Dunkin Donuts
Sunday, August 21st, 2011
I moved way out almost to Vail Arizona about 16 months ago leaving the city for peace and quiet. Thus far I like living here except there isn’t much out here. I keep thinking they will build a few more restaurants or some decent digs to grab a meal. Then one day a few months there was a building going up. I thought YES a new place for food. I was surprised when I saw the sign Dunkin Donuts go up and it got me thinking…I don’t do donuts; I don’t do junk food so how could Dunkin Donuts invade this peaceful land? Oh I forget that we live in the land of junk food and poor health. Still, even a salad shop or a decent sandwich joint would have been great. Instead, we get deep fried flour and sugar.
So what is the history of this donut making joint? For me when I think of Dunkin Donuts I think of the commercial with the logo of, “It’s Worth the Trip.” The TV commercial had Fred the Baker and in his sleepy tired state he would say, “Time to make the donuts.” How could we have forgotten that one since it ran for 15 years?
Dunkin Donuts has been around for some time. In 1946 in Massachusetts some fellow with a sweet tooth for business started a company that delivered not just meals, but coffee and donuts. This little delivery business was so popular that he thought he should turn it into a donut shop so he did and called it the Kettle Shop naming it after those big kettles with tons of grease in it. In 1950 he changed the name and the first Dunkin’ Donuts opened in Massachusetts.
My does time fly because now there is over 9,700 restaurants worldwide, which include more than 6,700 Dunkin’ Donuts locations throughout the United States and Dunkin’ Donuts’ global sales are over $6 billion.
I recall as a kid the day before Thanksgiving my mother would go to Dunkin Donuts and order 6-8 dozen Munchkins. My favorite was the glazed chocolate ones. We were so excited as kids because for Thanksgiving we had the chance to slather ourselves with sugary donut holes and tons of hot cocoa while watching the Macy’s parade.
It was after guzzling a dozen or so munchkins that we knew the holidays were here. I just wish I would have known as a kid that there was 300 calories in 5 glazed munchkin holes. If I ate 15 munchkins throughout the day that meant I consumed 900 calories before the turkey was even served.
As an adult I cannot imagine putting a donut in my mouth without the surge of guilt and pounds and, like any drug, I simply say no. However, as a kid, I cannot imagine growing up without Dunkin Donuts. It was the tasty place to get a sweet treat. My mother never knew when to say no, and she would always buy dozens for a family of five. I liked it best though when she got the Munchkins because you could sneak them and, unlike a donut, not get caught.
I am surprised more kids did not have ADHD with all the donuts that we ate. Then again we could eat tons of donuts and do this thing that kids in my day did and that was going outside to run, ride bikes and climb trees. We would work off that sugar in minutes so we could get more.
Today Dunkin’ claims to have over 1,000 “donut products.” Now that word spooks me a bit, what is a donut product? In my day we had about 20 flavors and we were more than happy with that and stood at the counter holding up the line wondering what flavor we wanted. There were no frills, just sugary dough, cocoa, coffee and soda; nothing fancy.
Today the land of the Munchkins is giving coffee stores like Starbucks a run for their money. This donut shop not only sells tons of fresh baked donuts, the sell 30 cups of coffee a second and at half the price of other yuppie styled coffee chains.
For me, growing up a buck could buy me a couple of donuts at Dunkin Donuts and a soft drink and I was a happy girl. Today I get an ice tea at the popular coffee joints and I am set back over two bucks. I am not sure I like the Dunkin Donuts right by me, it is a temptation, but it sure brings back memories to me as a young child.
