for customers to sit down and wait for their meals.
Additionally, Dunkin’ uses fast food as a business strategy to serve as many customers as possible by drastically reducing the waiting time.
On top of that, Dunkin’ Donuts allows customers to place their orders in advance through the Dunkin’ mobile app, which reduces service delivery time.
Lastly, Dunkin’ Donuts stores worldwide have set the maximum time customers can sit on company premises to 20 minutes.
Is Dunkin’ A Quick Service Restaurant?
Yes, Dunkin’ is a multinational coffee and donuts quick service restaurant whose headquarters are based in Quincy, Massachusetts, United States.
That said, the quick-service restaurant franchise was founded in 1950 by Bill Rosenberg, after which Baskin-Robbins Holding Company acquired it in 1990.
In 2020, Inspire Brands purchased the chain, rebranded it as a beverage-led quick-service restaurant, and changed its name from “Dunkin’ Donuts” to “Dunkin’.”
Moreover, Dunkin’ has over 11,300 outlets in the 36 countries the brand has set shop, making it one of the world’s largest quick-service restaurant franchises.
Also, the American multinational fast-food chain serves more than three million customers daily, making it one of the world’s leading coffee and baked goods chains.
Further, some of the menu items that Dunkin’ quick-service restaurants specialize in include coffee, espresso, tea, frozen drinks, donuts, sandwiches, and bagels.
Is Dunkin’ A Bakery?
Yes, Dunkin’ Donuts can be classified as a bakery since it bakes donuts and other baked goods on-site.
At one point, the multinational coffee and donuts company required all its franchisees to attend baking school to learn to bake their donuts and other baked menu items from scratch.
However, that has since changed since the quick-service restaurants nowadays receive its frozen donuts and baked goods on a truck daily, ready to be baked on-site.
With that, Dunkin’ Donuts makes its donuts and baked items fresh at a central location and then delivers the same to the various Dunkin’ stores on demand daily.
Also, the fast-food brand calls this process of ordering frozen baked items “baked on-demand,” which is an effective way of making and creating donuts and other baked goods.
Afterward, these stores bake the donuts on-site and decorate them to give their customers a wide variety to choose from.
So, Dunkin’ Donuts stores bake the baked menu items, but the company doesn’t make them on-premises since that is done elsewhere.
Is Dunkin’ Fresh?
Yes, Dunkin’ Donuts is fresh since it serves freshly brewed coffee and baked menu items.
However, it’s worth noting that its donuts and baked items are prepared in advance, frozen, and delivered on trucks to nearby stores.
Nonetheless, it would be ideal to note that the fast-food restaurant chain makes its donuts and baked menu items around the clock and on a demand basis.
Thus, if you order your favorite donut at Dunkin’, you can rest assured that the coffee and donuts brand’s kitchen crew recently made the dessert.
In simpler terms, while Dunkin’s donuts and baked goods aren’t freshly made from scratch, they’re fresh since the quick-service franchise bakes recently made menu items.
To learn more, you can also read our posts on what cream does Dunkin’ use, what is Dunkin’ midnight, and matcha latte Dunkin’.
Conclusion
As you may have noted by now, Dunkin’ is both a fast-food chain and a quick-service restaurant franchise specializing in a wide range of beverages and baked goods.
Besides the United States, the American multinational coffee and donuts company has spread its wings in over 36 countries worldwide and has over 14,500 outlets cumulatively.
