Dunkin' Donuts "Fritalian" ad pokes fun at Starbucks

The 30-second TV ad shows befuddled customers trying to order a latte at an unnamed, upscale cafe. Meanwhile, a voiceover sings: "My mouth can't form these words. My mind can't find these words. Is it French or is it Italian? Perhaps Fritalian." An ad exec at Dunkin' Donuts' agency says: "It's a thinly veiled swipe at a certain competitor." (Boston Herald)

Comments

[Reinn]

YES! I am the only person who thinks the Starbucks sizing system is beyond moronic? Tall, grande, and venti, that's it right? Sounds like big bigger and biggest to me. People who order like that think they know a lot about coffee, all they really know is a lot about how pervasive Starbucks is. Keep it simple people. Kids, Small, Medium, and Large. Or even better, 8, 12, 16, and 20

[Bob]

And asking for a 'supersized' at McDonalds is any different? Come on people. Get over it. It is a word to describe the size of a drink. If you have nothing better to do than complain about the words used at Starbucks, then that is pretty sad. And Dunkin Donuts a competitor to Starbucks. Not a chance. Disgusting greasy donut and a drab cup of coffee or Starbucks? Hmm, tough choice there.

[Reinn]

Supersized is one of the few terms that actually surpasses "tall" in terms of stupidity. And, seeing how often I get corrected at work about it, I've earned the right to complain about the whole thing.

"I'd like a tall vanilla latte," the guest says. I, being used to translating and ignoring it, repeat the order back to the customer "Ok, so that's a small vanilla latte. Was there anything else?" Here's where the customer corrects me, "I wanted a tall vanilla latte." And for the most part I hide my irritation when I respond with "Small, Medium, or Large. We don't speak Starbucks here." Sound annoying? Try having that same conversation two hundred times a day, five days a week. When I go to Starbucks, I make it a point to order like I speak english. "I'd like your medium size," which means I'd like the size in between your biggest and smallest otherwise known as the medium.

Doesn't Dunkin Donuts win awards for their coffee? Last I heard people headed there primarily for the coffee instead of the donuts.

[exSFBarista]

So DD is basically targeting stupid people who are easily confused by foreign languages as their core market?

Score another one for anti-intellectualism and xenophobia.

[Reinn]

It's one thing to sprinkle your everyday english with other languages. It's another to do so as a corporate policy and induce others to think doing so is actively intelligent. Intellectual is not the polysyllabic word that applies there. Pretentious is the one you're looking for.

There is no size inbetween the smallest and the largest, since the smallest is a Short.

Do we really need to have this discussion again? Come on folks...

At my store, you may order whatever size you like, small, medium, large, tall, grande, venti. It doesn't make a lick of difference to me. However, when I call the drink out to the partner at the bar, I have to use the correct term. It's not a slight against you, it's just what we do.

If a partner rudely corrects you if you say small instead of tall (i.e. "I would like a small latte." Followed by "Sir, it's a tall, not a small," or "Ma'am, tall is small.") politely tell them that you're aware the tall is small, and that you prefer to say small. That's all you have to do.

We're not supposed to correct people, it's rude. However, when someone says small, then I call the drink and say tall, like I'm supposed to and they say, "EXCUSE ME, I SAID SMALL" and look at me like I'm an idiot...that's rude.

Oh, and as far as DD goes? Blech. Their coffee is nasty but their donuts are delicious.

[BusyBarista]

I agree. It's not like we dont understand small, medium and large. We have to call the drinks a certain way. I've had customers that get pissed bc we call them differently, specifically the grande.. but when it was just short, tall & grande..well it was the large. They are bitching the whole time.. I have to ask myself..if you hate us that much..why are you here day after day to bitch?? (we must be doing something right) Then I have customers who truly want to order their coffee in perfect calling order.

As for DD.. I think companys should stick to what they are good at. Starbucks Coffee Company ...great coffee.. DD has awesome donuts...their coffee tastes like it was made with dirty dish water though..ewww..

[Kelly]

That was funny exsf. Seriously I laughed so hard.

[kelly]

I think people feel funny saying the sizes, but if everyone is doing it, it's kinda ok right. I worked for sbux for a long time, great company and the I loved explaning the sizes to the timid. Have fun and drink coffee

[Reinn]

BusyBarista, I've been to Starbucks maybe four times in the past year, which makes five times total, which makes one time in my life I've ever paid full price since I've been working for a company operated Seattle's Best Coffee since last November. Nor have I ever bitched directly about this to anyone other than fellow team members, with whom I share a certain understanding about the whole issue. Don't think that just because I have an opinion on Starbucks means I'm anything resembling a Starbucks customer.

