“I talked to a pretty wealthy lawyer in Cambridge, and he won’t go to Starbucks,” says [Temple University history professor Bryant] Simon. “For him, it’s an expression of his relationship to New England, but also to working people. Like he’s more populist through that.”In April 2006, reports the Wall Street Journal, "Dunkin' Donuts last year paid dozens of faithful customers in Phoenix, Chicago and Charlotte, N.C., $100 a week to buy coffee at Starbucks instead. At the same time, the no-frills coffee chain paid Starbucks customers to make the opposite switch. When it later debriefed the two groups, Dunkin' says it found them so polarized that company researchers dubbed them 'tribes' -- each of whom loathed the very things that made the other tribe loyal to their coffee shop. Dunkin' fans viewed Starbucks as pretentious and trendy, while Starbucks loyalists saw Dunkin' as austere and unoriginal. 'I don't get it,' one Dunkin' regular told researchers after visiting Starbucks. 'If I want to sit on a couch, I stay at home.'"
Then again, Simon says, “Lots of working people go to Starbucks. It’s pretty clear that Starbucks is increasingly becoming more middle-market, but they go in a different way. They go for aspiration. ‘By drinking this am I acting middle class?’ My dental hygienist gets Dunkin’ Donuts every day. That’s her coffee. But on Friday, when she gets paid, she goes to Starbucks to treat herself.”
Fair or not, these are the stereotypes. Starbucks is fancy, indulgent, haute-bourgeois. Dunkin’ is simple, unpretentious, to the point. One encourages lounging and relaxation, one encourages getting in, getting out, and getting on with your day. Look deeper, and it’s fascinating how these conventions play out.
“Starbucks regulars hate the idea that their individuality is somehow compromised in Dunkin’ Donuts,” says Simon. “They don’t have many choices, they can’t put their own milk and sugar in. Part of what they’re buying [at Starbucks] is this sense of individuality.”
On the other hand, Dunkin’ sometimes seems to keep certain, perhaps more culturally loaded aspects of itself under wraps — or at least keep them understated. “All of Dunkin’ Donuts espresso drinks are fair-trade coffee,” Simon points out. “But all they do is put a little circle [fair trade symbol] on the door.” It’s as if they want to do the right thing, he says, but also know that “their customers don’t like all that value-added shit.”
Meanwhile, it's time to remake the donuts, as the chain prepares for NYC's trans fat ban.
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