CHICAGO -- Starting this month, 23 Togo's sandwich shops attached to Dunkin' Donuts in the Chicago area are switching to a new name, Dunkin' Deli, according to a report by the Daily Southtown.
Since early 2000, Dunkin' Brands Inc., formerly Allied Domecq Quick Service Restaurants, has been pairing up its doughnut shops with Baskin-Robbins ice cream and Togo's sandwiches, said the report.
The first to feature all three under one roof was in Burbank, Ill.. That Dunkin' franchisee, however, is among a dozen in the Chicago area that [image-nocss] are dropping sandwiches from their stores, the newspaper said.
Franchisees were given the choice of sticking with Togo's, changing to Dunkin' Deli, or getting out of the sandwich business altogether, Ed Frechette, director of multi-branding at Dunkin' Brands, told the paper.
Other Dunkin' Donuts franchisees in the area that are dropping the lunch menu have stores in Chicago Ridge, Oak Forest and Olympia Fields, Carrie Reckert, a spokesperson for Dunkin' Brands, told the Southtown. Several Two Togo's on Chicago's Southwest Side will covert to Dunkin' Deli.
"The Dunkin' name really has more equity than Togo's" in the Chicago market, Frechette said.
Dunkin' Brands acquired Togo's, a well-known sandwich chain based in California, in the late 1990s. In some markets, including California, the Togo's name will stay, said Frechette.
Under Dunkin' Deli, the menu lineup of sandwiches, soups and salads will stay the same. "We are trying to improve on what we already have," Frechette said. "We're going to be bringing in a higher-quality bread, for example."
Nationwide, Canton, Mass.-based Dunkin' Brands has more than 4,600 stores, but plans to have 15,000 open by 2025, according to the paper.
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