Dunkin’ Donuts Cuts the Line For Mobile App Users

A Providence, Rhode Island, Dunkin’ Donuts / Photo via TUPUNGATO / SHUTTERSTOCK

When you popped into your neighborhood Dunkin’ Donuts this morning, did you leave with everything you were craving? Or did the line of hungry commuters deter you from tossing that sausage egg and cheese on a croissant onto your order?

If you’re a iPhone-carrying member of the Canton-based coffee behemoth’s rewards club DD Perks, you could have ordered ahead of time. This morning, Dunkin’ Donuts expanded the reach of a new iOS app, Dunkin’ VIP, that allows DD Perks members to order and pay on the go, to nearly 30 southern New England locations.

One of the “perks” Dunks hopes to see from this new way of customer interaction is increased food sales, the Boston Herald reported. “Dunkin’ customers—particularly in the Northeast, where Dunkin’ is a local favorite—often limit themselves to buying only coffee when they see lines, forgoing other items such as sandwiches, according to [vice president of global consumer engagement Scott] Hudler. ‘We think that on-the-go ordering will allow them not to have to self-elect because of the wait time,'” the VP told the paper.

Another bonus for the company? Getting to know their customers—and their spending habits—better, via their freely-submitted data.

The ordering interface works for nationally-released products at nine select Boston-area retailers, 19 elsewhere in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and 125 in the Portland, Maine, area. Customers tap pictures of their desired items—it’s possible to save “favorites,” too—then pick them up in-store at designated areas. Dunkin’ diehards can order up to 24 hours ahead of pick-up time.

Dunkin’ Donuts is following the footsteps of America’s other coffee colossus, Starbucks. Eater noted the company introduced mobile ordering in 3,400 different cities last summer. Both Dunkin’ and Starbucks have delivery partnerships available in some areas, too.

Boston.com has a full list of the newly participating stores, including in the Theatre District on Boylston Street, in the Longwood Medical Area, in Cleveland Circle, and more.