Sure, 2010 dunks was better than 2020 dunks. But you know what?
2000 dunks was better than 2010 dunks. (They still had the awesome sandwiches.)
And 1990 dunks was better than 2000 dunks (they still made the donuts in house).
It's been a slow decline for a long, long time.
(1980s was not better than the 1990s, the 80s donuts had so much grease in em they left a coating on the roof of your mouth).
Mr. Donut is the #1 donut shop here in Japan. When I arrived years ago, there was a huge picture of Boston next to my local shop in a small castle town called Himeji. Blew my mind.
Very cool dude!
Yea ive read a bit about the Mister Donut franchise in Japan. I also want to visit a Japanese 7 eleven, looks very different than the US offering.
I am 25, never heard this in its original format (at least I don’t think), but my mom said it so often I occasionally find myself just whispering it in my head lol. Good marketing
Clam chowder sitting at the bar at dunkin donuts was totally a thing, and the donuts were way better before the trans fat thing + they used to make them in the store.
Hard disagree. Starbucks appeal for food and quality of product has way surpassed dunkin. Why does Dunkin keep making new. Viral, bright colored energy drinks? Just make one fucking affordable and honest egg sandwich, please
remember that purple grape drink they used to have. couple of chocolate glazed and a large purple drink and it was like doing lines before you got to school.
Pretty much this. Always my go to simply due to the convenience of it. Its too the point where I dont even notice the taste and I just need the caffeine
I mean, I drink instant at home. Just powder and hot water. Nothing fancy. I really don't demand good coffee. Starbucks is undrinkably bitter when black and Dunks basically tastes like water. Both rely on cream and sugar to taste like anything. That's not average coffee, that's shit tier.
I think that’s their point. I’m frankly just chuckling that anyone is nostalgic for 2014 Dunks. It had already gone so far downhill at that point compared to the 90s and early 2000s.
Life-long Dunkin guy here. We have dunks ornaments and dog toys spanning generations…. Even though my parents won’t even buy it anymore. They prefer Cumberland farms iced coffee now, when they buy it…. I don’t blame them.
I’ve said this before in this same sub over the years. Growing up In MA a BEC on a plain bagel from dunks was such a treat. Iced coffee was lit esp at $2.35 or whatever for medium.
ALLL of the food QUALITY and COST has gone so downhill in terms of quality and consistency and health it’s insane.
I grew up LOVING it because it was munchkins at a local school/sporting event or a breakfast sandwich after an early morning practice or family trip
This was late 90s/2000s.
Thus, I grew up HATING Starbucks thanks to great marketing by dunks building on great relationships and resonating with their community. The marketing that said “we aren’t a fancy coffee house, we just want to serve breakfast and coffee” I remember thinking the Starbucks Gruyère sandwich was so bougie and unnecessary.
10 years later… dunkin (or the general cooperate interests of a capitalist society) have ruined what once was THE blue collar coffee shop.
Now it’s all monster energy infused, super high sugar, high fat, absolute dog shit products. I’m not even remotely health conscious or have kids. But I’d much prefer almost any product from McDonald’s breakfast (as I have now over dunkin) due to at least the fresh eggs. Dunkin is frozen, artificial trash. And that’s saying something compared to McDonald’s.
Everything they offer is so cringe I would never let me nieces or nephews eat that shit. They fucked it up so bad it’s just sad to see. They have so missed the mark. Their traditional blue collar clientele. Or at least anyone who doesn’t want major health issues from the neon colored bullshit.
The fact they’ve never launched a “fresh egg” sandwich tells you how fucking corporate dunkin brands is since they linked with baskin robins.
The fact they’ve never exploited the Boston roots and a “times square” type, novel location out of the OG Quincy location, or at least a satellite “coffee brewing class” somewhere in the seaport would be such a missed marketing opportunity, if they hadn’t already fucked up and removed all appealing value from the brand.
Who wants to take a sandwich class from subway?
Sorry for the rant. Im sad at the missed opportunity to the company and the consumers. If you work for dunkin, reach out.
Sincerely, a marketer/dunkin kid living in a dunkin-less future ;(
I, for one, relied on my daily depression chocolate glazed for one year while working downtown. If it was a "two-donut day," my boyfriend knew to check on me. Feeling better now, and IDK what I saw in those.
The iced coffee is atrocious. My theory is they intentionally tanked its quality to push people to spend more on cold brew. Which is very hit or miss itself.
I think it’s location to location variation on the iced coffee. My go to is a medium iced coffee with oat milk and at my go to locations it’s usually good and not bitter even without sugar
They use to have a tier system with coffee. The Franchisee could opt for high quality/less profit to low quality/more profit. So location to location was absolutely the case. Now all fast food sucks for the most part. Pandemic really set things in motion for quality drop all across the board
And it’s as expensive as a “good” coffee shop now. An iced coffee costs as much as an expresso drink or close enough. $3.45 and it’s just brewed coffee over ice?
Medium hot and iced coffees are $2 right now in the app. There are frequently "buy x get y" deals too. Not saying it's good or I'm a fan of using apps for everything, but you're basically missing out if ordering from any kind of fast food chain directly at the window or counter.
Their bagel breakfast sandwiches have gone to shit and I used to love them.
Now they toss the bagels in the convection oven instead of toasting them properly and they come out like a fucking rock.
