NANTUCKET, MASS. — Dunkin’ Donuts plans to prune its menu in an effort to improve service speed.
“There is no doubt in my mind that we need to take some complexity out of our menu; we are working on that,” said Nigel Travis, chairman and chief executive officer of parent company Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc., during a June 23 presentation at the Jefferies Consumer Conference in Nantucket. “But I can tell you in all the years I have spent in this business, there is nothing more difficult than removing menu items.”
Simplification seems to be a theme for the Canton, Mass.-based company, which also is streamlining processes to “make life simple for employees” in light of a labor crunch, Mr. Travis said. Mobile ordering is one solution.
“We have got drive-thru, we have (counter service), and the third way is going to be mobile ordering,” he said. “So we are using the opportunity to redo the way we do our service in our stores. It is work that is not finished, but the key… is simplicity.”
Meanwhile, the donut chain is introducing new beverage platforms, including smoothies and reduced-calorie frozen drinks.
“About 60% of our U.S. sales come from beverages,” Mr. Travis said. “This increases our lineup, gives consumers more choice, and choice is an important thing because we have such frequency that sometimes people want to try something different.”
No word yet on which items Dunkin’ plans to dump, but Mr. Travis said shrinking the menu won’t be easy.
“I remember in my prior company, Papa John’s, sitting down in Raleigh with a bunch of franchisees… and they all had different menu items to remove,” he said. “So it is exceedingly difficult. We are removing a number of items.”