Dunkin’ Donuts vs. Starbucks: Who’s the coffee king of the Upper West Side?

Dunkin' Donuts on 89th and Broadway, just one of many locations that's part of a recent upswing in openings of the coffee chain.

Competition is brewing on the Upper West Side.

For years, Starbucks has been dominating the coffee business on the Upper West Side. There are 16 – yes, 16 – Starbucks locations in the neighborhood, most of which opening in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. In fact, when Starbucks came to New York City in 1994, they opened their first location on 87th Street and Broadway. Oddly enough, it is the only Upper West Side location to have ever closed down (it shut its doors in 2003, a Capital One bank now takes its place.) However, Starbucks may have reason to be jittery, and it has nothing to do with caffeine.

Enter the challenger: Dunkin’ Donuts.

Before 2006, Dunkin’ Donuts only had one location on the Upper West Side, located on 95th Street and Broadway. Beginning with a location on 89th Street and Broadway, which opened in the summer of 2006, the donut chain began to make its presence known in the neighborhood, opening a total of six new locations, some of which being strategically located near a Starbucks.

However, this new competition doesn’t seem to have fazed Starbucks too much.

“Business has been pretty much the same,” said Jordan Peralta, a barista at the Starbucks on 93rd Street and Broadway which is located a block away from a recently-opened Dunkin’ Donuts on Amsterdam Avenue.

Even so, Dunkin’ Donuts is still pushing at it.

“Our franchiser owns 27 stores, including several of the West Side stores,” said Ione Echevarria, store manager of the Dunkin’ Donuts on 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue (whereas the Starbucks Corporation owns and operates its stores, Dunkin’ Donuts stores are run by franchisers, people who apply to use the Dunkin’ Donuts name and their recipies for a fee. This particular franchiser couldn’t be reached for comment.)

What’s the verdict in the Upper West Side coffee wars? There are plenty of Upper West Siders to be found on both sides.

“Starbucks’ coffee is stronger, but I really like the larger sizes [of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee]”, said Francine Korschner, 54, as she drank a large iced coffee outside the Dunkin’ Donuts on 97th Street and Broadway. Adding that she visits that specific Dunkin’ Donuts every day, Korschner commented that whenever she’s visited a Starbucks, their infamous system of having names such as tall, grande, and venti for the sizes of their drinks have left her in some sort of confusion.

Dunkin’ Donuts themselves feels that same way. In their effort to become a main competitor of Starbucks, they’ve run ads criticizing Starbucks’ proprietary coffee lingo (the song in one ad wonders if it’s French, or Italian, or “perhaps Fratalian.”) Some Dunkin’ Donuts stores even sell t-shirts which proudly proclaim that “Friends Don’t Let Friends Drink Starbucks”.

If that t-shirt speaks any sort of truth, then the friends of Jeanette Ayala clearly haven’t been doing their job.

“I love the atmosphere”, said Ayala, 24, as she sat inside the Starbucks on 81st and Columbus Avenue, sipping on a grande vanilla latte. “It’s a real coffeehouse, you can sit, relax for as long as you want, they have wifi here. A lot of Dunkin’ Donuts places are very ‘hole-in-the-wall’-ish.”

To some Upper West Siders, however, it’s all about what you happen to be in the mood for.

“Dunkin’ Donuts has better coffee, but Starbucks has better espresso,” said Shawn Callahan, 26, who, although drinking a coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts, said that he splits his business 50/50 between the two coffee giants. “I actually meant to go to Starbucks, but I passed it and decided to go to Dunkin’ Donuts instead. I have no real strong preference.”