Local coffee fans whose palates lean more towards donut holes and coffee-flavored milkshakes than $4 toast and single origins can rejoice: Dunkin' Donuts, the apostrophe-laden chain that fuels many a sleepy New Englander, will expand to Northern California in 2014.
Last year, Dunkin' announced they would be bringing at least 45 new locations to Southern California by the end of 2015. Their current expansion plan, which has apparently been pretty aggressive ever since the company and all 31 flavors of ice cream at their sister company Baskin-Robbins got bought up way back in 2006, will see the opening of some 685 to 800 new locations in 2014, with the eventual goal of Coolatta domination at 1,000 total stores across California.
Although Dunkin' is currently recruiting Northern California franchisees, there's no word yet on where those initial stores will turn up in or around the Bay Area. And don't hold your breath just yet for munchkins in San Francisco proper: Unlike Brooklyn, where a bespoke Dunkin' Donuts killed Williamsburg, our formula retail regulations mean DD will have a hard time finding a location in most of San Francisco's local business sanctuaries.
