CEDAR RAPIDS — A second Cedar Rapids Dunkin’ Donuts will open on the site of a former Pizza Hut on the city’s southwest side next year.

Eastern Iowa Food Service, which operates Dunkin’ Donuts stores at 2905 Blairs Ferry Rd NE in Cedar Rapids and 584 Seventh Ave. in Marion has purchased the property on Edgewood Road SW.

Andrea Farley, director of operations for Eastern Iowa Food Service, said the existing 2,470-square-foot building will be demolished to make way for construction of a 2,000-square-foot restaurant at 1640 Edgewood Rd. SW.

“It will probably be very similar in layout and floor plan to our Dunkin’ Donuts in Marion,” Farley said. “We hope that we will get open sometime in 2017. It’s really too early to pin it down to a season.”

Farley said the timing of the demolition will be determined by a contractor that has handled the two previous locations.

“We looked at daytime traffic, and access was a big thing for us,” she said. “We also felt that CVS (at 3419 16th Ave. SW) would be a good neighbor.”

Farley said the Dunkin’ Donuts will be open from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week. The store likely will employ 20 to 25 people and feature the same menu, she said.

Eastern Iowa Food Service also operates a Dunkin’ Donuts at 604 Second St. in Coralville. Massachusetts-based Dunkin’ Donuts has a development agreement with Eastern Iowa Food Service for 12 stores in the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City area between 2012 and 2018.

Eastern Iowa Food Service is a subsidiary of Reif Oil Co. of Burlington, a family-owned fuel distributing company with retail stores in southeast Iowa. Farley is the daughter of Clifford Reif, president and CEO of Reif Oil, who founded the company in 1978.

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