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Dunkin’ Donuts opens first unit in a hotel

CANTON Mass. Dunkin’ Donuts said Tuesday it has opened its first location in a hotel setting, part of a plan to expand into such onsite markets as lodging facilities, airports and sports arenas.

 

The chain’s newest store is located at the Great Wolf Lodge in Concord, N.C., one of the largest indoor water park resorts in North America. Accessible from the resort’s lobby, the store serves Dunkin’ Donuts’ full menu of foods and beverages, including doughnuts, sandwiches, baked goods and espresso beverages, said Chris Burr, Dunkin’s director of alternate points of distribution.

 

 

 

In addition to the Great Wolf store, the chain is scouting additional nontraditional sites at other large airport hotels, resorts and vacation spots throughout the East, Midwest and Southwest regions of the country. Store sizes will vary from full retail to kiosks to self-serve stations, Burr said.

 

 

 

The 8,800-unit chain, a division of Dunkin’ Brands Inc., also recently debuted a unit at Hershey Park in Hershey, Pa., its first-ever location in a theme park, as well as kiosks at such sporting venues as Boston’s Fenway Park and TD Banknorth Garden. The brand also has units at such international airports as Boston Logan, Dallas-Fort Worth, and JFK and LaGuardia in New York.

 

 

 

Dunkin’ is not the only brand to recently announce a lodging partnership in an effort to grow its points of distribution.

 

 

 

Tampa, Fla.-based Beef O’Brady’s, the 263-unit casual-dining chain, is seeking to grow its brand at various hotel destinations and has teamed up with HVS Executive Search firm to scout possible locations. The sports pub-theme chain already has opened units at TradeWinds Island Grand Resort on St. Pete Beach and the Best Western Hotel and Conference Center in Brandon, Fla.

 

 

 

In addition, Danny Meyer, founder and chief executive of Union Square Hospitality Group, said Monday that his firm was chosen to open a new Italian restaurant and provide foodservice and catering at the Gramercy Park Hotel in lower Manhattan. USHG operates such restaurant concepts as Union Square Café, Gramercy Tavern, Eleven Madison Park, Tabla, Blue Smoke, The Modern and Shake Shack. USHG also operates Hudson Yards Catering, which operates the foodservice at Citi Field, the new home of the New York Mets baseball team, in partnership with Aramark Corp., the Philadelphia-based contract concern.

 

 

 

Contact Elissa Elan at [email protected].

 

 

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