There's a Dunkin just across the street from our place in Florida. My wife likes donuts, so when I want to get on her good side, I run across to get her one. They never have any.

Last edited by turkeytop (May 13, 2026 8:15 pm)

AM640's Greg Brady was suggesting on his show Wednesday that they may try and paint longtime market leader Tim Horton's as the place where old people go, and could try and position "Dunkin'" as the spot for a younger crowd. 

We'll see if they do that and if it works. 

RadioActive wrote:

AM640's Greg Brady was suggesting on his show Wednesday that they may try and paint longtime market leader Tim Horton's as the place where old people go, and could try and position "Dunkin'" as the spot for a younger crowd. 

We'll see if they do that and if it works. 

If quality is better, they'll pound the living crap out of TH no problem. 
BTW if you're looking for Coffee time, the parent company (Chairman's brand Corp.) chose to shut most locations down and replace them with Eggsmart, so they're not really competition (to TH and Dunkin') these days.  

 

Last edited by Radiowiz (May 14, 2026 5:26 am)

It is just called Dunkin’ now and I don’t mind them coming back to Canada, they have some decent breakfast options at least, and have really expanded their beverage selection, lots of fruity flavours. And their coffee is pretty good too! Plus the competition could be beneficial for the consumer as Tim Horton’s currently rules the roost.

Shorty Wave wrote:

It is just called Dunkin’ now and I don’t mind them coming back to Canada, they have some decent breakfast options at least, and have really expanded their beverage selection, lots of fruity flavours. And their coffee is pretty good too! Plus the competition could be beneficial for the consumer as Tim Horton’s currently rules the roost.

BUT, being the Canadian version, will we actually get the true Dunkin' Coffee?
Or will it be Dunkin' featuring Second Cup Coffee?
Foodtastic now owns both in Canada.
Why compete with yourself?  
Or does this mean the end of Second cup? Converting them all into Dunkin' with actual Dunkin' coffee? 
I wonder...

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4L3koebMyPk

Tim's gets everyone, not just old people. They are even bigger than McDonald's in Canada.  I think there is a niche for Dunkin.  Hopefully their coffee is better than last time.  They closed down in 2018 and never really made much of a dent into the coffee/donut market here.  The group that is going to run the stores in Canada has already said the menu won't be the same as the US, since some items that are still on the menu from last time just didn't sell here. 

Binson Echorec wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

Why is it returning to Canada?: It's because the CEO's daughter goes to college in Boston and called her dad raving about how much she loved Dunkin'. She told him he should get the rights for Canada - and he did.

Great story, terrible business case.

Foodtastic is headquartered in Montreal and runs a lot of familiar chains already- Milestones, Second Cup, Pita Pit, Freshii, Shoeless Joe's, Fionn Macool's and many more. They are planning to open a new Dunkin's every week either in Toronto or Montreal to start.  Tim's has about 4,000 locations in Canada and operates in 16 countries with another 1,700 restaurants.  Dunkin' Donuts has about 10,000 locations in 45 US states.  Internationally much bigger than Tim Horton's operating in 60 countries.

Tim's are to open 80 new stores across Canada. Competition is always good. 

Tim's is already a big advertiser, and McDonald's is their number one competitor.  Dunkin could in time  become an advertiser that spends lots of cash.  However they are looking to open only one location per week in either Toronto or Montreal, and not start until the end of the year or early 2027.

Sounds like a lot locations, but that is only 52 in a year and split between two cities. They will be able to cruise for a while since they will have a high media (news) profile when they start opening restaurants in the new year.  Dunkin' already has had tons of free publicity over the past few weeks. 

The down side is that they have tried to crack the Canadian market once before and were not successful.  They likely have a better shot this time since the company running the restaurants is well established, Canadian and has lots of experience with the market.   

Dale Patterson wrote:

Another good coffee chain is Coffee Culture, a sit-down restaurant with no drive-through. I like the coffee and the cozy atmosphere. 

The parent company of Coffee Culture also owns Chuck's Road House, a business heavily advertised on television already. 
It's too bad their locations are so scarce. With more locations they could possibly cut back on Chuck's ads and throw in some Coffee Culture ads to shake things up a bit just as well...
(or do shorter 30 second ads for one, and another 30 seconds for the other, paying for a full minute of ad time...)
 

Radiowiz wrote:

Dale Patterson wrote:

Another good coffee chain is Coffee Culture, a sit-down restaurant with no drive-through. I like the coffee and the cozy atmosphere. 

The parent company of Coffee Culture also owns Chuck's Road House, a business heavily advertised on television already. 
It's too bad their locations are so scarce. With more locations they could possibly cut back on Chuck's ads and throw in some Coffee Culture ads to shake things up a bit just as well...
(or do shorter 30 second ads for one, and another 30 seconds for the other, paying for a full minute of ad time...)
 

I've been to Chuck's Roadhouse a few times. Their steaks are reasonably priced, although I have never tried one yet. Good variety of menu choices as well. And their "Celery" tv ad is hilarious.