Dunkin' Donuts’ First California Shop Opens on Camp Pendleton

Dunkin' Donuts, the well-established donut-and-coffee chain on the East Coast and in the Midwest — with 6700 store locations in the U.S. and 30 other countries — didn’t have a California location until earlier this month.

Located inside Camp Pendleton’s new MCX store (a one-stop shop for active duty military and their families), Dunkin' Donuts opened with little fanfare on May 3.

Upon hearing of the store's opening, I tried on numerous occasions to get a comment from the Dunkin' Donuts corporation based in Massachusetts. It took several weeks for a spokesperson to respond to emails.

On May 22, PR manager McCall Gosslin responded that they understand the demand for Dunkin' Donuts in California, pointing out that the state is number one in sales for their prepackaged coffee. But, he added, it will be a long time before other California locations are added. He said Camp Pendleton officials reached out to Dunkin' Donuts because of their popularity at other military installations.

Speculation as to why a multinational company won't have an additional presence in California can be drawn from an announcement last year that Carl’s Jr. will no longer seek to open additional California locations due to a regulatory process that takes two to three years.

On May 23, Dunkin' Donuts manager Daisy said they were extremely busy and that the Marines are aware of the fact that theirs is the first shop in California.