Dunkin' Vs. Starbucks: Which Chain Won National Coffee Day?

The National Coffee Day celebration took place on Tuesday, Sept. 29, and the data suggests there's a winner between two of the biggest rivals in the space. 

Dunkin's 'Good Day': Coffee and donut chain Dunkin Brands Group Inc DNKN saw its foot traffic increase 10% year-over-year for the equivalent Tuesday on the basis of compelling promotions, according to data firm Placer.ai.

Dunkin' was up against a difficult year-over-year comparison, as last year's National Coffee Day event occurred on a Sunday.

As such, visits on the actual holiday were down 10% year-over-year.

Nevertheless, Dunkin' had a "good day," and the momentum carried over for the full week: visits improved from down 21.1% and down 18.8% in the prior two weeks to down by 13.9%, Placer.ai said. 

Related Link: Piper Sandler Upgrades Dunkin' Brands: 4 Reasons Why

Starbucks 'Good Enough': In contrast, Starbucks Corporation SBUX failed to show a similar jump in visits.

Data from Placer.ai shows that visits were down 23% on the equivalent Tuesday and down 37.9% year-over-year on National Coffee Day.

These numbers were "good enough" to show improvements from prior weeks, the data firm said.

Specifically, Starbucks saw visits for the week of Sept. 28 that were down 19.8% versus an average decline of 26.5% over the prior three weeks.

Photo courtesy of Dunkin' Brands.