PITTSBURGH (AP) – Dunkin’ Donuts is planning to roll into the Pittsburgh region on a historic scale.

The Canton, Mass.-based chain, owned by Dunkin’ Brands Inc., announced Thursday it was planning to open 105 new restaurants in the city and throughout Allegheny County in the next several years. There are currently 10 Dunkin’ Donuts locations in the area.

The company said the expansion, through an agreement with Heartland Coffee Co. of Pittsburgh, was the largest store development deal in its 57-year history. The expansion is part of a strategy to grow operations in existing markets and enter new ones across the country. The chain hopes to triple the number of Dunkin’ Donuts stores in the U.S. by 2020, to 15,000.

“We are making great strides in meeting our aggressive national expansion goals,” Robert Rodriguez, Dunkin’s brand president, said in a statement.

Dunkin’ said earlier this month that its packaged coffee will be sold by the likes of Wal-Mart, Kroger and CVS starting this month in a bid to get customers to brew the brand at home rather than just pick it up at Dunkin’ outlets.

The retail distribution deal with Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble Co. is also an effort to introduce the New England-bred brand to new customers in the West and South, also areas where Dunkin’ is expanding.

It’s not the first time packaged Dunkin’ coffee has been sold in retail stores. The chain first opened Dunkin’ outlets within grocery stores in 2002 and now has about 200 such locations, mostly in its Northeast stronghold.

Dunkin’ came under new ownership by a consortium of private equity firms last year and has been expanding as part of a strategy to challenge its more upscale rival, Starbucks Corp.

Dunkin’ currently has 5,400 U.S. stores and 1,800 overseas locations.