But you guys do have a totally understandable point about guests correcting us on how we name out the drinks, particularly when they do it with a nasty attitude.

ha! dunkin donuts winning awards for their coffee?? Dunkin DONUTS (note emphasis on donuts) Starbucks COFFEE (note emphasis on coffee). Dunkin Donuts would no soooner win awards on its craptastic coffee than starbucks would on it's pastries

You call the orders..what about marking the proper cups? Our store is way to busy to call out orders, it would be a night mare.
We have a line to the door from 7am to 11:30am and then from 1pm til 5pm and then again from 8pm til close.
we feel happy when there are only five people in line.

I'm surprised there are still stores that call to the bar. They did that when I first started, then we moved to marking cups, then about six months ago we got label printers.

[Jon]

I dunno... I wouldn't call Dunkin's coffee better than Starbucks', in general, but I will say that I found it more drinkable. It's generic, it's dumbed down, but it's not *bad.* In contrast, some Starbucks coffees are more like a modern art show: complex, bold, challenging, but still too ugly to hang in your living room.

[westside]

Oooh, I have something to say! We used to have DD around here (Seattle) when I was a kid, then DD, Winchells, and I think another brand went away, and aroudn the same time a Starbucks popped up in Admiral, and one at Fauntleroy & CA. Now I have been to DD and love their donuts, and I love their coffee lids (plastic tab with a "peg" on the end you can plug into your drinking hole, so you can take your coffee with you and not spill), but I do not enjoy their coffee.

I found it (DD coffee) watery and yucky... but then I have never had Starbucks coffee before (I get mochas at SBUX, and I make coffee at home) so I can't say which is better. Anyhow, what I wanted to bring to this discussion is this:

The East Coast *likes* DD and DD's coffee. In NYC there appear to be more DDs than Starbucks, and after talking with family who live there, it seems DD is the place to go for coffee. I went there and discovered they have a machine thingy that has different coffee flavors.. my brief impression was that of a soda fountain, for coffee... anyhow, I dumped out my coffee since it felt like 3/4 water and 1/4 coffee, and was so hot that they would have had to dump out 1/2 the coffee for me to dump milk in there to cool it down. Needless to say, I must not be DD's target market. But, there are a LOT of people who love DD coffee, and swear by it. They want a place with plastic and metal furniture, with a fastfood feel, and no soothing paint schemes. DD is the opposite of SBUX, and both have their place in America.

[sbuxboy]

Calling the drinks to the bar is by far faster than having the register partner mark the cup and is way faster than the new label printer. I know, I've worked at stores and done it all three ways. If you want me to elaborate on why, i will, just let me know. As for Dunkin Donuts. I think it sounds pretty desperate to have to resort to mocking another company in order to look good. Reminds me of the f ing presidential elections. blah

[Medieval Medic]

Ok, SBUXBOY, I'll bite.... Why is the printer slower than cup-marking, which is slower than calling?

No, I mean it. Really, I want to know, since I've only seen marking done consistantly.

[justme]

SBUXBOY I would like you to elaborate on why the call to the bar is best. I've not worked in a label store and I hate when register partners mark cups can't read there markings mostly they make up stuff that they think will mean something.

[sbuxgossiper]

I want to punch the people who made this commercial solely because of the word 'Fritalian'. Starbucks lingo is not french. It's not even close to french. It's just italian (and, you know, english ...)

[wallooo]

I lived in seattle for a while and had my dunkin's delivered to my house. when you brew it yourself its better and cheaper than anything starbucks has.
I'll walk several blocks for a dunkin's past all the starbucks along the way so I can have just a cup of good coffee. Starbucks drip coffee tastes like foot, and the shots are almost always burnt. I end up going there because its the only thing in the area, and I order something with lots of fake flavor to kill the horrible burnt taste. I don't bother with the lingo, i just ask for a "big A**" mocha.

[nycbearista]

Having worked with labels and with cup marking, i still prefer calling - especially if your team is well trained.

Cup marking doesn't always work if the store layout is wierd - what's the point if the register partner has to step away from the register and carry the cup three feet over around the trash can to put it down?

Labels: feh. in Manhattan there are just way too many people with modifiers that there isn't a button for - not even talking about how long it takes to punch in all those extra. Lost track of hom many times I had to Call Out a 'see me' - when it was 8 drinks ago by the time the drink person gets to that label.

