EXCLUSIVE: Dunkin' Donuts Franchisee on Their Plans for London and How They Plan to Take on Their Competitors
Following the recent opening of their first central London location in Baker Street, we spoke with Dunkin' Donuts franchisee Ketan Patel from DDMG Ltd about their plans for new store openings and how Dunkin' Donuts is expanding its offering to take market share from competitors.
QSR: What attracted you to the Dunkin’ Donuts brand?
Many things really. From a brand perspective, when you look at Dunkin’ Donuts and its history in the US it is clear that they have developed deep roots. They have several thousand stores in the US and more importantly are still expanding there. This has been particularly evident over the past decade, really since Nigel Travis has been heading up the company. It is obvious that the brand has come a long way but still offers potential. They are no longer just about doughnuts they are also about beverages and sandwiches. The brand is now a one stop shop for customers which is very attractive to us here and we’re trying to emulate in the UK with our offering.
QSR: What are your plans for opening outlets in the area you cover?
We have a large franchise area covering north-west, north and central London- and go as far as Milton Keynes and Northampton. This gives us huge scope to open new stores in diverse locations. We currently have four stores opened and operating and our franchise agreement is for 25 outlets. How fast we open them is of course dependent on location. It is really important to be in the right location at the right price. Particularly in London, which is very competitive, good locations are crucial to find and hard to secure. For example, one particular unit we looked at around Baker St had 50 offers on it. And it is not just other food outlets we necessarily compete against. At that particular location it also included estate agents and travel operators.
QSR: What type of locations work best for Dunkin' Donuts?
Predominantly high footfall areas. So this leads us to focus In and around stations and in shopping precincts. So I’d say these are the two location types we are looking for.
QSR: What made you put an Express store at Baker St?
The size of the store. It is just under 200 sq ft. Ideally we want to open stores with our full Dunkin' offering including our sandwich station but that, together with power considerations, wasn’t an option for the Baker St site. So we had to limit our offering to doughnuts, beverages and a small grab and go sandwich selection.
We were looking for a unit in and around central London for 2 years before the Baker Street location came up- so there is a long lead time to get particular locations.
QSR: Who is your typical customer?
It varies by store. When you look at our suburban stores, our customer tend to be more families. When we look at Baker St, it is more tourists and office workers due to its location.
QSR: How do your top sellers vary across location?
Doughnuts are our top sellers. It is what we are known for but we are also gaining traction on our beverages both hot and iced, month on month. We are also constantly working on new products to drive this forward.
QSR: Who do you see as your competition in the UK?
Most of the high street chains are our competition. We offer a great value proposition on all of our products. You don’t have to part with a lot of money to get a great coffee or sandwich. We also offer very good value on our combo deals. We compete on price, and our aim is to take a little bit of market share from all those competitors that you see on the high street- from specialty coffee shops like Starbucks to bakery chains like Greggs. Value for money is a very important selling point for us so that we are seen as accessible to a wide range of guests.
QSR: How has performance of your outlets been vs expectations?
Its going well. We’ve been received well by our guests. Our brand awareness has really improved following our Baker St store opening too and a lot of expats from the US and the Middle East which have a lot of Dunkin’ outlets have commented that they are glad to see us in the UK. Most importantly we’ve been able to keep our prices in check at our Baker St store so we’re still able to be attractive to a cross section of customers. We’ve also added Baskin-Robbins offering to our suburban stores which is great as it helps us ‘weather-proof’ the business. We certainly get the feeling from our guests point of view that they want to see more Dunkin’ outlets and want to see them quickly which is great.
