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BUSINESSFriday 5 February 2016

Dunkin’s preps for a deal fight as customer visits slip 

CANDICE CHOI                                                                                                                    and was last advertised

AP Food Industry Writer                                                                                                         nationally two years ago.

NEW YORK (AP) — Dunkin’                                                                                                         For Dunkin’, finding the

Donuts, feeling sidelined                                                                                                       right national price pro-

by a discounting fight in                                                                                                       motion could be tricky be-

the fast-food industry, is                                                                                                      cause the popularity of its

planning to jump into the                                                                                                       menu items varies more by

game with its own deals.                                                                                                        region. In the Northeast,

The coffee-and-doughnut                                                                                                         the company sells more

chain said Thursday that                                                                                                        drinks, while other mar-

customer visits slipped                                                                                                         kets rely more heavily on

at U.S. stores open at                                                                                                          doughnuts.

least 18 months in the last                                                                                                     Some offers around the

three months of the year.                                                                                                       country could provide

Dunkin’ CEO Nigel Travis                                                                                                        clues on what Dunkin’

blamed the loss on aggres-                                                                                                      has in store. The chain has

sive promotions at burger                                                                                                       been offering sandwiches

chains, which he said were                                                                                                      for $2.99 in the afternoons

sparked by McDonald’s                                                                                                           in Boston. In Chicago, it has

highly anticipated rollout                                                                                                      been advertising an “All

of all-day breakfast.                                                                                                           Day Value Menu” that fea-

Wendy’s, for instance,                                                                                                          tures 99-cent hash browns

launched a “4 for $4” deal In this Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013, file photo, a girl has a doughnut and a beverage at a Dunkin’ Do- and a muffin for $1.49. It
in October, which Burger nuts in New York. Dunkin’ Brands reports financial earnings on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016.                 has also been offering two

King later one-upped with                                                                       Associated Press egg-and-cheese sand-

a “5 for $4” offer. McDon-                                                                                                      wiches for $3 in the city.

ald’s more recently intro- 2016, and meeting with need to get Congress to go tween fast-food compa- Travis noted that even in

duced its “McPick 2” deal franchisees next week to fi- along with their plans.                  nies and their franchisees. the afternoons, Dunkin’s

that lets people pick two nalize plans. He compared “We have to figure out how Companies make money breakfast sandwiches out-

items for $2.                    the situation to the political to bring franchisees along,” by getting a percentage sell its lunch sandwiches.

To win back customers, system, noting that presi- Travis said.                                  of sales at restaurants, “Breakfast is something

Travis said Dunkin’ is plan- dential candidates such as His remarks were a refer- while franchisees have to people are willing to have

ning three national value Donald Trump and Bernie ence to the tensions that think about whether the all day.

promotions of its own for Sanders, if elected, would pricing can cause be- prices they charge will Not many people are will-

                                                                                                cover costs like food ingre- ing to have a hamburger

                                                                                                dients. As such, franchisees at 6 a.m.,” he said.

Orders to U.S. factories                                                                        don’t always like discounts.    For the last three months of
                                                                                                Subway Chief Advertising        the year, Dunkin’s sales at
                                                                                                Officer Chris Carroll, for in-  established U.S. stores fell

fell sharply in December                                                                        stance, said he got support     by 0.8 percent. The chain
                                                                                                for a $6 Footlong promo-        forecast sales would rise up
                                                                                                tion this month by telling      to 2 percent for 2016.

MARTIN CRUTSINGER                mand for commercial air-       dropped a sharp 4.3 per-        franchisees it was a one-       Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc.
AP Economics Writer              craft, a volatile category.    cent in December after          time offer to “kick traffic     reported a loss of $8.9 mil-
WASHINGTON (AP) — Or-            But orders in a key catego-    a 0.9 percent decline in        into restaurants.” He said      lion, or 10 cents per share,
ders to U.S. factories fell      ry that tracks  business  in-  November.Business  invest-      it wouldn’t be a recurring      for the fourth quarter. Ex-
sharply in December, clos-       vestment also fell sharply.    ment has been held back         promotion like the chain’s      cluding one-time items,
ing out a year in which de-      Orders for durable goods,      this year by the steep drop     famous $5 Footlong, which       earnings were 52 cents per
mand for American manu-          items intended to last at      in oil prices, which has trig-  was introduced in 2008          share.q

factured goods retreated least three years such as gered big cutbacks in at

Buffett’s firm nowfor the first time in six years. cars and home applianc- energy companies.

Factory orders dropped es, dropped 5 percent in For December, orders for

owns nearly 14the fourth decline in the The figure was revised ery plunged 78.2 percent.
2.9 percent in December, December.                              mining and oil field machin-

past five months, the Com- slightly from an advance re- Orders for commercial air-
percent of Phillips 66 ed Thursday.
merce Department report- port last week that pegged craft dropped 29.4 percent

                                 the drop at 5.1 percent.       in December. Demand

Orders were down 6.6 per-        Demand for nondurable          was also down sharply for       OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Berkshire Hathaway has purchased
cent for the full year, mark-                                   defense aircraft, which fell    nearly 1.7 million more shares of Phillips 66 to give it owner-
ing the first annual fall since  goods, items including         68.7 percent.                   ship of almost 14 percent of the oil refiner.
2009, a year when the                                           Total machinery orders          The conglomerate led by Warren Buffett reported the lat-
country was struggling to        chemicals, paper and pe-       dropped 5.6 percent, while      est stock purchases this week. Berkshire now owns 73.98
emerge from the Great Re-                                       demand for computers            million Phillips 66 shares worth roughly $5.9 billion.
cession.                         troleum products, dropped      was down 16 percent.            Berkshire revealed owning over 10 percent of Phillips 66
The 2015 decline under-                                         Earlier this week, the Insti-   stock in August when it disclosed a stake of 55 million
scores the problems Ameri-       0.8 percent in December. It    tute for Supply Manage-         shares. But before Berkshire began its recent string of
can manufacturers are                                           ment reported that its key      purchases in January it owned only 61.49 million Phillips
facing from spreading            was the latest in a string of  gauge of manufacturing          66 shares. Berkshire Hathaway owns about 90 subsidiar-
global weakness and the                                         activity remained below         ies in a variety of industries, including insurance, utilities,
rising strength of the dollar.   declines that have been in-    50 in January, indicat-         railroads, retail and manufacturing. It also holds major in-
The big December decline                                        ing manufacturing was           vestments in Coca-Cola Co., Wells Fargo & Co., IBM and
was led by a plunge in de-       fluenced in part by the fall-  contracting.q                   American Express Co.q

                                 ing price for energy prod-

                                 ucts.

                                 The key category of non-

                                 defense capital goods

                                 excluding aircraft, which

                                 serves as a proxy for  busi-

                                 nessinvestment  plans,
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