My mom owns a small restaurant/donut shop in Middleton, MA. N&J Dunuts, right on Rt. 62. A Dunkin Donuts opened up on our corner about two years ago. Prior to their appearance, she used to go through 5 cases of regular coffee a week. Now with Dunkin' Donuts taking away a good majority of the business, she goes through 2 cases of coffee a week, if that.
Middleton is a small town of approximatley 7-8,000 and we have 4 different Dunkin Donuts locations in town.
Dunkin Donuts has staying power because they drive small shops, like my mom's, out of business. We have better coffee, better donuts, fresher bagels, offer breakfast and lunch, cheaper prices, and now less business because people are drawn to Dunkin Donuts like glue.
It's really sad, and I refuse to go to any Dunkin Donuts establishment.
I do try to patronize the local joint over DD...but one quibble I have is how I'm not always sure if my iced coffee is going to come in a plastic see thru cup or not. For some reason I hate when they give me styrofoam or cardboard.
You could always bring your own cup with you!
Well, half the point is not having to wash a cup regularly...it's just a pain, making sure there's not milk residue rotting in there, remembering to carry it along...
but I think I will try to go to the local place more, styrofoam cups or no.
If it's any consolation: we can recycle most styrofoam out there these days. At least, from what I remember from working at a fast food restaurant.
I have to shamefacedly admit it's not an eco-thing....I just find something very viscerally satisfying about drinking iced coffee out of clear plastic cups. (Same with water, come to think of it...in fact lately I've been reusing large DD iced coffee cups for water at work, so I can disposte of it without worrying to much about the longterm germ buildup.)