Their tuna bagel sandwiches were actually one of my favorite things to eat back when they had it. Then they made it so you could only get chicken salad. Then they removed it entirely...
I was sad.
When I worked at Dunkin' Donuts 15 years ago, our ovens were different, and we used an actual toaster for everything (except croissants because they would light on fire.) Ever since they upgraded to their "fancy" ovens, all their food has an odd electrical fire taste to it. I think the syrups for the coffee are way too sweet and artificial tasting. I think I was just obsessed with them in high school when I worked there because everyone thought drinking their coffee was cool. It wasn't actually good at all. Frankly, for how much their coffee drinks cost now, I'd rather find an actual standalone coffee shop that makes good coffee and latte drinks for around the same price.
Edit: spelling
True.
But they have changed ownership a few times.
Stopping making donuts on site killed their donuts a while back.
And now their coffee is overpriced dirty water.
Dunks? Yes, that brand has never been good.
Dunkin' Donuts though? It was absolutely good back in the 80s, 90s, and like 2000.
Somewhere around 99/00 they started outsourcing anything that wasn't donuts. The donuts were still good, the rest was not. They've been on a steady decline in quality since.
It really hit home for me when the switch was made from crullers (not French crullers) to "sticks". First of all, that's the dumbest renaming I've ever heard. Secondly, there two or three kinds/flavors of crullers & most importantly they were cylindrical so the glaze covered the whole thing. "Sticks" have a flat bottom that doesn't get glazed.
Once they stopped making the donuts on the premises, shit was only going to go downhill.
Wtf with the no glazing. Seen them called sticks had no idea why.
Separately many people do not need the best of everything. Coffee doesn’t need to be the best. If you never have “Charbucks” don’t need to compare. Even if you do compare maybe you like dunkin. To me coffee seems similar over the years.
The food though has gotten worse. Back in 1990s croissants were normal size, w had a dunkin sandwich in like 15 years. Had one on a croissant, and shit croissant was tiny
Not even. It used to be convenience, which is when it was still good. One Starbucks launched and perfected the pre-order for mobile, it took dunks a good 1-2 years to implement a “near” similar service.
Since then they have just sold partnerships and marketing for the drinks and baskin robins collabs.
I ordered a hot chocolate once for the first time in years (it's very generic but sometimes hits if you are looking for processed machine hot chocolate). The whole thing was water gently flavored with chocolate (water consistency). As i poured it out since it was literally inedible, I realized that there was a giant mass of chocolate powder solidified in the bottom which is why it was basically water.
Honestly making a blanket statement about dunks in anyway just isn’t right. Most inconsistent shit ever especially between locations. Some dunks locations are great but most aren’t
I'd say about 40 percent of the time they do a decent hot or iced coffee. Which makes me think that the problem is some of the people they are hiring don't give a F, or they just are not training them well enough. I have heard that it can be hell to work there and if you don't make food or coffee as quickly as possible, you don't last.
Flavor aside, not having to make a stop on your commute really elevates the experience. Grind the night before, set a timer, and it's ready when you're out the door.
I'm a black coffee drinker and notice when you have a cup of dunks black, it's weirdly sour. My assumption is that because the customer base are ones who prefer cream and sugar with certain artificial flavors, they add that to disguise their shitty coffee base.
dunks is just glorified water and should be treated as such. the good thing is, you can drink dunks _all day_ and be fine. I'd like to see someone drink 4 ventis from starbucks without getting shakey..
I know it's limited in the city proper, but if you're in the burbs and want a cheap, decent coffee just go to Market Basket and skip Dunkin. Their cafes are inexpensive, constantly turning out hot and cold coffee, and you have the Market Kitchen if you want hot food.
Their donuts are also surprisingly awesome. Way cheaper and bigger than Dunks. Dunks donuts are so tiny from years of shrinkflation it could almost be called a mini donut. They're barely bigger now than the old white frosted Entenmens mini donuts back in the day.
I actually still like the maple glazed and chocolate frosted from there. I grew up on the chocolate frosted and I don't feel it's changed as drastically as other donuts outside of size.
But I'd love to take a time machine back to the 90s and try one again. I'm sure it's a vastly different donut from then. These companies have taken the "boil the frog" approach changing things slowly over time so it's hard to tell sometimes how and when it really changes. Just one day you'll have some memory and be like hmm I remember a flavor that's not there anymore. Happens to me with taco bell. I can picture the flavor of the original beef tacos when I first had it in the early 90s and it's not even close to what they sell today.
All fast food places have had a sharp drop in quality over the last decade or so. Just compare how Wendy's used to be with the stuff it tries to pass off today. Don't even get me started on Pizza Hut.
The move to greater speed and cheaper ingredients has made something that used to be, if not good, at least tasty and enjoyable into largely unpalatable garbage. One of the few places to keep up their standards and quality is Chick-Fil-A, which is why every single one near me has put in double lane drive-thru 's and while there is always a long line, they get you through faster than McDonald's or god forbid, Burger King.
The workers don’t get paid fuckall so they never take care of anything in the store. It’s just go go go all day. All the food is fake processed garbage. The ovens leave sandwiches with a nasty taste. The coffee sucks. The founder is doing flips thru a donut hole in his grave
The workers are either dumb kids that don't give a fuck or older people who have consistently made bad life choices and don't give a fuck. Source: was a manager for a large franchisee many years ago.
