Severe Competition
DD is probably just doing this because their asses are being kicked by, singly or collectively:
- Krispy Kreme
- Tom-n-Tom's (Tom-Toms, colloquially locally)
- Holly's
- Homestead Coffee
- Caffeine Gurunaru
- Angel in Us
- Angel in You (maybe it is only in Wangshimni, where I drank a few times after it became AiY, probably a location bought out after AiU's lease expired or was bought out)
- Nestle's
- Starbucks
- etc, etc.
I have seen only a few Starbucks in my 6 months there, and only drank at 2 of them only because one of my Korean friends who used to work at one in his early college days thinks fondly of Starbucks.
Other than that, I used the ones I mentioned (Tom-Tom's the most), except Nestles and DD. I used KK once, but found the donuts lacking compared to the US version. Maybe they are healthier -- umm, less unhealthy due to the smaller sizes and lighter ingredients, I dunno.
Mostly, I think the DD and KK use smaller stores (as does one of the Korean shops I mentioned above) because the land costs are so prohibitively pricey. But, most of them are corporate owned, and since Koreans take their coffee SERIOUSLY, having dumped or recently shunned tea), the Ferengi ROA stating "Expand or Die" seems to have gripped the corporates.
DD probably is using this as an intense gimmick. But, too many Koreans eating fattening donuts are going to get fat and have "endtense" experiences. One of my Korean friends in Wangshimni laughed when I lamented, while staring at a woman carting off 3 or 4 boxes of western donuts, around 4PM or so on a Saturday, IIRC), "There are going to be a LOT of FFFFAT Korean pretty soon...."
But, it is funny (and correspondingly sad) to see a young, skinny Korean carrying a strap-banded stack of 3 or 4 boxes....
Biting the hand that feeds IT
