Dunkin' Donuts Debuts Dark-Roast Coffee for the First Time Ever As the coffee market heats up, Dunkin' Donuts is finally serving up dark-roast brew.

By Kate Taylor

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

With everyone from McDonald's to Chick-fil-A trying to be get in on the coffee market, Dunkin' Donuts has decided that it is time to step up its game with a dark roast.

The coffee and doughnut chain debuted its new dark-roast coffee on Thursday, with plans to sell it nationwide starting September 22, reports The Wall Street Journal. Dunkin' Donuts has never before in its 64-year history sold dark-roast coffee. So why start now? Competition, of course.

Dunkin' Donuts has the reputation of being the light-roast ying to Starbucks' dark-roast yang in the traditional coffee wars. While Starbucks maintains a slightly more boutique image, with darker roasts being seen as more complex and intense, Dunkin' Donut's lighter roasts traditionally have been seen as having more of a more mass appeal.

Related: Chick-fil-A Finally Enters the Fast-Food Coffee Battle

However, in 2012, Starbucks introduced a lighter-roast "blonde" to give customers a "spectrum of options." Plus, today Starbucks is far from Dunkin's only mainstream competition. McDonald's is pushing hard for its McCafe line to catch on and become a major moneymaker. Earlier in August, Chick-fil-A decided to try to go gourmet with a new specialty-grade coffee.

Even worse for Dunkin' Donuts, is there's more competition invading from the north. Tim Hortons, often coined the Canadian Dunkin' Donuts, announced plans to merge with Burger King earlier this week. The coffee and doughnut chain said it hopes that the acquisition will help accelerate Tim Hortons's expansion in the U.S. While it will probably be a few years before Tim Hortons can be even close to a major competitor to Dunkin' in the states, in some ways, the two chains are on similar schedules: Tim Hortons just premiered its first-ever dark roast coffee in the chain's 50-year history this past June.

Related: In $11 Billion Deal, Burger King Scoops Up Tim Hortons and Heads to Canada

Kate Taylor

Reporter

Kate Taylor is a reporter at Business Insider. She was previously a reporter at Entrepreneur. Get in touch with tips and feedback on Twitter at @Kate_H_Taylor. 

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Business Ideas

70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2025.

Growing a Business

What Our Digital World Is Missing — and How I Turned It Into $100 Million After Dropping Out of High School

I went from high school dropout to $100 million CEO by sticking to one very important learning principle.

Thought Leaders

Cultural Fit Can Make or Break an M&A Deal

One of the most critical components for success -- cultural fit -- often falls by the wayside.

Social Media

With This LinkedIn Algorithm Change, Your Best Posts Could Reach New Readers for Months

It's one of many new features rolling out on the platform in 2024.