New Levittown Dunkin' puts focus on drive-thru customers

A drive-thru Dunkin’ without indoor seating has opened in Levittown amid the growing popularity of coffee shops focused on serving motorists.

The Dunkin', at 420 N. Wantagh Ave., near the border with Bethpage, opened on March 18 and will host a grand opening on Friday, said Diane Morales, one of the franchisee partners along with her brother, Warren DeLuca, her sister, Sue Jantzen, and Joe Matones.

The store, run by more than a dozen staff members, is the franchisee group’s 26th location on Long Island and its first drive-thru without indoor seating, Matones said. It replaced their nearby sit-down Dunkin’ at 597 Hicksville Rd. in Bethpage, Morales said.

The franchisee group, which leases the Wantagh Avenue space, said it opened a drive-thru because the 1,100-square-foot store lacked space for seating, though Matones noted that customers also can order from a walk-up window.

The first 100 customers who are members of Dunkin’s rewards program will receive a free medium refresher for 30 consecutive days at the Wantagh Avenue store, Matones said. Plus, a few customers at the grand opening will win tickets to upcoming Yankees and Ducks games.

Drive-thru-only Dunkin’ stores are rare on Long Island, Matones said. But if the store performs well, he said, the franchisee group would consider opening more.

"I think the big advantage to the drive-thru is the convenience, especially if you have weather, rain, snow," Matones said.

The Levittown store opens as drive-thru coffee shops are growing in popularity amid higher demand from consumers looking for affordable, quick meals, said Robert Byrne, the senior director of consumer research for Technomic, a Chicago-based restaurant industry research firm.

"Inflation is what it is," Byrne said. "Everything’s expensive. But even though [consumers] may not have enough money ... for dinner on Saturday night, or even two to three lunches a week, they have enough money for a beverage to treat themselves."

That "little treat culture," coupled with elevated gas prices pushing up inflation, make those drive-thrus more attractive to consumers looking for cheap food and drinks, Byrne added.

Dunkin’ has more than 200 stores on Long Island, according to the company. It’s expanded nationwide as it competes with coffee giant Starbucks, opening its 10,000th store last year, The Associated Press reported.

But outside Long Island, Dunkin’s competition has grown. Drive-thru-focused coffee chain 7 Brew saw 138% growth in systemwide sales in 2025, compared with the year before, while Dutch Bros. Coffee saw 22% sales growth during the same period, Byrne said.