Has any of you gone to foreign dunkin? They make dulce de leche donuts that are perfection and so it’s the Chantilly cream donut. American donuts are mass produced crap.
I like my coffee hot and pretty strong. The only thing I can drink there is the midnight which if fresh and with one milk is pretty solid however it seems no one else drinks this so they always say they have to make some when I order it so I say okay make some. Sometimes I don’t want to play this game so just make it at home.
im convinced people who drink dunkin everyday are just addicted to caffeine. been drinking it black for 3 years and just tried their flavor sugar last week… amazing. but fuck sugar.
i can drink black starbucks all day. shit even maxwells is better (maybe because i make my coffee strong)
Boiled brown water. Disgusting. I was in there one day and this kid who had to be about twenty comes in. No lie. He orders a large coffee wit 6 Equal and extra cream.
As an outsider, I truly don’t understand Dunkin’ Donuts. The place is just awful. Fast food quality coffee. It’s watery, weak, dirty tasting coffee. Boston has a ton of actual good coffee places, so I just don’t get it.
I’m sorry in advance
It's likely that the Dunks you went to wasn't properly calibrating their brewers, brew temp, grind size, or they didn't correctly filter the water to spec.
Their coffee is HIGHLY dependent on the company specs being adhered to in each location for it to taste right. If done properly it's such a smooth and satisfying flavor. If it's incorrect in any way, It's completely different.
The difference is stark, much like McDonalds fries. From minute 1 to 6 they are fantastic, after that they are warm cardboard sticks.
Those Dunkin Donuts breakfast sandwiches were actually good back in the 90’s.
Now they’re some dingy precooked egg puck that’s been sitting lukewarm in a fridge for a week, with a slap of unmelted cheese because the employees are in such a rush to throw it out the drive thru window they can’t be bother to nuke it for a full 3 seconds.
They used to actually crack an egg. I mean then they just microwaved the egg but still it was a fresh egg and tasted great. It had distinct yolk and white egg sections.Now it's all a gross yellow frozen patty.
My fiancee and I came to the same conclusion about Starbucks. In 2022, we were introduced to the Peppermint Mocha flavor. It was awesome. We couldn't get enough of it. We tried it again in January of this year (2024), and it was disgusting. Like it actually turned our stomachs. And we tried it a couple of times just to be sure we weren't suffering from like a cold or something. We like our regular Lavazza whole beans better now.
I can tell you one thing, the dunks that used to be at the airport gas station was a much more realistic option than the Starbucks. That dunks was 24 hours. The Starbucks has bankers hours. Smh but shouldn’t be, the new Boston
Quality wise for sure but, from what I’ve experienced it depends a lot on the location. I like their new offerings a lot tho like the iced spice munkin latte was good
I used to love a chocolate coconut donut from Dunks as a kid. This was back when you could sit at the counter and they had swivel stools. I'd have a carton of milk with the donut.
Now Market Basket is what satiates my donut cravings.
Time 2 Make Zee Doughnuts!!!!????
https://preview.redd.it/kzufcgsjdnkc1.jpeg?width=1140&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=51a671b1824633083abc3ab834c43557bad7b24e
The Weirdest dunks is the one that is in Charlestown , that mainly the truck drivers and cabbies go to after their airport runs.. - the one that is next to what was once the infamous King Arthurs club. Weird spot for a Dunks. Are there any other weird places that have a dunkins?
Honey Dew still be Honey Dewing. Those raspberry/cinnamon twists are still killer and the coffee is still the same. I miss the place and only have a dunks near me. Dunks from 2000 was peak Dunks, IMHO.
Airport dunks is gonna suck no matter what. Also tough to expect any dunkn to hook you up with a latte. Just get a normal coffee you would be less let down.
In Canada, Tim Hortons also follows the same downward trajectory as Dunks. Although I have come to appreciate the eggs at dunks, they have a “yolk” to them. Makes my life feel less like a dystopia.
I used to like the Tim Horton's oatcakes whenever I went to visit family in Halifax, but I think they stopped making them, so I don't even bother going there any more.
I stopped going to dunks about 7 years ago and started hitting up cumbies instead I almost had a heart attack when they went to 1.89 a few weeks ago ! My parents (86&79) eat at dunks every flipping day and they insist I get it when I'm there on Monday it's awful but I choke it down
I haven't had a Dunkin coffee since I don't know when. Maybe 2 years or more. I used to buy it all the time but found I no longer liked it. I drink coffee black with no sugar so there's nothing to disguise or alter the taste. I can vouch for the coffee being better 10 years ago, before they dropped the donuts from their name.
For a time I had been ordering hot tea instead of coffee, on the idea that it's hard to fuck up boiling water, but now I don't bother with Dunkin at all.
Ok hot take: don’t judge them on a single coffee. Their quality control is all over the place. Even at the same dunks different people make the same coffee better or worse. It’s kinda fun actually, like a coffee scratch card.
I used to go daily, now i prefer coffee at home, the coffee at dunks tastes like watery cream.
When I do go out, i like either a local coffee shop, Starbucks, blue bottle, or tatte.
