Dunkin’ Brands will test-drive abbreviated “Dunkin’” signage beginning with a California test location, the company told NRN on Wednesday. 
 
 An upcoming Pasadena, California location is the first to bear the Dunkin’ only branding, but will be the first of multiple locations included in the trial. 
 
 “While we remain the number one retailer of donuts in the country, as part of our efforts to reinforce that Dunkin’ Donuts is a beverage-led brand and coffee leader, we will be testing signage in a few locations that refer to the brand simply as “Dunkin’,” according to a company statement. 
 
 The company does not consider this a departure from current branding. 
 
 “We have been referring to ourselves simply as Dunkin’ in our advertising for more than a decade, ever since we introduced our ‘America Runs on Dunkin’ campaign,” said the spokesperson. 
 
 The trial run on the rebranded name may become part of a larger redesign that is set to roll out during mid-late 2018, and Dunkin’ Brands plans to determine “Dunkin’s” permanence at that time. 
 
 The move reinforces comments made by chairman and CEO Nigel Travis during the company’s second quarter earnings call last week. 
 
 Travis discussed the company’s initiative to streamline menus and design a new store layout so as to boost efficiency and increase its reputation as a “beverage-led, on-the-go brand.” 
 
 The Canton, Massachusetts based Dunkin’ Brands has more than 12,300 Dunkin’ Donuts locations worldwide. 
 
 Contact Dan Orlando at [email protected] 
 
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– Dunkin' Donuts is thinking about dumping "Donuts" from its name. A new location of the chain in Pasadena, Calif., will be simply called Dunkin', a move that parent company Dunkin' Brands Group Inc. calls a test, the AP reports. The Massachusetts-based company said Thursday that a few other stores will get the one-name treatment, too. The chain wants people to think of its stores as a destination for coffee, although it will still sell doughnuts. Not that the name change will come as a huge shock to most who've been following the brand. "We have been referring to ourselves simply as Dunkin' in our advertising for more than a decade, ever since we introduced our 'America Runs on Dunkin'' campaign," a spokesperson tells Nation's Restaurant News, which first reported on the possible name change. Dunkin' Donuts said it won't make a decision on whether it will permanently change its name until late next year, when it expects to start redesigning stores. (Also out at Dunkin': artificial colors.)