If I have two people on bar, on emaking the drinks and the other marking/calling back/prepping with syrups, and two on register, or even one on register and myself floating, we can handle any rush, any line, nice and fast.

honestly, for me anyway, calling is hands down the fastest and most effecient

[Former Barista]

I'm the worst: When I lived in Chicago, Sbux was my cup o' joe. Then I moved and my new home didn't have a Sbux. I got used to the local way of life and when Sbux finally came to town, I claimed to be anti-Sbux and didn't go. I was at one of the local coffee shops just after Sbux opened. We knew the place was struggling but she fought until the bitter end. The owner was working the register and the woman in front of me ordered a "Grande." The owner snapped at her, "We have singles or doubles, this isn't Starbucks!" On one hand, I completely understood her stress and lashing out at the customer. On the other hand I thought, "This probably isn't the best way to keep customers from walking around the corner to Sbux." That shop eventually threw in the towel. I kept supporting my other local shop but did go to Sbux occasionally--using the excuse that it was a block from my house! Then I moved here and I worked for Sbux for a year. I have always and will always make it a point that if I'm in a shop other than SBUX, whether it's Caribou, Seattle's Best, or the local place, to order my drink the way they sell it. By size, ounces, shots, whatever.

I never corrected customers on their order. If they ordered a medium from me, I called it as a grande to the barista. I did have to go through the "tall/small" with customers but I just explained that "we call our small a tall." And that was that. I know, also, that there were those anti-SBUX customers who still found themselves in our line, and deliberately ordered in anything BUT Sbux speak. You also get the customers who try their hardest to learn the language. All in all, it's really not a big deal.

DD is smart in their campaign. Most everyone will know they are making fun of SBUX and everyone will get a chuckle out of it. At the same time DD is letting us know about their coffee, they're reminding us about SBUX. What if it's evening? I say to myself, "I'll try that DD coffee and donut tomorrow, but right now a mocha sounds great! I think I'll go to SBUX." They're basically giving SBUX free advertising.

nycbearista
How is calling btter? What do you do with three registers open and drinks being called at three a minute, There is now way a barista or even two can keep the orders straight.
Marking the cups have standards, which in my opinin makes this a better option.

[Becca]

I could see how calling could be faster, but not when you have new or incompetent people working with you. I can picture a shift at my store where we could work the calling system beautifully, but I can also picture shifts that would fall apart on the third drink. Although the labels sound cool (I've never seen them, so don't know for sure), if I was a customer, I would miss the personalized touch of someone writing on my cup (My favorite part of visiting the States while I was in highschool was that the Starbucks there wrote your name on the cup. I loved it, but then got back home, where they didn't do it)

The only size confusion we have is that most of our customers asking for a large want a grande not a venti, so when they ask for a large, I always ask back "A large-grande? or a large-venti?" pointing at the cups. 9 times out of 10, they want the grande.
Most people ask for a:
Your smallest size: short
small: tall
large: grande
extra-large or your biggest size: venti

Just a point, people - McD's got rid of "Supersizing" and its terminology several months ago.

[vic]

Not having gone to a Dunkin' Donuts, I just went over to their web site. It lists "latte" (Wait! that's Italian, isn't it?) and also a "Turbo" and a "Tropicana Coolatta".

I'd rather order a venti anything than have to say coolatta.

i totally agree vic, talk about stupid drink names

[Scorpio370]

I'm like some of you, in that I mean, I don't correct the customer, I just call it back to the bar the right way. If a customer asks, then I explain it to them, 90% of the time, they order it using the Sbux term the next time. And I really don't know what is so hard to understand about the sizes, all you have to do is look up at the menu boards and see that the sizes are listed with the prices. Any common person can read and understand what it means when the price for a venti is more than a grande or tall. I think there are some people who just want to piss of the baristas and call it wrong all the time, you just can't let them get the better of you. As for DD, my mother in law loves their donuts, but hates their coffee, and she drinks coffee all the time. She'd sooner make it at home than drive somewhere to get it, but that may be because she lives out in the middle of nowhere in South Carolina too. LOL

[CFLsbuxfan]

While DD's coffee may be "better," I HATE their "cream and sugar system" and refuse to buy coffee there any more because of this problem. Why can't I put my own cream and Splenda in my coffee? Every time I tell them, "just a little cream, please" the cup comes back practically beige. I didn't want coffee-flavored cream. I wanted coffee with a little cream.

Maybe it's just Central Florida that has this problem, but I went to one in Boston that was the same. Please put your cream and sugar/subs out on the bar. I don't care if every other customer makes a "whatever" latte from your "free" condiment bar. I'm a paying HONEST customer and I want my coffee the way I want it. Plain and simple.

[Barista Bess]

It sounds like DD is trying to market to the lowest common denominator of society. I think I'll pass on that brand, thanks. I don't really like their donuts that much either.

