Ashlyn Powell, Alligator Contributing Writer
West University Avenue welcomed its newest food chain, Dunkin' Donuts, the morning of Sept. 15, 2009, but due to the restaurant's late hours, UF students may soon be calling it Drunkin' Donuts.
"Our location will be open 24 hours on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays," said Kim Riddle, a Dunkin' Donuts employee. "Other days it will be open from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m."
This is the sixth Dunkin' Donuts location in the Gainesville area, and while business runs slow throughout the morning, it picks up as the day progresses, according to Dominique Compton, an employee.
"We do see a lot of inebriated people come when it gets dark," Compton said. "We get a lot of business overnight on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Ninety-eight percent of our customers are students."
Many restaurants near Dunkin' Donuts are packed late at night with bar customers, according to Melissa Eidam, who works at The Swamp Restaurant.
"We are definitely swamped, no pun intended, late at night," Eidam said. "The entire place is packed with hungry students on 35-cent wing night."
And other restaurants on West University Avenue experience the same late-night rush of students.
Andrew MacDonald, who works at Italian Gator Pizza, said the majority of the restaurant's customers come around 2 a.m. when the bars are closing.
Kasie Mullins, an employee from I Love N.Y., said many groups of 10 people swarm into the restaurant in a rush for pizza when the bars let out.
But while Mullins and Eidam don't foresee Dunkin' Donuts impacting their late-night clientele, MacDonald is somewhat on the fence.
"It depends how many people want to eat late-night egg sandwiches," he said. "It can't be good."
