Dunkin’ is the second-largest coffee chain in the United States, and should JAB follow through on its reported interest in the company, it would add another 11,300 retail locations to its already expansive breakfast empire – it may soon be difficult to buy a coffee, doughnut, or bagel anywhere in the United States without some of your money funneling up to JAB Holding. Here’s Jeremy Scott, a senior research analyst at Mizuho Securities, in a recently released research note on the plausibility of such a deal taking place: It’s far from a done deal, however. Dunkin’ Donuts’ success in the marketplace actually represents a couple of downsides from JAB’s point of view in acquiring it. For one, it won’t be cheap, but perhaps more importantly is the fact that there are already so many DD locations and so much saturation in the breakfast/doughnut/coffee field that opportunities for growth within the brand will have to come from areas other than opening new stores – like offering products with the Dunkin’ brand in grocery stores, as one example. Representatives from Dunkin’ Donuts and JAB Holding have both declined to comment on these rumors as of this writing.