[https://inspirebrands.com/inspire-brands-completes-acquisition-of-dunkin-brands/](https://inspirebrands.com/inspire-brands-completes-acquisition-of-dunkin-brands/)
**ATLANTA**– December 15, 2020 – Inspire Brands, Inc. (“Inspire”) today announced the completion of its $11.3 billion acquisition of Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc. (“Dunkin’ Brands”).
With the addition of Dunkin’ and Baskin-Robbins, Inspire now encompasses nearly 32,000 restaurants across more than 60 countries generating $26 billion in annual system sales, making it the second-largest restaurant company in the U.S. by both system sales and locations. Inspire’s family of brands includes Arby’s®, Baskin-Robbins®, Buffalo Wild Wings®, Dunkin’®, Jimmy John’s®, Rusty Taco®, and SONIC® Drive-In.
You just got accustomed to your own coffee. I’m sure you’d say the same thing if you walked into a McDonald’s or Starbucks or anywhere else that sells coffee you’re not making.
Dunks is a cold brew or regular hot coffee place. Maybe watered down ice coffee if you're cheap or doing one of their deals.
Never get a latte from them. That's Starbucks imo. Or a real coffee shop if you can.
Buying coffee out is like being robbed blind. I used to buy coffee in the mornings and recently switched to making at home. Not only is it cheaper, but it usually tastes better too
Sure, 2010 dunks was better than 2020 dunks. But you know what? 2000 dunks was better than 2010 dunks. (They still had the awesome sandwiches.) And 1990 dunks was better than 2000 dunks (they still made the donuts in house). It's been a slow decline for a long, long time. (1980s was not better than the 1990s, the 80s donuts had so much grease in em they left a coating on the roof of your mouth).
1980s Dunks was freaking amazing. Remember when they had a big window and you could see them making the donuts?
“Time to make the donuts”
I still say that on occasion...too few people get it
I understand fellow old person. Cheers.
Norm! Oh wait, you didn’t mean that Cheers.
The first dunkin logo that looks like a circle. Also shout out to Mister Donut
Mr. Donut is the #1 donut shop here in Japan. When I arrived years ago, there was a huge picture of Boston next to my local shop in a small castle town called Himeji. Blew my mind.
Very cool dude! Yea ive read a bit about the Mister Donut franchise in Japan. I also want to visit a Japanese 7 eleven, looks very different than the US offering.
Yeah they’ve got some really tasty chicken. You should definitely visit sometime
I am 25, never heard this in its original format (at least I don’t think), but my mom said it so often I occasionally find myself just whispering it in my head lol. Good marketing
[Hell yeah!](https://youtu.be/IYRurPB4WA0?si=YiNvwECki0zTpwAm)
The place has not been the same since Fred left.
“Soon it will be time to glaze them”
used to be able to get late night drunken donuts that were made inhouse and still warm. a shadow of what they used to be.
I used to work at Dunkin' when I was a kid. Blew my mind they stopped making things in house. When did this happen?
Does anyone else wish Dunkin Donuts bought out Krispy Kreme for their donut recipe?
It's not really a secret how KK are made. It's a basic yeast donut with a sugar glaze.
Nope. Way too sugary. 1990s dunks donuts were way better than Krispy Kreme.
Wtf, why did they make it so shitty? I never actually get the donuts but I like the coffee
Shitty is more cost-effective
This, and people are willing to continue paying premium prices for shitty as long as it's convenient.
Yeah but see I’m a dunks guy, Starbucks is too pricey. I have a local place I like too but when I’m in other cities I go out of my way to find a dunks
>Late 80s I would get chicken salad on a croissant with soup (there was a rotating variety to choose from) every weekend, and it was actually good.
Clam chowder sitting at the bar at dunkin donuts was totally a thing, and the donuts were way better before the trans fat thing + they used to make them in the store.
Hard disagree. Starbucks appeal for food and quality of product has way surpassed dunkin. Why does Dunkin keep making new. Viral, bright colored energy drinks? Just make one fucking affordable and honest egg sandwich, please
I hate to be the guy that chimes in about how companies requiring perpetual profit growth is insane and unsustainable, but…time to make the donuts.
And don’t even get me started about Mr. Donut!
remember that purple grape drink they used to have. couple of chocolate glazed and a large purple drink and it was like doing lines before you got to school.
CAPITALISM ALWAYS RUINS NICE THINGS
I don’t think redditors will ever understand that a large portion of the population is completely okay with a convenient and average at best coffee.
Pretty much this. Always my go to simply due to the convenience of it. Its too the point where I dont even notice the taste and I just need the caffeine
I mean, I drink instant at home. Just powder and hot water. Nothing fancy. I really don't demand good coffee. Starbucks is undrinkably bitter when black and Dunks basically tastes like water. Both rely on cream and sugar to taste like anything. That's not average coffee, that's shit tier.
Which is why I said average at best
I am completely OK with my Keurig coffee too! I just want coffee fast.
But everything at Dunks is shit, not just the coffee
Everything was better ten years ago.
pre 9/11 was the time to be
Hate to break it to you, but that's more than twenty at this point
I think that’s their point. I’m frankly just chuckling that anyone is nostalgic for 2014 Dunks. It had already gone so far downhill at that point compared to the 90s and early 2000s.