For those who insist on posting how awful Starbucks coffee tastes. Perhaps you just haven't figured out what to order. I spent two years thinking that Starbucks was always burnt. One day a great barista helped me out. She took me through tastings, and taught me how to order what it is I actually wanted, rather than what I thought I wanted.

Just like beer and wine, if you don't take the time to learn a little about what it is your drinking, it's just a crap shoot. You might as well get your cappucino out of a vending machine.

[Sarah Barista]

Tall- American for Big
Grande- Spanish for big
Venti- 20 in italian. . . seeing that grande is also the italian word for big and 20 0unces is the size of the venti. . .

I honestly don't mind if people order that way or not, I know how to translate. . . however, I catch myself trying to order tall grande and ventis in fast food drive throughs!

and to scorpio370, there was a dd employee who got shot for putting too much cream in ones coffee, it's anywhere you go!

heh, a burnt shot is a burnt shot. it's not that anyone needs to "find their drink"
when i lived in seattle i could just scoot over to Vita and get an excellent mocha with just enough chocolate to enhance the espresso. they also make a little design in the foam for you.
espresso is supposed to be a treat, not supercharged bitter coffee.
its hard to explain why most of the starbucks coffee is bad to people who have never had good coffee.
compared to foldgers its heavan in a cup, but against a decent Harar its like shoveling ashes into your mouth.

I am not in the burn starbucks faction by the way, i just wish they would use their powers for good instead of average.

[Reinn]

Bess, not all Starbucks coffee is entirely burnt. For example, I'd take their breakfast blend over our french roast any day. That said, they do over roast their coffee. Their medium is the equivalent of everyone else's dark, and their dark is the equivalent of Kingsford Charcoal, and their extra dark is the equivalent of getting punched in the mouth by a set of brass knuckles. Their roasting profile is so distinctive that I know when I'm drinking it no matter what. Even when I drank some ten minutes after it had been roasted.

And there's a difference between what you call a drink and the drink sizes. A latte is, well, espresso and milk. That's just what it is. If McD started carrying espresso, they'd call espresso and milk a latte. The sizing, however, is overly complicated, inaccurately descriptive, and pretentious. As I tell some of my customers, their system amounts to "Big, Bigger, and Biggest." I don't condone bad mouthing the people behind the counter about it, but I utterly refuse to buy into it.

[sbuxboy]

nycbearista knows what i'm talking about. I've worked at the Starbucks that has the highest customer count per half hour in the world. There are 4 open registers at the same time and the drinks are called to the bar. It's called having an expeditor. Sound travels faster than any person can mark and carry a cup over to the bar from the register. Even faster than a partner can type in all the modifiers required and send them through the printing system. It's all about everyone working as a team and knowing what they are doing. Selective hearing also comes in handy. But yes, it is by far the quickest way short of telepathy.

[Medieval Medic]

