Dunkin’ Donuts Is Testing Out Home Delivery

Dunkin’ Donuts photo via TUPUNGATO / SHUTTERSTOCK

When lines for the new Santa Monica, California, Dunkin’ Donuts stretched around the block last year, you might have believed we’d reached “Peak Dunkin’.” There was, it seemed, no ground left to conquer for Boston’s ubiquitous cultural export.

You would have been wrong. For just beyond that summit lay another, unconquered frontier: Dunkin’ Donuts is doing delivery.

That’s according to Dunkin’ Brands’ Chairman and CEO Nigel Travis, who told CNBC that the brand is developing a mobile ordering platform to help it expand into delivery service.

Should this be surprising? Maybe not. The trend toward on-demand delivery has already attracted restaurants like Chipotle and McDonalds. But those restaurants specialize in full meals, and we’re all used to the idea of having your dinner delivered. Less familiar is the thought of having coffee and doughtnut dropped at your door.

Still, Dunkin’s big competitor, Starbucks, has already announced plans for on-demand delivery, too. So it seems the concept of home-delivered coffee is coming for us, whether Dunkin’ joins in or not. Travis said the company is privately testing the on-demand service, and will likely conduct a public test later this year, with plans to launch the service “sometime next year.”

Sure, it might seem like the pinnacle of laziness to have a knock-off cronut ordered to your door. But we can see this service being popular for offices and other groups that put large orders in at Dunkin’… Then again, we can also see the lazier folks among you taking to an app that summons a single iced coffee to your desk, too. So, there’s that.