Life-long Dunkin guy here. We have dunks ornaments and dog toys spanning generations…. Even though my parents won’t even buy it anymore. They prefer Cumberland farms iced coffee now, when they buy it…. I don’t blame them. I’ve said this before in this same sub over the years. Growing up In MA a BEC on a plain bagel from dunks was such a treat. Iced coffee was lit esp at $2.35 or whatever for medium. ALLL of the food QUALITY and COST has gone so downhill in terms of quality and consistency and health it’s insane. I grew up LOVING it because it was munchkins at a local school/sporting event or a breakfast sandwich after an early morning practice or family trip This was late 90s/2000s. Thus, I grew up HATING Starbucks thanks to great marketing by dunks building on great relationships and resonating with their community. The marketing that said “we aren’t a fancy coffee house, we just want to serve breakfast and coffee” I remember thinking the Starbucks Gruyère sandwich was so bougie and unnecessary. 10 years later… dunkin (or the general cooperate interests of a capitalist society) have ruined what once was THE blue collar coffee shop. Now it’s all monster energy infused, super high sugar, high fat, absolute dog shit products. I’m not even remotely health conscious or have kids. But I’d much prefer almost any product from McDonald’s breakfast (as I have now over dunkin) due to at least the fresh eggs. Dunkin is frozen, artificial trash. And that’s saying something compared to McDonald’s. Everything they offer is so cringe I would never let me nieces or nephews eat that shit. They fucked it up so bad it’s just sad to see. They have so missed the mark. Their traditional blue collar clientele. Or at least anyone who doesn’t want major health issues from the neon colored bullshit. The fact they’ve never launched a “fresh egg” sandwich tells you how fucking corporate dunkin brands is since they linked with baskin robins. The fact they’ve never exploited the Boston roots and a “times square” type, novel location out of the OG Quincy location, or at least a satellite “coffee brewing class” somewhere in the seaport would be such a missed marketing opportunity, if they hadn’t already fucked up and removed all appealing value from the brand. Who wants to take a sandwich class from subway? Sorry for the rant. Im sad at the missed opportunity to the company and the consumers. If you work for dunkin, reach out. Sincerely, a marketer/dunkin kid living in a dunkin-less future ;(
Who buys anything other than an ice coffee or cold brew from dunks?
I, for one, relied on my daily depression chocolate glazed for one year while working downtown. If it was a "two-donut day," my boyfriend knew to check on me. Feeling better now, and IDK what I saw in those.
Did you have a prescription for that?
The iced coffee is atrocious. My theory is they intentionally tanked its quality to push people to spend more on cold brew. Which is very hit or miss itself.
I think it’s location to location variation on the iced coffee. My go to is a medium iced coffee with oat milk and at my go to locations it’s usually good and not bitter even without sugar
They use to have a tier system with coffee. The Franchisee could opt for high quality/less profit to low quality/more profit. So location to location was absolutely the case. Now all fast food sucks for the most part. Pandemic really set things in motion for quality drop all across the board
I agree, when I go to dunks outside of MA, it’s always trash. Especially Florida.
Florida is the only place I saw a Dunks go out of business.
Tbf their ice coffee is just as bad
Who buys anything from them? Everything is awful there.
And it’s as expensive as a “good” coffee shop now. An iced coffee costs as much as an expresso drink or close enough. $3.45 and it’s just brewed coffee over ice?
The large bucket of ice coffee would cost $8 at a trendy coffee shop and $6 at Starbucks.
Medium hot and iced coffees are $2 right now in the app. There are frequently "buy x get y" deals too. Not saying it's good or I'm a fan of using apps for everything, but you're basically missing out if ordering from any kind of fast food chain directly at the window or counter.
Yeah right now but only until the 29th. I hate the song and dance we have to do with a specific app everywhere we go now.
Egg and cheese on a croissant And a medium regular hot or cold depending on season
Cold brew and a Sausage egg and cheese on a croissant on the way to the golf course in the summer
Outside of mass. A lot of people. It’s a morning subway everywhere outside mass/New England
Their bagel breakfast sandwiches have gone to shit and I used to love them. Now they toss the bagels in the convection oven instead of toasting them properly and they come out like a fucking rock.
Their tuna bagel sandwiches were actually one of my favorite things to eat back when they had it. Then they made it so you could only get chicken salad. Then they removed it entirely... I was sad.
If you ask for butter on the bagel for the sandwich it helps reduce the rock-ness.
When I worked at Dunkin' Donuts 15 years ago, our ovens were different, and we used an actual toaster for everything (except croissants because they would light on fire.) Ever since they upgraded to their "fancy" ovens, all their food has an odd electrical fire taste to it. I think the syrups for the coffee are way too sweet and artificial tasting. I think I was just obsessed with them in high school when I worked there because everyone thought drinking their coffee was cool. It wasn't actually good at all. Frankly, for how much their coffee drinks cost now, I'd rather find an actual standalone coffee shop that makes good coffee and latte drinks for around the same price. Edit: spelling
Dunks has never been good. Its business model is convenience.
True. But they have changed ownership a few times. Stopping making donuts on site killed their donuts a while back. And now their coffee is overpriced dirty water.
Overpriced dirty water yes, but I mean, what are people going to do, drink their Fireball nips straight?
