December 16
...serving up your daily dish.
Let's call the whole thing off.
According to Starbucks Gossip, a blog about, well, Starbucks, written by media maven Jim Romenesko, Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts are targeting two distinct markets. Dunkin' Donuts is following a "red state" strategy, as evidenced by its boring coffee sizing scheme (small, medium and large; who thought of that one!) and more modest (read middle American) prices.
Well it's pretty obvious that Starbucks is a blue state phenom. But the opening, just this week, of the new Dunkin' Donuts in the shell of the old Short Stop Diner in Bloomfield got us thinking. Is Montclair a Starbucks (blue state) town and Bloomfield a Dunkin' Donuts (red state) one? We did a search, and there are two DD's in Montclair and five in Bloomfield (the newest isn't on the corporate store-finder page yet). Meanwhile, there are two Starbucks in Montclair, and nary a one in Bloomfield.
Well it's all Baristaville to us, right? We'll have to float a Dunkin' Donut-Starbucks poll this Sunday ... unless we think of something better.
Props to the Prop at Coffeegrounds, for alerting us to this issue.
Starbucks coffee is nasty! Always tastes like its burnt or too strong.
Dunkin Donuts is much better.
Posted by: Rock Me | Dec 16, 2004 2:47:41 PM
While I love Starbucks, I love DD just as much, if not more. Though I must ask - I stopped into our new DD this week on the way home from work, and noticed that the one guy who just stands there in the incredibly small space...seems to be a bouncer or something. Anyone else catch that?
[Yes, I'm being facetious.]
Posted by: Tom | Dec 16, 2004 3:18:29 PM
There's a Starbucks in the Willowbrook Mall, too; isn't that part of Montclair?!
Posted by: Raymmmondo | Dec 16, 2004 3:19:10 PM
I like Starbucks coffee the best!
(But I don't go there, because it's too expensive.)
Posted by: Montclair Lover | Dec 16, 2004 4:48:37 PM
Alright, you can call Bloomfield a Dunkin Donuts town but PLEEEZE don't confuse us with those red states. We voted for Kerry just like Montclair!
Posted by: Todd | Dec 16, 2004 4:53:09 PM
Todd,
Well there is a discernable trend:
http://www.baristanet.com/barista/2004/11/dummy2.html#comments
But the truest way to know that Starbucks is Blue is the faux-environmentalism of the Drink-The-Right-Coffee-And-Save-The-World-From-Itself products.
Posted by: Right of Center | Dec 16, 2004 5:32:53 PM
I don't see red and blue but, instead, different economic levels.
Posted by: Chris | Dec 16, 2004 10:55:57 PM
I thought EVERYONE understood the Starbucks/DD demographics. I always know if it's a "Cottage Gardens" town by the # of starbucks (or if there is one at all). This means these people can afford (and will because they don't DO their own yards) to hire us to landscape their homes.
Used to be my CREW drank DD and I Starbucks..i would literally park in the middle of Millburn and they'd go to DD and me to Starb. HOWEVER, now that DD makes a decent LATTE we both take coffee in DD (Me the latte and them the regular)....SO, the working class and the upper have found a middle ground.
Pat
COTTAGE GARDENS Landscape Design
Posted by: Pat Tratebas | Dec 17, 2004 8:06:51 AM
Amazingly, there's no Starbucks at the Short Hills mall -- what's that all about?
Posted by: Liz | Dec 17, 2004 8:25:51 AM
DD coffee went downhill for a while there, but they seem to have made a comeback. I'm keeping a 2-packs of unground DD beans on hand for last minute gift-giving this year.
Posted by: Suzette | Dec 17, 2004 8:51:36 AM
They don't list the second Starbucks in Montclair:
http://www.starbucks.com/retail/locator/PrxResults.aspx?a=1&LOC=40.7992095164386%3a-74.2063170300367&CT=40.7992095164386%3a-74.20631703003675.34379225324107%3a4.0078441899308&countryID=244&FC=RETAIL&dataSource=MapPoint.NA&Radius=10&GAD2=&GAD3=07028%2c+New+Jersey%2c+United+States&IC=40.7992095164386%3a-74.2063170300367%3a32%3a07028%2c+New+Jersey%2c+United+States
Posted by: Gonzo Journalist | Dec 17, 2004 1:59:02 PM
It's the first one on the list, but they called it Bloomfield.
There is also a Starbucks counter in the Acme supermarket in Clifton, by the AC Moore.
Posted by: Cheryl | Dec 17, 2004 2:49:26 PM
Hey, just letting you guys know, i work at a Dunkin' Donuts. We recently had a price boost (again), but that may only be in milford. Every day a bunch of ignorant people come in and say "wow you guys are getting as bad as starbucks." Everytime they say this, i say "sir/mam, starbucks is actually cheaper." They don't beleive me. A venti(large) coffee at starbucks, costs $1.90, while a large at Dunkin' donuts costs $2.07. I don't get where this "5 dollars for a cup of coffee crap comes from, as it is not true. the customer then says, "well people don't go to starbucks for coffee, they go for frapuccinos. then i proceed to say that a large coolata cost's pretty damn close to 5 bucks with tax, and a large frap costs closer to four dollars. I know starbucks' larger size is smaller than Dunkin' Donuts', but seriously who needs 40 or so ounces of coolata in the first place. It is really too much. While starbucks has a decaf, mild, and bold blend, that changes every week, Dunkin' donut's sticks to the same boring original blend. Dunkin donut's is the mcdonalds of coffee. They target customers who don't know what they want, or know what they're ordering. People order their lattés with cream and sugar :-/ , or a large turbo ice, not knowing the difference between the two.
One more thing, and i will end this rant, as im sure most of you disagree anyways. The price of an extra large number five(bacon egg and cheese combo) costs $5.97, that's right $5.97. To be honest, you can buy a pound of coffee, a pound of bacon, a dozen of eggs some deli cheese, and a small bag of lender's frozen bagles, for less than 20 dollars, and be fed every morning for a week or two.
I know some of you guys prefer dunkin' donut for the taste, but please, where is proof for the whole "five bucks for a cup of starbucks." Can someone please show me? Becuase that's not how it is in Milford Ct. If you like the coffee, that is deffinately fine with me, but someone please clear up this price thing.
I work at Dunkin' Donuts, prefer Starbucks, as i really do think you get more for your money there, and you get exposed to a greater variety of coffee and other coffee type beverages for relatively cheaper(in my case at least).
Posted by: rob | Aug 7, 2005 5:13:09 AM
