What kinds of deals and sales do each coffee cooperation offer?

                                                                       source: http://lovethispic.com 

The best deal most of us saw this past year was probably the Dunkin’ Donuts 99 cent any size iced coffee or iced tea.  Even if you are not a Dunkin’ fan, this still persuaded you to drink their coffee because it was so cheap.  Incentives like these persuade people to buy their coffee, regardless of their preference.  Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks each offer their own special deals to give people incentives to buy their coffee.

The Dunkin’ Donuts happy hour deal has unfortunately ended a few weeks ago.  The 99 cent any size iced coffee or iced tea originally went from 3-6pm, but then changed from 2-6pm because DD saw how many people were happy to buy coffee for 99 cents.  Eventually, they only limited 2 99 cent drinks per guest because people like myself would end up buying four at a time to bring back to my friends or family.  Already you can see that due to the end of the happy hour deal, there are less and less people going to DD in the afternoon hours.  

Dunkin’ Donuts offers lots of specials during certain times of the year.  Along with selling coffee, DD is one of the most popular donut shops.  So, for limited times, DD will offer unique types of donuts that correspond with the time of the year.  On National Donut Day, June 3, DD gives a free donut to a customer with the purchase of something else, like a drink.  Around special times of the years and around the holidays, DD will offer different themed donuts.  Around Valentine’s Day they sell heart shaped pink and red donuts.  Around Christmas time, they sell holiday donuts such as snowmen, or donuts with red and green sprinkles.  Also, they offer special flavored drinks for the holidays.  Their most popular being peppermint flavored drinks around Christmas time.

Like Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks likes to offer special flavored drinks throughout times of the the year.  Their most notable one being pumpkin spiced drinks that are offered in the fall.  Starbucks is also quite notable for making unique drinks that customers can customize themselves.  The amount of different drinks that Starbucks can make sounds ridiculous.  Starbucks spokeswoman Lisa Passe explained how they came up with it to a Wall Street Journal blogger: "If you take all of our core beverages, multiply them by the modifiers and the customization options, you get more than 87,000 combinations.”  Most of these combinations are posted on the Starbucks Secret Menu, where customers can find the perfect drink for them.  Below is the list of steps Starbucks provides for ordering off of Starbucks secret menu:

• Find the drink you would like to try and note the recipe, not just the name.
• The most important thing to remember when ordering a secret menu drink is that not all Baristas are familiar with the drink names. Order by recipe.
• Depending on what drink you're ordering and what add-ins there are, be prepared for extra costs. Additions such as bananas will bring your total up, but remember that paying with a registered Starbucks card or with the Starbucks mobile app will earn you stars towards free rewards.
  Future research question: How do coffee corporations allow for consumers to bring the coffee brand home with them?