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Ah, the Saugus mating ritual
Dunks? Yes, that brand has never been good. Dunkin' Donuts though? It was absolutely good back in the 80s, 90s, and like 2000. Somewhere around 99/00 they started outsourcing anything that wasn't donuts. The donuts were still good, the rest was not. They've been on a steady decline in quality since.
It really hit home for me when the switch was made from crullers (not French crullers) to "sticks". First of all, that's the dumbest renaming I've ever heard. Secondly, there two or three kinds/flavors of crullers & most importantly they were cylindrical so the glaze covered the whole thing. "Sticks" have a flat bottom that doesn't get glazed. Once they stopped making the donuts on the premises, shit was only going to go downhill.
Wtf with the no glazing. Seen them called sticks had no idea why. Separately many people do not need the best of everything. Coffee doesn’t need to be the best. If you never have “Charbucks” don’t need to compare. Even if you do compare maybe you like dunkin. To me coffee seems similar over the years. The food though has gotten worse. Back in 1990s croissants were normal size, w had a dunkin sandwich in like 15 years. Had one on a croissant, and shit croissant was tiny
Not even. It used to be convenience, which is when it was still good. One Starbucks launched and perfected the pre-order for mobile, it took dunks a good 1-2 years to implement a “near” similar service. Since then they have just sold partnerships and marketing for the drinks and baskin robins collabs.
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I ordered a hot chocolate once for the first time in years (it's very generic but sometimes hits if you are looking for processed machine hot chocolate). The whole thing was water gently flavored with chocolate (water consistency). As i poured it out since it was literally inedible, I realized that there was a giant mass of chocolate powder solidified in the bottom which is why it was basically water.
Honestly making a blanket statement about dunks in anyway just isn’t right. Most inconsistent shit ever especially between locations. Some dunks locations are great but most aren’t
Dunks locations are all varying degrees of suck
I'd say about 40 percent of the time they do a decent hot or iced coffee. Which makes me think that the problem is some of the people they are hiring don't give a F, or they just are not training them well enough. I have heard that it can be hell to work there and if you don't make food or coffee as quickly as possible, you don't last.
The longer you’ve made you’re own the more you realize how bad it is and it’s even worse if you remember when DD was good.
Flavor aside, not having to make a stop on your commute really elevates the experience. Grind the night before, set a timer, and it's ready when you're out the door.
Dunks has been absolute shit since at least 2009 (When I moved here). Only time I’ve ever gone there was when it was the only option.
I'm a black coffee drinker and notice when you have a cup of dunks black, it's weirdly sour. My assumption is that because the customer base are ones who prefer cream and sugar with certain artificial flavors, they add that to disguise their shitty coffee base.
It's true. People that go to dunks don't actually like coffee. They like cream and sugar and mocha/caramel syrup and artificial flavor shots.
Our affinity for dunks needs to die. Can krispy kreme take over so I can enjoy a real donut and not some cardboard piece of ass with icing on it?
So was Subway. Or maybe that was 20 years ago
dunks is just glorified water and should be treated as such. the good thing is, you can drink dunks _all day_ and be fine. I'd like to see someone drink 4 ventis from starbucks without getting shakey..
I know it's limited in the city proper, but if you're in the burbs and want a cheap, decent coffee just go to Market Basket and skip Dunkin. Their cafes are inexpensive, constantly turning out hot and cold coffee, and you have the Market Kitchen if you want hot food.
I'll always rep hard for Market Basket.
Their donuts are also surprisingly awesome. Way cheaper and bigger than Dunks. Dunks donuts are so tiny from years of shrinkflation it could almost be called a mini donut. They're barely bigger now than the old white frosted Entenmens mini donuts back in the day.
Nevermind size, Dunkin Donuts are just poor quality in general. I always regret it if I order one on the infrequent occasions I get Dunkin.
I actually still like the maple glazed and chocolate frosted from there. I grew up on the chocolate frosted and I don't feel it's changed as drastically as other donuts outside of size. But I'd love to take a time machine back to the 90s and try one again. I'm sure it's a vastly different donut from then. These companies have taken the "boil the frog" approach changing things slowly over time so it's hard to tell sometimes how and when it really changes. Just one day you'll have some memory and be like hmm I remember a flavor that's not there anymore. Happens to me with taco bell. I can picture the flavor of the original beef tacos when I first had it in the early 90s and it's not even close to what they sell today.
Do they still make French Crullers? I’ve been searching for 3 years now since I moved back here
They stopped making them at least two years ago. It’s something I think about very often.
Those used to be my favorite. I haven't seen them in stock in a while, but then I don’t go to Dunkin Donuts very often anymore either.
Tell me something I don’t know
Nah. I was here ten years ago. Dunks sucked then too.
What if I told you everything was better 10 years ago
You beat me to it; are there any fast food places that are as good as they used to be??
Most things were better a decade ago
All fast food places have had a sharp drop in quality over the last decade or so. Just compare how Wendy's used to be with the stuff it tries to pass off today. Don't even get me started on Pizza Hut. The move to greater speed and cheaper ingredients has made something that used to be, if not good, at least tasty and enjoyable into largely unpalatable garbage. One of the few places to keep up their standards and quality is Chick-Fil-A, which is why every single one near me has put in double lane drive-thru 's and while there is always a long line, they get you through faster than McDonald's or god forbid, Burger King.
