Dunkin' Donuts wants to get more people drinking its coffee literally one cup at a time. In select locations, the chain is testing Dunkin' One Cup, an individual packet of coffee for single-cup home brewers, the Boston Globe reports.
"It's a great way to get more people drinking more Dunkin' coffee,'' said Karen Raskopf, senior vice president of communications at Dunkin' Donuts.
Single-serve coffee sales shot up 101 percent over the past year in drugstores, grocery stores and mass-market retailers, excluding Walmart, according to SymphonyIRI Group. Overall coffee sales rose 3 percent during the same time.
"Anybody that's in the coffee business that isn't looking at a way to have their coffee consumed in a single-cup brewer is going to most likely lose share over time,'' said Mitchell Pinheiro, a food analyst with Janney Montgomery Scott LLC. "The bottom line is everybody's going to get into it, or try to.''
Dunkin' One Cup comes in five varieties and the packets are compatible with single-serve coffee makers such as Black and Decker, Cuisinart, Mr. Coffee and Senseo. The chain joins Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and Starbucks in the single-serve coffee market. In January, Starbucks introduced its Via Ready Brew, which has brought in $100 million since then.
Dunkin' Donuts will examine the test results before expanding single-serve coffee throughout its locations. "Is this something our customers want and does it drive profitability for our franchises?'' said Raskopf. "It's all about learning how single cup performs in our stores.''