Coffee Wars: Dunkin vs. Starbucks

by Grace Weaver and Alex Palmer

In the morning many teenagers need a little coffee kick start. While most have a coffee maker in their homes, many students prefer Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks.  Lancer Media polled students about their preference.

Because of their cheaper prices and close proximity to school, 74% of Linganore High School students would choose Dunkin Donuts over Starbucks. A medium flavored iced coffee at Dunkin Donuts cost $2.53 including tax compared to $2.92 at Starbucks.

Sophomore, Erin Lafferty, says, “If I had the choice I would choose to go to Starbucks but Dunkin is more convenient to get to, less crowded, and is way cheaper.”

In the New Market/ Mount Airy area there are five Dunkins Donuts conveniently located for high schoolers to drive to before school starts. On the other hand there are only two Starbucks located in a driving area for teenagers to get before school and be on time.

For a teenage from age 14-18 the daily recommended amount of calories is anywhere between 1,800-2,200 calories depending on how much they exercise that day. When they decide to get one medium iced flavored coffee from Dunkin they are having 15.5% of your daily recommended calories on one drink. At Starbucks when they decide to get a medium Vanilla Bean Frappuccino they are having 22.2% of your daily calories. Having a drink from either of these locations means that their dinner should be about 1/5 smaller than it normally it is, if they are eating healthy. Just by having one drink they are cutting down what you can eat and they could’ve just had some water which has zero calories.

See the infographic results here.