Hey, SBUXBOY, don't know if you missed this or that you're thinking that your last post here answered (doesn't answer for me, unfortunately, but I "get" the expeditor thing: I *was* expo for more than a year in a resturant)
~~~~~~~~~
Ok, SBUXBOY, I'll bite.... Why is the printer slower than cup-marking, which is slower than calling?

No, I mean it. Really, I want to know, since I've only seen marking done consistantly.

didn't tom hanks say it best?

"The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don't know what the hell they're doing or who on earth they are, can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self: Tall! Decaf! Cappuccino!"

(excuse me tom, but it would actually be called a "decaf tall cappuchino":)

sorry that was from "you've got mail"

[sbuxboy]

Ok, I hate explaning simple concepts to people that are denser than a slab of granite. I thought I explained it quite well above. The printer system only prints out one ticket at a time. It takes just as long to pull that ticket from the printer and put it on the cup as it does to just write on the cup. The problem with the printer is the barista can go at whatever speed they want since the printer will not spit out another drink until the previous drink sticker has been removed. Drink calling, however, forces the bar partner to make the drinks quicker because the register partner is not going to just stop calling drinks cause they think the bar partner needs to catch up. Also, when the bar partner is good at multitasking and selective hearing they can have the cup written before the register partner even calls the drink. When the register partner does call the drink all you have to do is call it back since you've already marked the cup. If you are extremely organized on bar and fast, you don't even have to think about what your doing. You can have the drink finished before the customer even steps away from the register. They simply walk over to the handoff counter and grab their drink, absolutely no wait. You don't have to worry about customers staring at you and critiqueing your drink making skills because if you are quick and organized they won't have time to do so and they have confidence in you. They are also impressed without having to wait. If you have anymore questions or need ideas on how to be quicker, i've got plenty. Everything i do is within starbucks standard. I don't take shortcuts.

[JustABarista]

SBUXBOY,

I was wondering about that. We have three to four registers going at a time at my store and usually two people on bar, and an expo. Do the register partners take turns to call the drinks? Especially when one register partner has a six or even ten drink order while there are 2-3 other baristas waiting to call drinks? We can get backed up at bar with 20-30 drinks with four tills going and the register partners marking cups pretty quickly. If there were only one or two people marking those cups, I don't see how it would go any faster. Seems like it would be slower to me.

[Richard]

Folks for would like either Dunkin Dount's coffee or McDonalds coffee are not really Starbucks customers anyway. I've tasted all three and will drink DD or McD if I'm on the Interstate and have no choice. Heck, I've even bought coffee from a vending machine. The difference is that I won't seek out coffee from either DD or McD but I will look for a Starbucks. DD and McD are after the morning drive thru crowd as they stuff a donut or Egg McMuffin down their gullets, trying to grab a few more bucks from the customer. I'll never hear someone say, "Let's go to McD for coffee." Just won't happen. Those who want something hot, wet and black with caffeine rather than COFFEE, already go somewhere other than Starbucks, I don't see much of an impact. A similar campaign like McD's was already tried here in the Midwest by Mobil on the Run, didn't work.
Regarding cup size names - who cares really, when in Rome... If Starbucks calls their medium a Grande then so be it. So long as the partners are polite to those who use other terminology, it's a non issue.

[NinjaBarista]

I'm with JUSTABARISTA. I've worked in a few stores that have had great success with cup calling, but overwhelmingly, in my experience, marking is the way to go. Boo to nonstandard cup markers...Oh yeah, and I was wondering if anybody would be willing to tell me how to mark a Banana Sauce Latte. I would assume BA or BAN in the custom box. Not to encourage anyone to order that, of course. But to each his and/or her own.

[SBUXSS]

Ninja - I may be wrong, but I don't think you can use banana sauce (or blackberry sauce) in a hot drink. At least that's what I was told.

??? Anyone?

[sbuxboy]

Of course you can use banana sauce in a hot drink. You can put anything starbucks has in a hot drink. Banana steamers are really good. If it's what the customer wants we can do it. As long as they're not asking to put a non-starbucks product in their drink, i.e. protein powder, Their own "fake" sugar, cocaine, etc.

[Medieval Medic]

Damn, SBUXBOY, you are rude.

Posted by: sbuxboy | September 15, 2006 at 08:17 PM

Ok, I hate explaning simple concepts to people that are denser than a slab of granite. I thought I explained it quite well above.

The first time, you didn't explain squat. Then you call me denser than granite? What state do you live in, so I can avoid it?

[SBUXSS]

If SBUXBOY hates explaining simple concepts to people who are denser than granite, it must be tough for him to work at Starbucks;)

About the banana sauce ... like I said, I could be wrong, but I'll look into it myself. But I know for a fact that you can't use blackberry sauce in a hot drink. Our store experimented a bit when it first came in for the Blackberry Green Tea Frappuccino, but shortly after we got word from Starbucks that it was not meant to be used for hot beverages. Syrup, yes, sauce - no. Some sort of curdling/seperation issues. I thought my manager said the same thing applied to the banana sauce. But, hell --- he could be wrong, too!

PS --- I'm a little afraid to ask, but I'm kinda curious ... SBUXBOY: what is the highest customer count per half hour in the world?

[Becca]

From my experience, you can put the banana sauce in a hot drink. I've made several banana mochas and everyone who has had one has enjoyed them, and never said that it tasted curdled.
But SBUXSS, I was under the impression that blackberry syrup (not just the sauce) couldn't be put in hot drinks because it curdles due to the juice content (BBerry is the only syrup with frui juice in it)

[SBUXSS]

Thanks, Becca:) I think there's some major "miscommunication" going on at my store. Ugh. I guess it's understandable since there's sooooooo much information to process and memorize on a regular basis. After over three years of Starbucks recipes, standards, policies, etc., my brain is full! I'll double-check all I've been told by everyone and go from there.

Good one, Dunkin' Donuts. Cause the "Tropicana Coolatta" and "Dunkaccino" aren't made-up BS names.

[Chi-towns best/angriest barista]

the sticker printing machine is the best! at the busiest times, we have 4 partners on registers, 2 (sometimes 3) people working hot bar and another 1 or 2 on cold bar. if we had to mark or call every drink cup that we went through we'd have utter chaos. and anyway, the part on the lable where you enter the customer's name can be great fun. "tall latte for... um... (lable says something like: nipple) i can't call this out... i have a Tall Latte at the bar!"