A hot cup of Giuseppe

Espresso to go is latest salvo from Dunkin' Donuts
By James Collins, Boston Globe Correspondent

QUINCY -- To make a large cappuccino at a Dunkin' Donuts shop here, Camila Macieira needs just 47 seconds and five simple clicks on a touch-button screen.

By the standards of the coffee industry, that's a mighty quick dose of caffeine. At rival Starbucks Corp., highly trained "baristas" might take twice that time -- and a bit more artistry -- to produce an Espresso Macchiato ("espresso gently marked with foam") or another of its signature espresso-based beverages.

As Dunkin' Donuts expands its product line to include espresso beverages, long the province of Starbucks and other high-end outlets that emphasize ambience and attitude, the Randolph doughnut and coffee chain is banking on speed, efficiency, and lower prices.

Dunkin' Donuts's new process is "lots of preprogrammed button-pushing, and not a whole lot of eyeballing," said Brian Dudley, the Dunkin' Donuts executive in charge of product development. "We can't afford that kind of subjectivity."

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