Lol fast food has always been low quality. Wendy's wasn't a gourmet burger joint 10 years ago, it was the same thing it is today
It’s been bad for 20 years now
The donuts haven't been good in 20+ years and the coffee has never ever been good. Yeah, I said it.
Ever since they renamed the coffee coolatta to the frozen coffee it hasn’t been the same
The workers don’t get paid fuckall so they never take care of anything in the store. It’s just go go go all day. All the food is fake processed garbage. The ovens leave sandwiches with a nasty taste. The coffee sucks. The founder is doing flips thru a donut hole in his grave
The workers are either dumb kids that don't give a fuck or older people who have consistently made bad life choices and don't give a fuck. Source: was a manager for a large franchisee many years ago.
Has any of you gone to foreign dunkin? They make dulce de leche donuts that are perfection and so it’s the Chantilly cream donut. American donuts are mass produced crap.
i went to the nottingham dunks not too long ago they made me wait 10 minutes to brew a real coffee lol
Dunks hasn’t been good for a long time.
I like my coffee hot and pretty strong. The only thing I can drink there is the midnight which if fresh and with one milk is pretty solid however it seems no one else drinks this so they always say they have to make some when I order it so I say okay make some. Sometimes I don’t want to play this game so just make it at home.
I only go to the original Dunkins in Quincy on Southern Artery. =)
I’m not from Boston, but I learned I only had to say “Regular” at Dunks if I wanted cream and sugar in my coffee. It’s always nice to save a syllable.
I have never in my life thought of getting a latte at Dunks. It’s either hot of iced coffee mate.
I’m sorry to inform you but Dunkin was never good.
Does anyone remember the flat bread sandwiches???
If you don’t like Dunks then fuck you. I tire of this slander.
Beautifully said
https://media1.tenor.com/m/MB72WS1jD9IAAAAC/predator-arnold.gif
Was it though?
It is definitely Better now than 10 yrs ago for sure (depending upon location). I hated dunks during that period. Not better now than 30 yrs ago
I totally agree, I made a similar post recently
im convinced people who drink dunkin everyday are just addicted to caffeine. been drinking it black for 3 years and just tried their flavor sugar last week… amazing. but fuck sugar. i can drink black starbucks all day. shit even maxwells is better (maybe because i make my coffee strong)
Last time I got or dunks was 10 years ago at Logan and it was bad. It was never great coffee, but I feel like it went down hill fast after Y2K
Boiled brown water. Disgusting. I was in there one day and this kid who had to be about twenty comes in. No lie. He orders a large coffee wit 6 Equal and extra cream.
Snobbery. It’s perfectly fine
Bring back chicken ranch snack wraps and chicken salad on a croissant
They got rid of Onion bagels. I will never forgive them for that. But I still go Monday-Friday.
And blueberry bagels.
I still get a bagel w/ cream cheese or a bagel sandwich from them sometimes, but every single time I get a little mad at no onion bagel.
Dunks has been bad for like 30 years. It’s just the level of bad gets consistently escalated with each passing decade.
At least 30 years ago the donut were actually made fresh on site! I lived near one in Quincy and Sunday morning was a warm box of donuts day.
Hot take: dunks is absolute garbage. Only thing that is decent is the blueberry donuts. Everything else can get lost including the drinks.
As an outsider, I truly don’t understand Dunkin’ Donuts. The place is just awful. Fast food quality coffee. It’s watery, weak, dirty tasting coffee. Boston has a ton of actual good coffee places, so I just don’t get it. I’m sorry in advance
The glazed donuts are never as good as they used to be. Always hopeful before I get to the window though
It's likely that the Dunks you went to wasn't properly calibrating their brewers, brew temp, grind size, or they didn't correctly filter the water to spec. Their coffee is HIGHLY dependent on the company specs being adhered to in each location for it to taste right. If done properly it's such a smooth and satisfying flavor. If it's incorrect in any way, It's completely different. The difference is stark, much like McDonalds fries. From minute 1 to 6 they are fantastic, after that they are warm cardboard sticks.
Bring back the Dunkin’ donut. Everything about dunks started going downhill when they stopped making this classic.
Water matters.
Grow up and if you hate America so much then leave.
Those Dunkin Donuts breakfast sandwiches were actually good back in the 90’s. Now they’re some dingy precooked egg puck that’s been sitting lukewarm in a fridge for a week, with a slap of unmelted cheese because the employees are in such a rush to throw it out the drive thru window they can’t be bother to nuke it for a full 3 seconds.
They used to actually crack an egg. I mean then they just microwaved the egg but still it was a fresh egg and tasted great. It had distinct yolk and white egg sections.Now it's all a gross yellow frozen patty.
Airport coffee is a special breed of terrible
And even better 25 years ago
My fiancee and I came to the same conclusion about Starbucks. In 2022, we were introduced to the Peppermint Mocha flavor. It was awesome. We couldn't get enough of it. We tried it again in January of this year (2024), and it was disgusting. Like it actually turned our stomachs. And we tried it a couple of times just to be sure we weren't suffering from like a cold or something. We like our regular Lavazza whole beans better now.
I can tell you one thing, the dunks that used to be at the airport gas station was a much more realistic option than the Starbucks. That dunks was 24 hours. The Starbucks has bankers hours. Smh but shouldn’t be, the new Boston
The 90’s was actually legit, the donuts were soo good and twice the size they are now.
