Attention, everyone! The Wild West has finally been tamed. Or it’s at least about to become more caffeinated/glazed, as the very first Dunkin’ Donuts ever to stand in Utah is opening today. This, before the East Coast favorite finally marches westward into California in 2015, slinging donuts and spray coffee as it goes.

Those who live near a Dunkin’ Donuts location, likely East of the Mississippi, might already know that it’s not ubiquitous as Starbucks, with its 10,000 locations compared to the Bux’s 18,900 worldwide. But for those craving the double Ds out West, it’s downright nonexistent, until recently.

The new location in Utah opens today in Salt Lake City, and fans of the stuff are already buzzing.

“Dunkin’ Donuts has awesome doughnuts, and their coffee is great,” a 22-year-old Salt Lake City college student told the Salt Lake City Tribune. She’s experienced it out East visiting family members in Massachusetts. “Although I can get their coffee in grocery stores, it’s not as good as the [fresh] coffee in the restaurants. And in the mornings, the doughnuts [come out] still warm.”

The Salt Lake City location is the first of 23 outlets planned in Utah over the next five years.

“What’s driving our expansion is the popularity of the brand in general and our long-standing reputation on the East Coast,” said  a field marketing manager at Dunkin’ Donuts. “The population is migrating West, so there’s a big demand for the brand.”

Consumerist reader Jack pointed out a bit of mystery in relation to this story. All the hullabaloo about Dunkin’ moving West is well chronicled, but he says this isn’t the first push out in those parts.

“I live in Portland and until a few years ago there were several Dunkin’ Donuts in this area, including one only a half mile from my home,” he writes, adding that he’s puzzled by the narrative that Dunkin’ is going West for the first time. “One by one they closed down and there was a story in the paper when the last one shuttered. So they did have a presence here at one time, pulled out and now it appears they may be coming back.”

Does anyone else have any insight into the mystery of the disappearing Oregon Dunkin’ Donuts phenomenon?

Mystique in tow, Dunkin’ Donuts ready to make splash in Utah [Salt Lake City Tribune]

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