Coffee is popular worldwide and the United States is no exception – about 75% of American adults drink some at least semi-regularly, according to various sources. Two American companies have made themselves global brands based on their popularity among coffee drinkers, Dunkin’ and Starbucks. And the beverage is being celebrated in the United States on Sept. 29, which is National Coffee Day.
But which of those two brands is preferred by those jonesing for java in the Great Lakes State? BetMichigan.com, the home of the best Michigan sportsbook promo codes dove into some statistics to find out. Here’s what we found, with an explanation of the numbers below:
BetMichigan.com took a coffee break from our Michigan sports betting coverage to determine if each state preferred Starbucks or Dunkin’ thanks to data from Google Trends, StarbMag, and VinePair. We began by delving into the number of Starbucks and Dunkin’ locations per 100,000 people. Then we compared search interest for “Starbucks near me” and “Dunkin’ Donuts near me” to create a weighted scoring system. The search interest is a percentage among folks searching for one or the other; in Michigan, a whopping 82% were looking for Starbucks.
That was one win for the Seattle-based company in our head-to-head measurement. The other was number of locations per 100,000 people in the state, and here again Starbucks came out on top. There are 2.8 Starbucks outlets per 100,000 population in Michigan, according to StarbMag. That compares to VinePair data which shows that there is just under one Dunkin’ per 100k in Michigan (by the way, Dunkin’ is the official corporate branding as of 2019, but you’re forgiven if you still call it Dunkin’ Donuts; the branding can be inconsistent).
In all, Starbucks came out on top, with 1.81 points compared to 0.56 for its closest competitor. You can’t wager on the two companies vying for coffee supremacy but you can find lots of other wagers with Michigan sports betting apps operators.
Dunkin' is the older of the two brands, having started in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1950. That was when founder William Rosenberg changed the name of his store, which had been called Open Kettle. According to dunkindonuts.com (see what we mean about that old name hanging on?), that location is still open. By our count, there were 10 states that preferred Dunkin’ over Starbucks, all in the East, including every state in its New England home except New Hampshire.
Starbucks got a later start, launching its first store at the famed Pike Place Market in Seattle in 1971. It expanded over the years and, by the late 1990s, had begun opening locations in Europe and Asia. The brand has become a global juggernaut with 35,000-plus locations worldwide, including more than 16,000 in America. The brand won 40 states plus Washington D.C. by our count, though several western states have no Dunkin’ locations to compare it to.
Author
Jim Tomlin writes and edits for BetMichigan.com. In 30 years as a journalist he has worked for publications such as the Tampa Bay Times, Saturday Tradition, Saturday Down South and FanRag. He now lends his sports and gambling expertise to BetMichigan among other websites.
Cited by leading media organizations, such as:
