dunkin’ donuts coffee
[Photo via dunkindonuts.com]

Dunkin’ Donuts announces name change for 2019

Dunkin’ Donuts announced plans Tuesday to change its name after 68 years under their current one. The coffee and donut chain will officially be known as just Dunkin’ beginning in January 2019, according to Business Insider.

The chain took to Twitter to expand on the announcement, stating they’re “moving to a first-name basis.”

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They’re also giving away friendship bracelets to really solidify the first-name basis marketing campaign.

Dunkin’ tested the name change in a handful of Massachusetts stores earlier this year. In August, they went to just Dunkin’ in roughly 50 U.S. stores but faced backlash from customers.

Many argued that Dunkin’ helped popularize the word “donut” as they spell it and therefore should keep it in its name.

According to Mister Donut’s website, brothers-in-law Harry Winouker and Bill Rosenberg, broke off their partnership in 1955. Each launched their own coffee and donut chain with Winouker founding Mister Donut and Rosenberg creating Dunkin’ Donuts.

The usage of the word differed from the traditional “doughnut,” and in turn helped popularized the new spelling. Grammar Girl pointed out the rise of the word as being parallel to the growth of each donut chain, and according to Google Books data, it began around the 1950s, according to Business Insider.

In August—the same month Dunkin’ began testing their new name—a “store of the future” opened in New York City, giving customers a look at the future rebrand.

The store includes a new design, ordering kiosks and drinks such as nitro-infused cold brew. They also introduced a tap system for cold beverages, which houses nitro cold brew, cold brew, original-blend coffee, dark-roast coffee, decaf, green tea and iced tea.

Whether or not the NYC store’s alterations will expand to other stores in 2019 is yet to be confirmed.

What do you think of Dunkin’s name change? Sound off in the comments!