Dunkin Donuts fans.....

[denisenh]

I enjoy an occasional Dunkin treat....a few munchkins, a coffee roll, a cup of coffee but something has been bothering me about Dunks.
I feel that the taste, freshness, quality should be consistent. I shouldn't sometimes get a good cup of coffee, other times it tastes watered down or just bad. Sometimes the munchkins and rolls are soft and sometimes they are dried out, stale. There should be standards within the chain.
The cost is the same. The price isn't lower when the munchkins are stale or when the coffee is below standard.
I have been just tolerating it. I don't say anything but really I should.
If this happens to you, what do YOU do? Go back in for a refund or a switch? Just tolerate it? Do you run on dunkins or does dunkins walk on you?

 

[dngnb8]

I like Duncan, but they dont even come close to the mom and pop donut store in my neighborhood.

 

[2girlsmom]

I completely agree with you! Also, why even call yourself a Dunkin if you aren't going to have the donuts?? We seriously have a "Dunkin" near my house that NEVER has donuts, only bagels. I'm like, really?? Luckily we have one the other direction from my house that is always good quality and service and selection, as well as one on my drive route to Orlando (from Tampa area) that we tend to stop at in the morning on our way out of town on weekends.

 

[Erin1700]

We have several DD near us. There is one I will not go to because of what you described. You never know what your going to get there. I have no issues at the other locations.

 

[DeaverTex]

Dunkin has almost entirely pulled out of our area, but I've seen the quality go down. There's one store left, a couple of miles from our house. They've done something with their doughnuts though, or maybe their cooking procedures, or something, because their cake doughnuts are kind of squishy, even when they're hot. There's not that little bit of crunch right around the "equator".

We lost our mom-and-pop doughnut place which was GREAT, and we're reduced to Shipley's. Argh!!

 

[kaytieeldr]

Let them know about a quality issue. You can't fix what you don't know is broken. If you don't get satisfaction from the store (e.g. watered-down coffee intentional vs mechanical), contact the company.

DeaverTex, I'm surprised and impressed that you get warm donuts, even if the quality stinks. Here in Massachusetts - home of Dunkin Donuts - most products are baked in a central location and delivered to most shops.

2girlsmom - when/if you have a chance, ask the store why they only only carry bagels. Maybe they're changing to a café-type place but are test-marketing without changing the name? Dunkin Bagels or Dunkin Café just doesn't have the same ring to it.

deniseh - to the best of my knowledge, bakery items are shipped fresh... but there may be some frozen product that either tastes stale when it thaws, or was frozen too long. But again, you need to let them know. I'm sure things haven't changed in the xx years since I worked there; unsold product gets tossed at the end of the day, and unsold coffee used to be tossed after twenty minutes. Even if that's not the policy now, older coffee would be stronger, not watered down.

Again, you can't fix a problem you don't know exists. Tell the managers.

 

[mikehn]

I buy the coffee grounds and make it at home to ensure consistency

 

[scrapquitler]

I enjoy an occasional Dunkin treat....a few munchkins, a coffee roll, a cup of coffee but something has been bothering me about Dunks.
I feel that the taste, freshness, quality should be consistent. I shouldn't sometimes get a good cup of coffee, other times it tastes watered down or just bad. Sometimes the munchkins and rolls are soft and sometimes they are dried out, stale. There should be standards within the chain.
The cost is the same. The price isn't lower when the munchkins are stale or when the coffee is below standard.
I have been just tolerating it. I don't say anything but really I should.
If this happens to you, what do YOU do? Go back in for a refund or a switch? Just tolerate it? Do you run on dunkins or does dunkins walk on you?

The coffee can vary, I think it depends on the time of day because in the morning when they are busiest, the coffee gets sold as soon as it is brewed. Later in the afternoon and evening, I think that sometimes it sits around longer and gets stale.

As far as the donuts, I always get them at the local store that actually has the bakery physically on the premises. The other ones in the area get their donuts delivered from the main one, and they don't tend to be as fresh there. And btw, like with the coffee, at night, the donuts aren't as 'fresh' as in the morning because they were baked overnight or in the morning.

On the rare occasion that I do get a bad coffee, if I am still in the neighborhood, I do go back and tell them I got a bad cup, and they replace it without any problem.

 

[ckret01]

I completely agree with you.
There are two DD's near me and I usually get the same things at each of them and the price is slightly different between both places which I don't get

They only make donuts twice a day from what I hear, at 2am and 2pm, or something like that, so many times there are either no donuts left and what is left are dried out and not fresh tasting.

Almost everytime I go I get a hot carmel latte and very rarely does it ever taste good or is consistent. Unfortunately, most of the time I drive away before I taste it cause it's too hot, so by the time I drink it I am too far away to turn around and bring it back.

I did go to the DD website and submitted my disappointment with the latte's never tasting the same and explaining what I wrote above. I also suggested that because I get different people making my latte's each time maybe they can do more training on the machines so that everyone is consistent in making them the same.
I guess my message was forwarded to the actual DD store I visit and the Manager did respond to me. Her response was she was sorry to hear about my experience, she offered me to go to the DD store to discuss this with her and asked what I thought could be done better.

 

[beattyfamily]

They do have standards, especially with the coffee; how to make it, how long to keep it on the burner etc... but like many restaurants, alot depends on the employees and/or the manager.

I would tell them and make them aware of your issues.

 

[RadioNate]

I agree with you too. My kids went with my mom on Sunday and they ended up bring home 1/2 a donut and some munchkins. The raised kind we fine but the cake style ones were disgusting. I don't know what happened.

When I lived in Orlando there was one that if you went past about 830 am they didn't have donuts. It was terrible. I don't get it at all.

 

[Wall-E1]

I have the same issue. I hate going to a "new" Dunkin Donuts store. I never know if the coffee is going to be good or not, or if the doughnuts will be fresh or not. The quality varies widely from store to store. One of my biggest pet peeves are the chocolate and vanilla cream filled doughnuts. Some stores have them filled like they should be. Other stores trick you and just have a "poof" of cream by the side hole of the doughnut. But when you bite into the doughnut... where's the freakin' cream?!?!? I get really angry if I don't get my recommended daily allowance of cream.

Luckily, we have several Krispy Kremes and Dandee Donuts(the best doughnuts) in our area.

 

[kim929]

I have the same problem. And the quality can vary in an hour. I have many times ordered an ice coffee only to have it taste watered down. The donuts never taste fresh since they are made hours before at the central baking location and they aren't really covered.

The size of the donuts have also gone down in recent years. We had donuts from Honey Dew and from Dunkin, the same donut from Honey Dew was twice the size of Dunkins and they were fresher.

 

[DaisyLynn]

I love DD. But I know which ones to go to. In my area, it seems to depend on the franchise owner. The two that I frequent are consistent. In my house, we like DD coffee, donuts and sandwiches and lucky for us, the location around the corner has a wonderful friendly staff and we never have a messed up order from the drive thru.

I just wish they'd bring back the salsa bagels!