Dunkin’ Donuts, often abbreviated as DD and officially known as simply Dunkin’, is an an American multinational coffee and doughnut company, as well as a quick service restaurant.
It is the world’s leading baked goods and coffee chain, serving more than 3 million customers each and every day.
There are 50+ varieties of donuts, but you can also enjoy dozens of premium beverages, bagels, breakfast sandwiches and other baked goods.
The origins of Dunkin’ Donuts go back to World War II when Mr. William Rosenberg worked at the Quincy Shipyards and realized that the workers had few options available to them for lunch. Following the war, Rosenberg borrowed $1,000 and used $1,500 in bonds to start a company he called Industrial Luncheon Services and served sandwiches, coffee, donuts, and snacks out of old telephone company trucks that he had converted into what we now know as food trucks.
The brand was first started in 1946 when Rosenberg started his luncheon catering service in the Boston, Massachusetts area in the USA. The business grew rapidly, and Mr. Rosenberg noticed that coffee and donuts were very popular among his customers. As a result of this insight, in 1948 Rosenberg opened his first coffee and donut restaurant called “Open Kettle” in Quincy, Massachusetts.
He realized that people wanted great coffee to go with their donuts, and so he set out to find the “world’s best coffee” to serve with his donuts. The blend he found was great, and his guests loved the high quality blend he selected. It was so good in fact that it turns out the only thing that made his donuts even better was the taste of his coffee. So good was this magical flavor combination that customers began “Dunking” their donuts into their coffee. This ritual became so common that he was convinced to change the shop name to “Dunkin’ Donuts”.
The US multinational coffee and donut company Dunkin’ Donuts unveiled its first logo design in 1950 when the company was formed. It was a crimson wordmark written in a handwriting-like cursive script.
By 1963, the company had opened its 100th restaurant and grew to over 1,000 locations by 1979.
The chain went public in 1968 and was acquired by Baskin-Robbins owner Allied Lyons in 1990.
The modern-looking Dunkin’ Donuts logo of today was designed in 1976 and has been in use ever since, with minor color adjustments throughout the years.
In 1982, the company began its famous “Fred the Baker’’ commercials. Fred, played by Michael Vale, became one of television’s most enduring and endearing pitchmen.
Dunkin’ Donuts began its “America Runs on Dunkin’’ marketing campaign in 2006, the same year its parent company was acquired by a consortium of private equity firms: Bain Capital, The Carlyle Group, and Thomas H. Lee Partners.
Dunkin’ Donuts expanded in the 1990s by buying out two rival chains: Mister Donut and Dawn Donuts.
In 1997, Dunkindonuts.org was established by a customer for disgruntled consumers and employees to lodge complaints about the company. The site appeared ahead of the company’s own website in many search engines and received national media coverage before being purchased by Dunkin’ Donuts in 1999.
By 1998, the brand had grown to 2,500 locations worldwide with $2 billion in annual sales.
The company’s evolution continues in September 2018, at its Global Franchise convention in Canton, Massachusetts, the company announced that it was changing its brand, shortening its name to Dunkin’.
In Asia, Dunkin’ Donuts has franchises in Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, China and Vietnam. The first Dunkin’ Donuts shop was opened in Thailand at Siam Square on 19 October 1981.
At some point, the chain produced a donut specifically designed for dunking, with a handle. This was discontinued in 2003 (except in Singapore) because it was hand-cut and uneconomical compared to machine-cut donuts.
At Dunkin’ you could order a different drink each day for almost 70 years – there are 25,000 ways to order your coffee – with more than 12,500 restaurants worldwide in 46 countries, including more than 9,000 restaurants in the US, there is a range of fun facts you might not know about our iconic brand.
The company sells an average of 6.5 million donuts daily and over 2.9 billion mugs of coffee per year.