If you're heading to Dunkin' Donuts for a coffee and a sweet snack, you might already be saying you're just running down to Dunkin'.
Soon, that informal moniker might become the chain's official brand name — and we're not sure how we feel about it.
Dunkin' Donuts is currently going by just "Dunkin'" at a location in Pasadena, California, with plans to roll out the simpler name at more West Coast locations soon.
The move, says the chain, is part of a test to appeal to customers craving pretty much anything besides donuts, as the company pushes its drinks and sandwiches.
“While we remain the number one retailer of donuts in the country, as part of our efforts to reinforce that Dunkin’ Donuts is a beverage-led brand and coffee leader, we will be testing signage in a few locations that refer to the brand simply as “Dunkin’,” Dunkin' Donuts — er, just Dunkin' — said in a statement.
But the chain is assuring customers that the Pasadena location, and the Dunkin's to come, will stay true to the brand with the same menu options as other stores.
Of course, Dunkin' Donuts isn't the first food brand to truncate its name.
In the early 1990s, Kentucky Fried Chicken famously became KFC after forty years of going by the longer name — and the new name stuck. And Domino’s Pizza was shortened to just Domino’s in 2012. In both cases, it’s what people were calling them anyway, so why use all the extra words when we can be spending that time eating the food? We get it.