Dunkin’ Donuts Then And Now
We have a pretty large collection of restaurant-ware coffee cups at the Retroplanet.com offices. When looking it over one day I could not help but think about how much Dunkin’ Donuts has changed from the old days. Dunkin’s opened its first store in Quincy, MA in 1950. Probably 35 years ago or so, my friends and I would go to the Dunkin’s on Rt. 28 in Methuen, MA late at night after playing hockey.
Back then Dunkin’s was an actual coffee shop with a full menu, waitresses and real coffee cups like this one. The donuts were made right there in the back room and they were always coming out fresh. They also had a much larger variety. The service was good and the donuts were excellent.
These days there seems to be Dunkin’s everywhere, at least in New England. There are literally seven Dunkin’s within a mile and a half radius of the Retroplanet.com offices. At the end of 2007, there were 7,988 Dunkin’ Donuts stores worldwide with sales of $5.3 billion. That’s a lot of coffee and donuts. They certainly have come a long way from a single store 59 years ago. Some might argue that more and bigger is not necessarily better but still, Dunkin’ Donuts is a true testament to what can be accomplished in this great country of ours.
Blog-in with your Dunkin’ memories and let us know which were your favorite donuts that are now extinct. (Mine was the pistachio.)
I like Dunkin DoNuts and their coffee.. but… EVERYBODY knows the difference in a cake donut and a glazed (raised) donut.. except dunkin donuts.. I went in, asked for a glazed donut, got back to my car, looked and I had a cake donut with icing.. so, I went back in, told the guy I wanted a glazed donut, not a cake donut with icing.. He informed me that what he had sold me was a glazed donut!.. WRONG.. don’t know what school or part of the country he’s from, but… I did get my glazed raised donut eventually.. He informed me that the competitor down the street called theirs glazed donut, I informed him that EVERYBODY calls them glazed donuts, heck I was buying glazed donuts back in the early 60’s from Safeway (fresh and hot) for 19cents a dozen.. whoa, that brings back memories.. and they were big donuts, really big..