Reykjavík Grapevine - 08.05.2015, Side 52

WE DON’T SELL
WHALE MEAT
INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR ANIMAL WELFARE
Restaurants that have this logo promise not to sell
whale meat. We kindly ask you to choose
a whale friendly restaurant and to recommend
others to do the same.
Whaling is cruel and unnecessary
Don’t let your visit to ICELAND
leave a bad taste in your mouth
Choose a whale friendly restaurant
Information about whale friendly restaurants
can be found at www.icewhale.is
2014–2015
INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR
ANIMAL WELFARE
i c ewha l e . i s
FOOD
FOR THE SOUL
But Reykjavík has a noticeable scarcity
of international food chains. McDon-
ald's famously canned their sole Icelan-
dic location after the financial crash—
Iceland’s biggest hamburger chain is the
home-grown Hamborgarabúllan, which
has a whopping seven locations, just one
fewer than KFC. But now, American cof-
fee house Dunkin’ Donuts is poised to
enter the fray.
Árni Pétur Jónsson, the CEO of 10-
11, is the man in charge of Dunkin’ Do-
nuts’ Icelandic incursion. "I got the news
that Dunkin’ was looking at Iceland as
a potential market in 2013,” says Árni.
“I got in contact with them and found
out they’d been looking for potential
partners. We talked and immediately
clicked, and so they joined with 10-11.
There was a question of feasibility in
coming into a small market like Iceland,
of course. But after having looked at it,
they decided it had potential.”
American expats’ burning
questions answered
Dunkin’ Donuts will reportedly open 16
Icelandic branches in total, from a flag-
ship store down to smaller concessions
in 10-11 branches. The announcement
proved exciting news for donut-loving
US expatriates who commented on the
news with questions about whether
their breakfast menu would be available,
and if the various ingredients of their fa-
vourites would be imported especially.
“Yes, they can relax!” smiles Árni.
“The stand-alone flagship store more
or less has the full menu. If we can find
the right location, it’ll be a large cof-
fee house with seating and a full menu.
In Dunkin’ we have branches from 50
square metres to 250 square metres. The
smallest is more or less self-service, so
some of them will be that size.”
Dunkin’ Donuts will be using their
regular ingredients, and only Fair Trade
coffee beans, as they have done since
2004. “The dough will be imported,”
says Árni. “Some stuff will possibly
come from the States, but Dunkin’ has
factories in Spain and Germany, so some
things will come from Europe, too.”
Local coffee chains find
the competition healthy
The majority of Reykjavík’s current cof-
fee house culture is made up of indepen-
dently owned small businesses, perhaps
appealingly to tourists in search of some-
thing different from home. Te og Kaffi,
with its twelve locations in Iceland,
including six in downtown Reykjavík,
could soon be surpassed as the country’s
largest homegrown coffee house chain.
Manager Halldór Guðmundsson doesn’t
seem worried, though.
“There has always a lot of competi-
tion in downtown Reykjavík,” he says.
“We see it as a good thing. It keeps us
on our toes, and we have to be ready for
anything. First and foremost we think
about ourselves and our own business.
It’s more competition of course, but we
just have to be ready, and do what we do,
better than ever."
Nevertheless, Halldór was surprised
that Dunkin’ Donuts would come to
Iceland. “I wouldn’t have expected a big
American chain to look here, as the mar-
ket is so small,” he says. ”We’ve had fran-
chises here in the past, of course. Some
work, and some don’t. So it’s all about
who is running the company, that’s the
most important thing."
Tourists to thank for
Dunkin’ Donuts?
Iceland’s single Taco Bell and its hand-
ful of KFCs and Ruby Tuesdays are all
outside of 101 Reykjavík, suggesting that
they’re aimed more at locals than in-
comers. And yet tourist foot traffic was
an important factor for Dunkin’ Donuts.
“Tourism made the decision easier
for them,” says Árni. “It helped a lot.
But we did some market research, and
of course Dunkin’ did as well. Having
been selling coffee-to-go, baked goods
and light meals at 10-11, we knew a lot
about the market, so we are quite well
prepared.”
With the ball now rolling on the
Icelandic Dunkin’ Donuts franchise,
Árni will be hoping to pick up regulars.
“We’ll start by opening our flagship,” he
says, “and then we might open up to two
more this year. We’ll see how the Icelan-
dic market receives the concept, and go
from there."
Stepping out onto the main street of most European capitals these days, it would be plain odd
not to see a Starbucks or a McDonald's. American food chains have become widespread to
the point of ubiquity over the last few decades by offering the popular combination of con-
venient locations, familiar recipes, standardised quality and cheap prices. Starbucks, once
something Europeans only saw in American TV shows, now has 1,527 locations in Europe,
and McDonald's has 7,860 restaurants in Europe alone.
Words John Rogers
Illustration DonutGal
American food chain Dunkin’ Donuts
is poised to appear around Iceland
Would You Like
Donuts With That?