Is Dunkin' coming to Belgium after all?

The Dutch master franchiser of American food chain Dunkin’ has announced the opening of its first Belgian location in March next year. In the long run, the retailer’s ambition is to have twenty Belgian stores, as well as fifty stores in the Netherlands.

Cooperation with Jumbo

Dunkin’s first Belgian store will open in Antwerp next year, franchise partner Roberto Fava told Dutch website RetailTrends. The food chain wants to open six Dutch stores and four Belgian stores each year. However, it is not the first time that the fast-food chain has announced a possible step towards Belgium: this was already the case in 2014 and then a new announcement in 2016 by franchisee Francorp followed, but the plans never became concrete.

Dunkin’ does not only want to grow with its own stores: the brand is also considering pop-ups, e-commerce and collaboration with other retailers. Since this summer, the snack chain has been collaborating with supermarket chain Jumbo, which offers Dunkin’ donuts already and hopes to add additional products such as coffee beans and muffins later on. It is not yet clear whether this cooperation will also occur in the Belgian stores.

Since the autumn of 2018, the former doughnut chain has simply been known as Dunkin’: the “Donuts” disappeared from the name because the company wants to focus more on other products, such as drinks. Coffee and tea already account for more than 60 % of its sales in the United States.