If you’re waiting for your 3 p.m. dose of espresso at the new Dunkin’ Donuts in south Sarasota, you might think you’re in the wrong place.

Sure, the menu board that floats seductively overhead lists coffee and doughnuts. But “Flatbread Sandwiches” and “Grab-N-Go Pizza?”

This is the experimental prototype Dunkin’ Donuts of tomorrow.

Sarasota franchisee Marvin Kaplan, with 17 stores and a growing population, won the right from the mothership — Dunkin’ Brands of Canton, Mass. — to build this prototype store on Stickney Point Road, where the hot pink “D”-shaped-door handles officially opened to the public at 5 a.m. on Friday.

The design — both architectural and culinary — is the result of years of research. It is the fourth prototype that the parent company has helped a franchisee to build during the past two years, and the first in Florida.

Each has been refined based on the experiences of the ones before.

The company’s goal is simple.

While Wendy’s and Burger King are breaking out the breakfast, this venerable New England-based chain wants to give you a menu that will incite you to visit later in the day, when another doughnut might not be the ticket.

Read the full article: Not your daddy’s Dunkin’ Donuts – Sarasota Herald-Tribune