Whether you want to learn more about coffee or you just love donuts, Dunkin Donuts can be a great place to work. Considering this shop tied with Starbucks as the coffee shop of the year in 2021, we’d say it’s a pretty good place to get experience in the coffee industry, too!
So, if you’re applying at Dunkin Donuts, you’ve got to be prepared for interview questions. In general, interview questions relate to food handling, cash management, and customer service.
If you need a bit more detail about interview questions at Dunkin Donuts, however, this guide can help. Here’s what to know about interview questions at Dunkin Donuts and how to answer them.
Pro Tips for Acing a Dunkin Donuts Interview
When it comes to interviewing at Dunkin Donuts, there are a couple of tips to keep in mind to improve your chances of landing the job.
For one thing, it’s always best to arrive early. Try to get to the shop around 10 minutes before your interview time. Not only does this make a good impression, but it ensures that you’ve got a buffer period for traffic or any delays.
Secondly, make sure to turn off your phone. You don’t want your phone to interrupt your interview. This can not only be a disturbance, but it can also be a reason for hiring managers to look at other candidates.
Lastly, focus on your body language. During the interview, try to make eye contact with the interviewer and maintain an even, steady tone. Don’t talk too fast, as it can make you sound nervous, but don’t talk too slowly either, as it can sound as if you’re bored.
What to Wear to a Dunkin Donuts Interview
Dunkin Donuts is a pretty casual place, which can make figuring out what to wear tough. After all, you don’t want to show up in ripped jeans. But, on the other hand, wearing a full suit is too formal.
When it comes to interviews at Dunkin Donuts, wear a clean pair of khakis or jeans. Make sure any tattoos you have are covered, and remove any jewelry or piercings. If you’ve got long hair, keep it tied back and out of your face.
Although these are just small steps to help you look more presentable, they adhere to Dunkin Donut’s dress code, showing that you’d be a good fit for this type of environment.
The Top 20 Interview Questions at Dunkin Donuts
Now that you know what to wear and how to prepare for your interview at Dunkin, it’s time to talk about the interview questions. Here are twenty of the top interview questions at Dunkin Donuts to know about.
1. Tell Me About Yourself
The first question at a Dunkin Donuts interview is typically asking you to talk a little bit about your background. For this question, you’ll want to focus on your education and past experience. If you have any previous experience working with coffee, retail, or customer service, this would be a great place to mention it.
Just remember that your answer to this question doesn’t need to be long. Try to keep it to about two minutes to avoid getting lost in the weeds. If the interviewer has additional questions about anything you say, they’ll stop and ask or you can cover it later in the interview.
2. What Do You Know About the Company?
Many hiring managers will ask you what you know about their organization. The idea here is to get a feel for how interested you are in the position and to see how much research you’ve done into the business you’re applying for.
You can snag a couple of key details about Dunkin Donuts of the company’s about page. Or, you can bust out some of the below facts to impress the hiring manager:
- The franchise was founded in 1950
- There are more than 11,000 restaurants around the world, located in 36 countries
- Dunkin Donuts belongs to the Brands restaurant family
- The company is headquartered in Quincy, Massachussetts
3. Why Do You Want to Work Here?
This question is to give hiring managers a feel for what you’re good at and how well you’d fit into the team. You want to show passion in your answer and give specifics about what would make you a great fit for the role. You can also mention facts like how you’ve been coming to this location for a certain number of years.
4. Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years?
When an interviewer asks this question, they’re looking to see if you’re planning a short-term stint or if you’re in this for the long haul. They also want to see how well your career goals align with the team. For this question, be honest, but try to tie your answer back to Dunkin Donuts, such as being a store manager or opening your own franchise.
5. What’s Your Availability Like?
Dunkin Donuts and other cafés are busy places with high turnover. As a result, many hiring managers want to know what kind of availability you have and if you’d be able to cover for other team members from time to time. In general, for these types of jobs, the more open your availability is, the more likely you are to get the position.
6. What Is Your Work Ethic Like?
With this question, hiring managers want to make sure that you’re responsible and will show up on time. Make sure to emphasize that you always arrive on time and complete the tasks assigned to you within a reasonable timeframe. You can give more specifics about your workstyle as well, if you like.
7. How Do You Handle Stress?
Dunkin Donuts can be a pretty stressful place to work, especially during the rush hours. As a result, most hiring managers will want to hear how well you handle stress and whether you’ll be up to the job.
