Excitement Brewing in San Diego with Opening of New Combined Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins Restaurant at The Embassy Suites San Diego Bay-Downtown

SAN DIEGO, Calif., March 6, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Dunkin' Donuts, America's all-day, everyday stop for coffee and baked goods, along with its sister brand Baskin-Robbins, the world's largest chain of ice cream specialty shops, will celebrate the grand opening of a combination restaurant in San Diego at The Embassy Suites San Diego Bay-Downtown at 601 Pacific Highway on Monday, March 10, 2014.  The opening marks the debut of the first non-traditional Dunkin' Donuts restaurant in San Diego County and the third non-traditional location in the state of California. 

To commemorate the grand opening at the hotel, the restaurant will be giving the first 100 guests free Dunkin' Donuts travel mugs, which can be used for 99 cent coffee refills during future visits.  Additionally, throughout March, the restaurant will offer a 20 percent military discount on both Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins purchases for active and retired members of the military with a valid ID.

The new San Diego combination Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins restaurant, centrally located inside the lobby of the hotel, will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. PST seven days a week. The restaurant will serve Dunkin' Donuts' wide-variety of coffee, baked goods, sandwiches and snacks plus Baskin-Robbins' ice cream, ice cream cakes and flavorful frozen beverages. 

"We are very pleased to have Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins inside our hotel and we hope the combination shop will become a popular destination for hotel guests, local area patrons and visitors looking for coffee, snacks, and ice cream," said Brian Murphy, General Manager, The Embassy Suites San Diego Bay-Downtown.  "There has been a lot of excitement and buzz over the past few months in the Southern California community about this opening, and we are thrilled this day has finally arrived."

Partnerships with lodging properties are a continued focus for Dunkin' Brands' growth, and opportunities exist with Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins individually or as combination units.  Flexible design options are available to suit any lodging facility, including full retail restaurants, kiosks and self-serve hot coffee stations perfect for gift shops and general stores. Dunkin' Donuts or Baskin-Robbins can also be designed to suit specific areas such as snack bars and convention registration areas. Dunkin' Donuts' bakery products can be prepared in the property's own kitchen, with the addition of some simple equipment, giving the food and beverage team flexibility to manage product inventory in accordance with guest traffic.

"Today is an exciting day for Dunkin' Brands as this opening represents the power of our two brands coming together in California to further expand our presence in the lodging industry," said Grant Benson, CFE, vice president of global franchising and business development, Dunkin' Brands.  "We are excited to partner with the Embassy Suites San Diego Bay to open the first non-traditional Dunkin' Donuts restaurant in San Diego County, and we look forward to serving the hotel guests and San Diego locals high-quality coffee, snacks and ice cream treats served in a fast, friendly and fun environment."

Since opening California for Dunkin' Donuts franchise development last year, the company has executed store development agreements for more than 150 new freestanding restaurants.  Franchise opportunities still remain available for both Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins throughout Central and Northern California, and portions of Southern California.

Additionally, Dunkin' Brands currently has more than 600 non-traditional locations nationwide.  For more information about the development of non-traditional locations in lodging facilities with Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins, the company is hosting an informational, live webinar on Thursday, March 20 at 6 p.m. PST.  To register and learn more about overall franchising opportunities, please visit http://franchisingevents.dunkinbrands.com.

About Dunkin' Donuts
Founded in 1950, Dunkin' Donuts is America's favorite all-day, everyday stop for coffee and baked goods. Dunkin' Donuts is a market leader in the hot regular/decaf/flavored coffee, iced coffee, donut, bagel and muffin categories. Dunkin' Donuts has earned the No. 1 ranking for customer loyalty in the coffee category by Brand Keys for eight years running. The company has nearly 11,000 restaurants in 33 countries worldwide. Based in Canton, Mass., Dunkin' Donuts is part of the Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: DNKN) family of companies. For more information, visit www.DunkinDonuts.com. 

About Baskin-Robbins
Named the top ice cream and frozen dessert franchise in the United States by Entrepreneur magazine's 35th annual Franchise 500® ranking, Baskin-Robbins is the world's largest chain of ice cream specialty shops. Baskin-Robbins creates and markets innovative, premium hard scoop ice cream and soft serve, custom ice cream cakes and a full range of beverages, providing quality and value to consumers at 7,300 retail shops in nearly 50 countries. Baskin-Robbins was founded in 1945 by two ice cream enthusiasts whose passion led to the creation of more than 1,000 ice cream flavors and a wide variety of delicious treats. In 2013, more than 13 million ice cream cakes were sold in Baskin-Robbins shops worldwide. Headquartered in Canton, Mass., Baskin-Robbins is part of the Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: DNKN) family of companies. For further information, visit www.BaskinRobbins.com.

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SOURCE Dunkin' Brands