Nowadays, coffee has become so popular that it is no longer served as a simple black beverage. Various syrups, creams, sauces, and alcohol drinks are added to it in order to attract potential customers. Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts are the most popular coffee shops in the country, each with its stable client base. The paper at hand attempts to estimate which of the two has more competitive advantages.
Menu Options
As far as the creativity of the menu goes, Starbucks is the unsurpassed leader, with its muffins, breads, cookies, cakes, sandwiches, tarts, marshmallows, chocolate bars, and other treats. If you want your pastry to be warm, you can ask to heat it up. There are also lunch options including turkey, ham, and Swiss Panini. If you want, you can take your food to the office in a Bistro Box. All the drinks go in tall, grande, and venti cups. Besides classic coffee options, there are exquisite drinks that are not served anywhere else (e.g. macchiato with hazelnuts), and iced drinks.
Dunkin’ Donuts (DD) also goes far beyond serving donuts. It offers its customers traditional sandwiches with bacon, eggs, and cheese on a bagel or a croissant, muffins, cookies, and a huge number of various donuts. Recently, some healthy items (e.g. egg white on flatbread) have been included in the menu. If you come to DD for lunch, you can have tuna salad or chicken salad wraps, a sandwich (with turkey, cheese, and bacon), or grilled cheese. Coffee options are classic, however, there are some specialties like Dunkaccino (coffee and chocolate mix). There are also iced drinks including iced coffee and iced tea.
Benefits for Employees
These advantages vary depending on your position but there exist some common ones. In Starbucks they are: a free pound of coffee per week, financial assistance in case of accident, merchandise with discounts, and a stock equity reward.
In Dunkin’ Donuts employees can enjoy paid vacations for participation in volunteer programs, tuition reimbursement, movie tickets (free or with a discount), museum passes, discounts for coffee, health care insurance, and pet insurance.
Performance on Stock Market
Starbucks trades as Starbucks Corporation and every year closes at about 60$ (43$ – the lowest).
Dunkin’ Donuts trades as Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc. and closes at about 38$ (28$ – the lowest).
Staff Satisfaction
Starbucks has received greater number of reviews, 80% of which approve both the CEO and the company and would recommend it to a friend as a good workplace. However, the rating of Starbucks rarely rises above 3.5 stars.
DD rarely receives reviews from employees, and only about 40% of them are willing to recommend it to a friend. 50% approve the CEO of the company. The overall rating of the company never exceeds 3 stars.
Customer Rewards
Starbucks offers its customers a reward program called My Starbucks Rewards, which has three variations: Welcome, Green, and Gold. Each registered member can receive a drink or a food item on his/her birthday completely free of charge. You get “stars” with each purchase, and as soon as there are five of them, you rise to the Green level, which allows getting coffee or tea refills. If you already have 30 stars collected within a year, you acquire Gold status, which presupposes special offers. The card can be added to your smartphone using Starbucks app.
Dunkin’ Donuts offers its clients only a basic customer card with an ability to add a personal photo. DD app features discounts, promotions, and gift cards.
Conclusion
Each of the two coffee shops has its own benefits for customers as well as for employees. However, at present, Starbucks ranks first among the companies with a similar service due its diversified menu, award system, quick and effective service, and constantly introduced innovations and improvements.