Starbucks vs. Dunkin Donuts

Unless you have been living under a rock, you have seen Dunkin Donuts new ad campaign. We are told everyday that "America runs on Dunkin Donuts." Apparently, the marketing staff at Dunkin Brands (manages Dunkin Donuts) had a deep thought about what is actually selling in their franchises and how they could leverage that in their "cold war" with Starbucks.

Apparently what is selling is their coffee and their variety of beverages that look like the Wal-Mart version of Starbucks' offerings. While ideas about installing a sandwich display still speak of "trying to be like Mike," Dunkins has decided to market their products in such a way as to say: That's Starbucks. We're Dunkin Donuts. People buy Dunkin Donuts products not to be posh and ruminate about the quality of the grounds. They buy it because it is good and it keeps them going through out their day.

The new ad campaign seems to be working, in terms of receiving favourable notice. I have not seen Starbucks' answer. I did learn that they are tweaking themselves further. John Moore, who is the deity behind Brand Autopsy and was a Starbucks employee, weighs in on all things Starbucks in his posts at his blog, which is called Brand Autopsy.

More McChronicles

Friday, May 5th's entry at the McChronicles stressed "Cleanliness."

"The McDonald's customer has been "sold" a clean, sparkling restaurant since the beginning. Whether it is a print ad or a TV commercial - one of the highlights of the McDonald's experience (as promoted) is cleanliness. Rightly so, we say. Cleanliness is a critical part of any dining experience. And this is true whether an order is 'for here' or 'to take out'."

I could not agree more. I go back to my experience at a Dunkin Donuts where the server gave me a Vanilla Chai Tea will tea dripping down the sides of the cup. I pointed to the cup and asked him if "he would serve that to his own mother?" He looked at the cup, in which the tea had now made its way onto the counter and then proceeded to get napkins and wipe both cup and counter.

Many people seem to feel that if you receive service from an establishment that is not a fine dining establishment, that you are asking too much for simple cleanliness in food handling and in general area. Cleanliness says a lot about who you are and what you respect. Filthy places clearly have no respect.

Another installment of "Sites that I visit"

I went to Healthy Chef Alex's website for the first time in a while.

Healthy Alex for those of you who are not in the know, is the hapless vegan chef girlfriend of Morgan Spurlock, the mastermind behind the movie "Supersize ME" and the book entitled "Don't Eat This Book." She earned her own fame for her vegan detox diet that she put together for Spurlock after his 30-day diet of McDonalds. She published the diet in a book entitled, "The Great American Detox Diet" and has her own website (which existed prior to the movie).

I am not a vegan. I don't think I could ever be. However, I really must applaud Healthy Chef Alex for putting together recipes than even non-vegans can enjoy.

She also has a blog. I look forward to reading it more regularly.