William Rosenberg opened Open Kettle in 1948, pairing donuts with coffee. When health trends threatened the sugary model in the 2000s, Dunkin' pivoted hard to coffee, selling more than any other chain by 2011. In 2018 it dropped Donuts from its name, completing a rebrand the narrator calls the most successful in history.
Before Dunkin' Donuts became the second largest coffee company in the world, they were at risk of bankruptcy. But how did their rebrand save them? It started in 1948 with a man named William Rosenberg. He opens a diner, Open Kettle, specializing in two things: donuts and coffee, which sparks a trend. Customers love dipping their donuts into their toasty hot beverage. So he rebrands to Dunkin' Donuts, and donuts start flying off the shelf. And Dunkin' goes all in, creating specialty flavors, munchkins, and even more types of sugary pastries. But the 2000s hit, and there's suddenly a big issue. Junk food is out, and healthy food is in. And donuts, well, they're just not healthy, like one of the worst things you can possibly eat. But what is healthy is the growth of the coffee industry, with US coffee shop numbers doubling from 1996 to 2001. So Dunkin' Donuts rethinks their menu, going all in again, only this time on coffee. By 2011, they sell more coffee than any other chain. That is amazing. Fast forward to 2018, Dunkin' ditches the donuts from their name entirely, becoming the most successful rebrand in history.
