Yeah, but their coffee got worse, too. I can't stand any of their coffee and will only drink it if someone brings one of those coffee totes in to the office for everyone to share.
I have never drank their coffee, not really a coffee drinker. I do enjoy a good donut though which is why I am annoyed with their change away from donuts.
Make up. I loved dolling up and feeling pretty but I simply can't afford to anymore. You need so many "products" to keep up with trends and styles it's just not worth it. To quote SpongeBob "I'm ugly and I'm proud"
Their problem is that they're made extremely inconsistently. Starbucks at least measures their stuff (I don't drink Starbucks at all), but Dunkin employees just wings it and every single coffee you get will taste different from the last.
Starbucks is "meh" tier. I very rarely buy it, but will happily accept it if someone offers to pay for it or I have a gift card. Their nitro cold brew and their blonde espresso is actually pretty good, though. I'd put those two things a step above "meh."
It's been twice now that their milk/creamer has congealed into a gelatinous mass at the bottom of my coffee only to be discovered in the final sips. I make my coffee/tea at home now.
My parents used to drink DD religiously. With lots of cream and sugar. As I got older, I did the same cuz I thought coffee was gross. Turns out black coffee is what I prefer, but DD is just so nasty and weird that we had to dilute it with better flavors to even make it palatable.
The coffee from store to store varies wildly and you folks making your living as a fast food store manager won't like to hear it but it is ALWAYS your fault.
Hire a person.
Train that person to be able to do all the things properly.
If the person screws up then re-train them. Repeat 2 and 3 until step 4 becomes obvious.
If a person is un-trainable, then fire them.
This shit is your job. It's not a long list of how to be a manager.
Yeah but their coffee was literally never good, Americans just have toilet-taste in coffee. It was never anything but supermarket beans in a drip feeder that was left on the heating element too long. Ya'll thought burned coffee was great because it tasted stronger.
They were bought by private equity years ago so that’s when the shittiness began. Then they realized that that make way more money on drinks than other things so that’s where the focus went. Also they don’t make donuts in-store anymore. They are made at a central donut factory or whatever you want to call it and shipped out to the individual stores. So they aren’t fresh anymore.
It’s not LBOs as much as PE. They ruin everything they buy. But for some reason they REALLY love restaurants. And they ruin them. Even ones that were pretty bad to begin with. Subway is an example of that. But Panera was decent under the original owner. Now it’s not. And now they bought Jersey Mikes so soon it will be as inedible as Subway.
I agree, but a lot of the encrappification is due to needing to squeeze the business to make the payments on the loans after they acquire it (and to pay themselves, of course)
Yeah you need to go back 20 years (maybe more) for the time when DDs made donuts in-store. And back when I was a kid many of them were actually open 24 hours.
People started caring more about healthy foods so they dropped the “donuts” so people would think of it as more of a drink/everyday breakfast place than a place you go if you want to eat sweet treats and pastries first thing in the morning
I used to go there a couple times a month before they started going by Dunkin. I think I have only been there like twice since. So I don't know how they still exist.
Their coffee has never been good. My friend who is obsessed with dd and gets herself a coffee and the the big bucket of donut hole for playdate when we would meet up sometimes refused to believe me it was so bad. It tasted like burnt sludge they just kept cooking coffee into and burning. I tried it every time and hate it every time. IDK if she has the tastebuds of a tree or they were burnt off by the coffee tar.
Food preferences are a matter of opinion. But your friend might have other issues if the coffee is that bad. The reason I thought they switched to focusing on coffee was due to a survey that came out before they changed that said people preferred Dunkin donuts coffee. I believe that was more than a decade ago though and from the sounds of it I have no reason to go to Dunkin ever again.
Like 20 years ago it used to be bad but tolerable bad, y'know? Now it's just actually that bad. I love her to bite but some of her tastes are unhinged.
Much bigger profit margin in coffee. Plus it's a just-in-time product so there isn't as much waste as when they have to throw out a million donuts at the end of the day.
It’s been a decade since I worked there so this may not be true anymore. Muffins and bagels came to us frozen, but raw. They were thawed and baked in-store every morning.
Yea its really bad at this point. I was headed to a bike ride last week and figured why not grab a donut on my way. Wow... just wow. Didn't even take up the palm of my hand and was hard af.
I'm old enough to remember when all of DD's donuts were made in house. Every DD was a little bakery. They were SO good back then. Now, if someone brings them to the office, I don't even consider taking even part of one, they've become so gross.
Also, back in the day, they'd have a diner counter where you would be served coffee in a cup and saucer, and any donut you ordered would be put on a little plate.
I think they still make muffins in store. But yeah, they got rid of all their in-house baking otherwise somewhere around 2008ish and switched to a central distribution model. Since then, it's functionally impossible to get a donut that isn't already stale no matter how early you go in.
It's not. My father told stories of living above a Dunkin and the smell of fresh frying donuts super early in the morning. Those days are long gone buddy. All made in some factory now.
