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by Liz Kay

Photo Courtesy of The Associated Press

Dunkin’ Donuts locations in the Baltimore area are thanking nurses every Tuesday in August with a free medium coffee. To take advantage of the “Thank You to Heroes” program, nurses should just show their hospital badges on Tuesdays.

Not a nurse? Dunkin’ Donuts will thank teachers in September, fire fighters in October, veterans and active military personnel in November and police officers in December.

Dunkin’ Donuts locations in Baltimore as well as Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Cecil, Harford, Howard, Talbot, Queen Anne, and Kent counties are participating.

Source: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/business/consuminginterests/blog/2009/08/free_coffee_for_nurses.html

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While Starbucks has staged a nice recovery, the real action has been in shares of smaller outfits such as Green Mountain, Caribou, and Diedrich. Credit the K-Cup.

By Ben Steverman

Diedrich Coffee (DDRX) — 52-week price

Despite a recession, these are hot times in the stock market for the coffee business. Shares of Green Mountain Coffee (GMCR), which reported impressive earnings July 29, are up 169% in 2009. One small coffee wholesaler, Diedrich Coffee (DDRX), is up 6,650% this year.

Even beleaguered coffee chains are bouncing back from steep declines in previous years. Starbucks (SBUX) shares have risen 87% in 2009, while second-place rival Caribou (CBOU) has seen shares quadruple in value (up 311%).

It’s not that coffee drinkers haven’t cut back somewhat on their daily caffeine fix—at least outside the home. Last quarter, Starbucks’ same-store sales were 5% lower than the year before.

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By Larry Muhammad • July 27, 2009

photo Iced Caffe' Americano espresso from Star Bucks is combined with cold filtered water and ice for a crisp and refreshing drink.

Iced coffee may be the summer’s hippest specialty drink, according to marketing experts, and Louisville’s java boutiques are holding their own as mega-franchisers like McDonald’s vie with Starbucks for caffeine-crazed crowds.

Red Hot Roasters, at 1402 Payne St., has established a niche with cold-brewed iced coffee, which avoids the bitterness produced by hot water and allows coffee’s chocolate-y aspects to emerge.

But Louisville.com’s top pick of Highlands-area coffee-on-the-rocks purveyors — where the cold-cup-to-person ratio approaches one-to-one — is the 15-year-old Day’s Espresso & Coffee, 1420 Bardstown Road. It serves “the best iced latte of the bunch and tied with M.E. Swing in Washington, D.C., for the best iced latte ever had, anywhere.”

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Dunkin’ Donuts’ war on Starbucks

With the latte giant reeling from overexpansion and a softening economy, the doughnut maker took aim at its upscale rival. Now McDonald’s has joined the coffee fray as well. Can Starbucks pull through?

*by Joseph V. Tirella, MSN Money

In late 2007, Dunkin’ Donuts made a surprising announcement: In a national taste test in 10 major U.S. cities, the chain had put its most popular brew up against Starbucks’ — and clobbered the coffee conglomerate, 58% to 42%.

The test was held even in two cities where Dunkin’ Donuts had a distinct disadvantage: Los Angeles, where the company doesn’t have a single store, and Starbucks’ hometown of Seattle. “We wanted to show that nationwide, people prefer Dunkin’ Donuts to the perceived leader,” says Frances Allen, the company’s brand-marketing officer.

Armed with the test results, Dunkin’ Donuts immediately launched a national multimedia advertising campaign that essentially declared war on Starbucks. Its timing was perfect: The latte giant was overextended, battered and vulnerable. Its stock had slid from the mid-$30s to the mid-$20s over the previous year (it was below $10 this week); its on-every-corner strategy had left it overextended, with too many unprofitable locations; and the global economy was about to fall off a cliff.

Meanwhile, Starbucks was facing an attack on another front: McDonald’s had joined the coffee fray as well, positioning itself as an alternative provider of premium coffee. The fast-food giant plans to outfit most of its 14,000-plus U.S. stores with a McCafé, a coffee bar that will sell espresso-based drinks such as cappuccinos and lattes.

More than a year later, Starbucks’ pain is obvious. The company reported a 97% drop in profit for the fourth quarter of 2008 — partly due to a $105 million restructuring plan — and is struggling to regroup. It has announced the shuttering of about 800 U.S. stores, restored visionary leader Howard Schultz to the CEO’s seat and made wholesale changes to its menu. The company’s latest round of layoffs, announced Wednesday, will eliminate 6,700 jobs.

It’s not clear whether the one-time darling will be able to come back. Today’s economic climate is tailor-made for a blue-collar brand like Dunkin’ Donuts, already a $5.3 billion-a-year business “Dunkin’ is a cheaper way for consumers to get their high-end java fix,” says longtime beverage industry analyst Bump Williams, the head of Bump Williams Consulting.

[Read More]

*Source: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/StockInvestingTrading/dunkin-donuts-war-on-starbucks.aspx

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Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks coffee war goes to the supermarket

Smuckers Launches Sampling Program for Brand’s Brew-at-Home Coffee

*by  Emily Bryson York
Published: December 30, 2008

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — Dunkin’ Donuts isn’t just fighting Starbucks on the coffee-house front. Now, it’s taking the battle to grocery stores.

Dunkin’ has been running a marketing campaign that goes after Starbucks stores on taste, boasting that it beat the java giant in an “independent taste test.” Now, J.M. Smucker Co., which owns Dunkin’s supermarket-distributed coffee brand, is mounting an online sampling program for the brew-at-home version, DunkinAtHome.com. The site offers samples of Dunkin’s original blend, as well as Dunkin’ Dark.

Starbucks, meanwhile, has also mounted sampling efforts for its grocery business. The java giant partners with Kraft to get its beans to supermarkets.

Jam-maker Smucker Co., which bought Dunkin’s at-home coffee, along with Folgers and Millstone coffee earlier this year for $3.3 billion, declined to comment for this article.

Sales taking off
After years of dwindling grocery sales among staid brands such as Folgers and Maxwell House (although both have rebounded during the economic downturn), Starbucks and Dunkin’ coffee have taken off like wildfire. Starbucks was a particular boon for Kraft, which built coffee-aisle share as the package-food company reformulated and repackaged Maxwell House.

According to IRI, which compiles grocery sales excluding Walmart and club stores, Starbucks is now the No. 4 ground-coffee brand behind Folgers, Maxwell House and private labels, with $179 million in sales during the last 52 weeks. That figure is down 4% from a year ago but may be misleading, as sales in warehouse stores, which are not measured by IRI, are particularly important for the brand. Dunkin’s coffee, after just over a year in sales, is No. 6, with $75 million in ground-coffee sales, up nearly threefold over the last 52 weeks.

*Source: http://adage.com/article?article_id=133515

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Free pound of coffee offered to blood donors

*by Herald staff reports
Thursday, Jan. 01, 2009

MANATEE — This month, Dunkin’ Donuts is teaming up with Florida Blood Services to thank blood donors with a “Give a Pint – Get a Pound” coupon for a free pound of coffee, the company announced Wednesday.

In addition, Blood Services will provide donors with a travel mug and check blood pressure, pulse, temperature, iron and cholesterol.

Generally, healthy people, age 16 (with parental permission) or older, who weigh at least 110 pounds, can be blood donors.

For further eligibility questions or to find donation locations and dates, people can call 1-800-68 BLOOD (25663) or visit www.fbsblood.org.

*Source: http://www.bradenton.com/news/local/story/1125594.html