For this question, try to give an answer that shows you’re able to handle the busy periods in the shop. You can talk about how you slow down or take deep breaths, or any other methods you use to avoid stress.
8. Where Did You Hear About This Position?
Hiring managers will sometimes ask this question to get a feel for which job boards are working and which aren’t. All you need to do for this question is let them know where you found the position.
9. Do You Have Any Experience Working With Coffee?
Although most people think of donuts when they think of Dunkin, this is also a big coffee chain. As a result, if you’ve got any prior experience with coffee, this can be a big perk towards helping you land the job. Let the hiring manager know if you’ve got any past experience working with coffee and espresso beverages.
10. Describe Any Past Customer Service Experience?
Customer experience is key at retail positions such as Dunkin Donuts. If you’ve worked in any other customer service roles in the past, this is the place to talk about them. Highlight any successes you made in customer service and go over how long you have worked in customer service.
11. Are You Familiar With How to Work a Register?
Just about all people who work on the floor at Dunkin are expected to rotate between the register and other tasks around the store. That means you’ll need to know how to work the register to be successful at your job. The good news is that hiring managers are usually happy to train for this position if you don’t have any past experience.
12. Do You Have Any Food and Beverage Experience?
For most positions at Dunkin Donuts, managers will ask about any food and beverage experience. Here you can talk about any previous positions you’ve had where you worked with food and drinks. Or, you can bring up any food safety certifications or courses you’ve completed.
13. Do You Have Any Cash Handling Experience?
Like food experience, cash handling experience can be a major bonus when it comes to your chances of getting hired. For this question, make sure to let the hiring manager know if you have any past experience managing money or working a register. You can also include volunteer experience.
14. How Would You Handle an Upset Customer?
As much as we’d all like to only have happy customers, from time to time, you may find yourself dealing with someone who’s upset. For this question, talk about how you’d listen to the customer’s concerns and repeat them back to them to ensure you understood.
From there, you can talk about following store policy to provide them with a free item, refund, or redo of their meal. You can also mention looping in the manager for situations that escalate.
15. Are You a Team Player?
Working at Dunkin Donuts requires a lot of teamwork. Often, team members rotate positions, taking turns making food, working the register, and cleaning. For this question, feel free to give some examples of how you’ve been a team player in the past and how this can translate to Dunkin.
16. Do You Have a Criminal Record?
This might seem like a strange question, but Dunkin Donuts may ask you if you have a criminal record as part of the screening process. For this question, just be honest.
Dunkin Donuts does occasionally hire candidates with a background, depending on the circumstances. However, you wouldn’t want the manager to find out about it from someone else!
17. What Is Your Greatest Weakness?
Part of understanding how well you’d support the team means understanding what your weaknesses are. The key here is to choose a weakness that can actually be a strength.
For example, you can say that you’re overly cautious when dealing with money, so you always triple-check everything. Although being overly cautious can be a weakness because it can slow you down, it also means you avoid mistakes and lost cash for the business, turning it into a strength.
18. Why Do You Want to Work Here Instead of at Our Competitors’?
For this question, you’ll need to come up with something specific related to Dunkin Donuts. You can talk about how you like their coffee better or how your goals more closely align with their vision and mission statement. Just make sure that what you say is true and that it is specific to the company.
19. Talk About a Time You Failed and What You Learned
This is a situational question that’s best answered using the STAR interview method. Start by talking about a specific situation and what the issue was. From there, talk about what went wrong and what the outcome was. Finally, make sure to highlight a lesson or two that you’ve learned and explain how you’ve used those lessons to improve going forward.
20. What Would You Do If You Saw Someone Stealing?
This question tests your honesty and integrity. When answering this question, make sure to state that you would report the theft. If you’re dealing with a customer instead of an employee, you can mention calling the police, as handling theft on your own can sometimes escalate into a dangerous situation.
Land a Job at Dunkin Donuts
Dunkin Donuts can be a great place to work, especially if you’re interested in a job in the coffee industry. Most of the questions you’ll be asked will relate to food service and customer service. However, you may also need to answer questions about cash management.
With this guide to interview questions at Dunkin Donuts, however, you’re all set to land your next job at Dunkin Donuts. So, get out there and get ready to start brewing some great cups of coffee and cooking up some tasty donuts!