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Founding
Dunkin Donuts was originally founded by Bill Rosenberg in Quincy Massachusetts with the name of "Open Kettle." -
Name Change
The Open Kettle was renamed to Dunkin Donuts after the executive architect noticed that his customers were dunking their donuts in their coffee. -
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Dunkin Colors
Dunkin Donuts added bright pink to its logo in 1961 to grab people's attention. It wasn't until 1980 that the owner added its signature orange to the Dunkin Donuts logo to make it pop out even more. -
New CEO
The title of CEO was passed down from Bill Rosenberg to his son Bob Rosenberg. Bob was 25 years old at the time and was ready to take over the family business. -
100th Store
By 1963 there were over 100 Dunkin Donuts restaurants open around the U.S. and there was an updated style of the brand name with different fonts and colors. -
International
In 1970 Dunkin Donuts went international with its first overseas restaurant being in Japan. In 2007 Dunkin opened its first restaurant in Taiwan. -
Munchkins
Dunkin Munchkin donut holes were released and became the next big thing. With their new special item, Dunkin Donuts had a reawakening and became extremely popular once again. -
Muffins
Muffins were added to the menu at Dunkin Donuts. These muffins come in 7 different flavors such as blueberry, plain, and chocolate chip. These muffins are quite popular and are sweet treats that anyone can eat throughout the day not only in the mornings. -
Franchises
The 1,000 franchise was opened, with each franchise making around 1,000,000 in sales every year. Having plenty of franchises across the U.S. Dunkin Donuts began to also put franchises in other countries. -
Commercials
Dunkin Donuts began its famous "Fred the Baker" commercials. Fred was played by Michael Vale and became an easily recognizable salesman. -
New Management
In 1990 the Dunkin Donut chain was acquired by Baskin-Robins's holding company. Now being paired up with another brand, Dunkin Donuts and Baskin-Robins started to focus more on their advertising. -
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Amount of Restaurants
The 2,000th restaurant was opened in 1990 and the 3,000th restaurant was opened 2 years later. Over time many more stores were opened across the world and there were nearly as many stores in Korea as there were in the U.S. -
Franchise
The first Dunkin Donuts franchise was signed in Worcester. Soon afterward many more franchises started popping up around the United States, and now there are more franchises than actual cafes across the U.S. -
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More Menu Items
Bagels were added to the Dunkin Donuts menu and the following year breakfast sandwiches were added. Initially only selling coffee and donuts, Dunkin Donuts saw a big spike in sales after adding these items to the menu. -
Michael Vale
Michael Vale, also known as, "Fred the Baker" left the advertising business at Dunkin Donuts. This was a sad moment for many who adored his commercial and he wasn't ever replaced because he was a one-of-a-kind man and no one else could compare to him. -
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Dunking Donuts
Specific donuts were hand-made with a handle to be dunked in coffee. These were discontinued everywhere but in Singapore because they were uneconomical. -
Headquarters
In 2004 Dunkin Donut's headquarters was moved from Quincy to Canton. Although Dunkin Donuts headquarters remained in the same state since the CEO wanted to keep the Dunkin Donuts headquarters in Massachusetts. -
Sold Off
Dunkin Donuts and Baskin-Robins were sold to Bain Capital, Carlyle Group, and Thomas H. Lee Partners for 2.4 billion dollars. There weren't any big changes to the company however and the food and drinks were just as good as before. -
Slogan
Dunkin Donuts began its "America Runs On Dunkin" advertising campaign as well as released its new slogan. This became a catchy and well-known phrase to the public. -
Alternate Slogan
In 2009 Dunkin Donuts released its alternate slogan. This slogan was "You 'Kin Do It!" At this time Dunkin Donuts also launched a 100 million dollar ad campaign which included this slogan. -
New Item
Dunkin Donuts created a new breakfast sandwich to add to the other originals. This breakfast sandwich was the glazed donut sandwich and after 2 months of testing, it became a permanent item on the menu. -
Gluten-free
Gluten-free items started to be tested in some areas in Boston. Some of these items were gluten-free cinnamon sugar donuts and gluten-free blueberry donuts. -
Holiday Flavors
Dunkin Donuts introduced their first holiday-themed cups. In the following years, they would soon upgrade to more than just cups and add holiday donuts and drinks. -
Pickup
Dunkin Donuts began its first launch to test if curbside pickup would be a good addition to Dunkin Donuts restaurants. In the U.S. this became popular very fast and was a big addition to the Dunkin Donuts food chain. -
Next CEO
Dave Hoffman took over as CEO of Dunkin. He had planned to add over 1,000 new restaurants around the globe while he was CEO and is currently following through on that statement. -
Saucony
Dunkin teamed up with a company called Saucony to produce a strawberry-frosted donut-themed shoe. Saucony is a shoe company located in Massachusetts which is the same place as Dunkin's headquarters. -
Just "Dunkin"
Dunkin Donuts decided to start trials to see if they should remove the "Donuts" from the name and start referring to it as simply Dunkin. -
Beyond Meat
Dunkin partnered with Beyond Meat and introduced a new breakfast sandwich. This breakfast sandwich was meatless and later became a nationally launched. -
Grubhub
Dunkin partnered with Grubhub to begin its new Dunkin delivery services. This had a very positive effect on both Dunkin and Grubhub. -
Inspire Brands
Inspire Brands decided to buy Dunkin' Brands Group for 11.3 billion dollars. Dunkin ceased to be an individual company. Inspire Brands also owns many other well-known brands such as Arby's and Sonic.