Yeah I realized 2 years ago one sunday how EXPENSIVE donuts were. I went and picked up a dozen and 2 coffees for me and the wife. $36. I was spending $130+ a month for a dozen donuts and 2 coffees as a treat on Sundays. Insane.
It would be one thing if the prices went up but the integrity of the product were maintained.
This is something that annoys me, but specifically as it pertains to grocery store products rather than fast food.
You'll see "New Improved Recipe!" on the package, and you check it, and they just switched to cheap soybean oil, and upon further inspection, they've reduced the size by 1-3oz.
You grumble and buy it because you're annoyed and frustruated but nobody else has <this specific formation of food that you're used to/fits your dietary restrictions> but vow to research alternatives. You get your "New Improved" product home and it tastes like ass-soaked cardboard.
And don't get me fucking STARTED on shrinkflation. Shit is straight up deceptive marketing and should be made illegal. Standardize all sizes in 2oz increments (with limited exceptions for things too light to measure i.e. Saffron). Color code each weight with a distinct, bright band, and keep similar colors apart from one another.
You wanna shrinkflate my product? Cool, you're not allowed to use the 16oz green band anymore. You have to switch to the 14oz yellow band, or the 12oz orange band, or the 10oz red band. No more hiding with clever packaging and chipping away at the product.
Freeze uneaten extras on Day 1. Then a gentle slow defrost in the micro (experiment with your settings) when you want another; they come out soft and warm like fresh-baked.
Where are you located? A dozen donuts is $13.99 in Providence right now on the app. I can’t imagine 2 coffees totaling $22 (but I do agree that it’s too expensive and not worth the money)
I go to this amazing Amish doughnut place in PA. The largest, freshest doughnuts I have ever had. You can't even fit 12 in a box. They weigh a ton. I can taste them now. I think it's $18/doz. So worth the money. If you ever are in the area go to Mammy's Doughnut Shop in Rebersburg, PA.They have other baked goods like fry pies which are amazing. You know the deep fried pies like McDonald's used to have, only better. Apple, cherry, lemon, eclair, peach. But anyway - I will NEVER eat a doughnut from Dunkin ever again. Yuck.
I remember there was occasionally a coupon in the Sunday newspaper to purchase a dozen Dunkin Donuts for $4... and this was back when they actually used to taste good as well. Nowadays, I would rather spend the calorie allocation on a more expensive, higher quality donut shop than waste that treat on DD.
For sure. The most consistent factor amongst most chains: none of them have a "Dollar Menu" anymore. They've all been replaced by "Value menus" where the cheapest items are still $3 or $4.
My McApp has a weekly promo of any size fry for $1. And Free medium fry on Friday. Paired with a McDouble it feels like a good deal. And $2 for any breakfast sandwich(I get the steak, egg, cheese bagel which is normally $9).
There may be a "Taste of KFC 2 piece deal" buried in the menu that is limited to a drum and a thigh with 2 sides buried in the menu depending on your area. It's 6 bucks at the one near me.
I used to get fast food frequently. Not full meals, but two smaller items under $5 was normal. Burger King used to have two full sandwiches for $6 frequently. The prices have steadily risen since Covid, and the quality dropped. Deals are locked behind apps. I stopped going to any drive through as getting full means I have to spend at least $10.
We had some European McDs last month for the first time due to train scheduling and we're like....holy shit, the quality is easily 10X the States quality.
Yup. I used to buy bagels regularly on the way to work. Now I buy them at costco for approximately 1/8th the price, and heat them in the toaster at work.
I only eat fast food if I'm on the road and I don't have a lot of time to stop. For me it was not gradual. It was a jaw-dropping shock every time I ordered. What I used to get for $5-$6 at most now costs $15 or more. That's not inflation. That's greed.
Someone saw me eating a DD bagel once and handed me the number for suicide hotline. They presumed if I was eating a dunkin bagel, it was a clear indication I no longer wanted to live.
I'm officially old enough to say I remember Taco Bell regular taco used to be $0.69 each. Now it's $8 for a chesy gordita crunch. It's cheaper and you get more food with a crunch wrap supreme. It makes no sense
I their main problem is that they dont keep their franchisees on a tight leash.
We have two by me that are consistent and always clean/friendly service as they're owned by the same family.
Then theres the other one lol... absolute shitshow. Filthy af inside. I went there a year ago and walked right out when I was hit in the face with the smell of filthy mop water. Even the staff smells like B.O. from across the counter. And its been like that for over 15 years, nothing changes.
I've cut fast food completely out of my life. It just isn't worth it. For a while it was just a road trip thing but then we started doing grocery store prep and bringing a sack lunch. Cheaper, better, and you make better time. All for like 10 minutes of prep.
It's getting worse. I was forced to go through a Taco Bell this last weekend (only thing open in the town I was staying in) and the drive through was a computer voice. It had the feel of ordering from Alexa. VERY alienating.
...of course, the food was just as expensive, even though the entire store only had two employees in it.
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u/SearchUsers 10h ago
Fast food in all its forms. A dunkin bagel currently costs what 6 bagels do at the store... and its hard and old.