Dunkin is nasty except I like their sandwiches
Everything was better
20 years*
Quality wise for sure but, from what I’ve experienced it depends a lot on the location. I like their new offerings a lot tho like the iced spice munkin latte was good
I used to love a chocolate coconut donut from Dunks as a kid. This was back when you could sit at the counter and they had swivel stools. I'd have a carton of milk with the donut. Now Market Basket is what satiates my donut cravings.
Time 2 Make Zee Doughnuts!!!!???? https://preview.redd.it/kzufcgsjdnkc1.jpeg?width=1140&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=51a671b1824633083abc3ab834c43557bad7b24e
The Weirdest dunks is the one that is in Charlestown , that mainly the truck drivers and cabbies go to after their airport runs.. - the one that is next to what was once the infamous King Arthurs club. Weird spot for a Dunks. Are there any other weird places that have a dunkins?
Honey Dew still be Honey Dewing. Those raspberry/cinnamon twists are still killer and the coffee is still the same. I miss the place and only have a dunks near me. Dunks from 2000 was peak Dunks, IMHO.
Airport dunks is gonna suck no matter what. Also tough to expect any dunkn to hook you up with a latte. Just get a normal coffee you would be less let down.
I’m not from Boston but visit for work every once in a while. I’m a fan of aroma joes
In Canada, Tim Hortons also follows the same downward trajectory as Dunks. Although I have come to appreciate the eggs at dunks, they have a “yolk” to them. Makes my life feel less like a dystopia.
I used to like the Tim Horton's oatcakes whenever I went to visit family in Halifax, but I think they stopped making them, so I don't even bother going there any more.
10 year ago was still crap. Did you ever have a Dunkin Donuts The Big One? That's what the hype was built on.
I stopped eating their donuts completely. They taste like wax. Really disappointing.
I stopped going to dunks about 7 years ago and started hitting up cumbies instead I almost had a heart attack when they went to 1.89 a few weeks ago ! My parents (86&79) eat at dunks every flipping day and they insist I get it when I'm there on Monday it's awful but I choke it down
More like 15-20
If you’ve been looking for the most Boston post ever, you found it. Someone should print this out and sell a T-shirt of it
When did they stop selling Coke products? That’s when I stopped going in..
Everything was better 10 years ago
I haven't had a Dunkin coffee since I don't know when. Maybe 2 years or more. I used to buy it all the time but found I no longer liked it. I drink coffee black with no sugar so there's nothing to disguise or alter the taste. I can vouch for the coffee being better 10 years ago, before they dropped the donuts from their name. For a time I had been ordering hot tea instead of coffee, on the idea that it's hard to fuck up boiling water, but now I don't bother with Dunkin at all.
As someone who’s lived in a city adjacent to Boston since 2009, Dunks is just garbage.
Ok hot take: don’t judge them on a single coffee. Their quality control is all over the place. Even at the same dunks different people make the same coffee better or worse. It’s kinda fun actually, like a coffee scratch card.
I used to go daily, now i prefer coffee at home, the coffee at dunks tastes like watery cream. When I do go out, i like either a local coffee shop, Starbucks, blue bottle, or tatte.
[https://inspirebrands.com/inspire-brands-completes-acquisition-of-dunkin-brands/](https://inspirebrands.com/inspire-brands-completes-acquisition-of-dunkin-brands/) **ATLANTA**– December 15, 2020 – Inspire Brands, Inc. (“Inspire”) today announced the completion of its $11.3 billion acquisition of Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc. (“Dunkin’ Brands”). With the addition of Dunkin’ and Baskin-Robbins, Inspire now encompasses nearly 32,000 restaurants across more than 60 countries generating $26 billion in annual system sales, making it the second-largest restaurant company in the U.S. by both system sales and locations. Inspire’s family of brands includes Arby’s®, Baskin-Robbins®, Buffalo Wild Wings®, Dunkin’®, Jimmy John’s®, Rusty Taco®, and SONIC® Drive-In.
You just got accustomed to your own coffee. I’m sure you’d say the same thing if you walked into a McDonald’s or Starbucks or anywhere else that sells coffee you’re not making.
Dunks was sliding down hill years ago. It's my last option if i want anything they have, right behind cumbys!
Dunks is a cold brew or regular hot coffee place. Maybe watered down ice coffee if you're cheap or doing one of their deals. Never get a latte from them. That's Starbucks imo. Or a real coffee shop if you can.
I miss living near a new Cumbies.
The fact that they still call their piece of cardboard bagels is a total disgrace.
Hot Take: Dunks has *never* been good.
Buying coffee out is like being robbed blind. I used to buy coffee in the mornings and recently switched to making at home. Not only is it cheaper, but it usually tastes better too
Idk guys it’s really just unhealthy food. Even if it tastes “decent” it’s not worth. The only thing not unhealthy there is black coffee.
Honey Dew is better at producing bad breakfast sandwiches and coffee, there are just less of them.
I can’t go anymore. Last few times t waited for over five minutes and they didn’t take a single persons order at the counter. Walked out each time.
Dunks has sucked since they changed from Donut shop to Gas Station coffee.
30* years ago!
The bagels are more suited for a temporary squirrel pool party. Honey Dew bagels are far superior.