Sunday, December 18, 2005
D Squared
I just wanted to take a few moments to discuss Dunkin' Donuts. Growing up in the county that's the home of the yankees, Mets, and Red Sox (i.e. the part of New England--CT, RI, MA, NH, VT, ME--that's also part of the "tri-state area"--the parts of CT, NY, and NJ that are in the New York City TV market. Don't ask me what I have in common with people from northern Maine or central New Jersey, lifestyle-wise, but by default I was grouped in with both), I saw the "time to make the donuts" guy every day on my TV screen. Dunkin' Donuts was just another store.
(Although, back then, it was a donut shop, as opposed to a caffeine dealer.) There are currently nine in the CT town I lived in for the last five years, before I moved to NYC. And even the town I grew up in, Ridgefield, CT, eventually got one, despite the town's laws which aren't very kind to chain stores with their (god forbid) colorful signage. That town could use some color, if you know what I mean.
Lately, I've come to realize that a lot of Bostonians seem to think that Dunkin' Donuts is a Boston thing. They even have a nickname for it: "Dunkies." (I'm still in shock over this. Like when I found out people from crazy-land, aka Pennsylvania, call 7-Eleven "Sev's." Ugggghhh.)
I realize that Dunkin' Donuts was indeed born in the Boston area. If Bostonians really want to claim it for their own, I guess they have that right. I'm just saying, it seems like more of a northeast thing to me, as opposed to just a Boston thing.
If you go to their website, and type in my zip code here in NYC, and set the store locator range to 15 miles, you'll find there are 283 "Dunkies" (are you really serious about that nickname? Do you just do it around me as some kind of prank?). There's one on my block. There's one on the next block, too.
Type in Fenway Park's zip code, and there are only 253 of them within its 15-mile radius.
I guess I'm just trying to stop the fighting between the cities, since I have connections to both. We should save it for the baseball diamond. Not likely, though, since both Bostonians and New Yorkers are stubborn. In fact, I'm twice as stubborn for having grown up in between. I still call Sports Guy "Boston Sports Guy," so I understand if you Bostonians want to keep thinking Dunkin' Donuts exists nowhere else but Boston. But if you really loved it, you'd set it free.
After all, you'll always have Store 24.
And rotaries.
And pedestrian crossing signals that never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever say "Walk"...
(Although, back then, it was a donut shop, as opposed to a caffeine dealer.) There are currently nine in the CT town I lived in for the last five years, before I moved to NYC. And even the town I grew up in, Ridgefield, CT, eventually got one, despite the town's laws which aren't very kind to chain stores with their (god forbid) colorful signage. That town could use some color, if you know what I mean.Lately, I've come to realize that a lot of Bostonians seem to think that Dunkin' Donuts is a Boston thing. They even have a nickname for it: "Dunkies." (I'm still in shock over this. Like when I found out people from crazy-land, aka Pennsylvania, call 7-Eleven "Sev's." Ugggghhh.)
I realize that Dunkin' Donuts was indeed born in the Boston area. If Bostonians really want to claim it for their own, I guess they have that right. I'm just saying, it seems like more of a northeast thing to me, as opposed to just a Boston thing.
If you go to their website, and type in my zip code here in NYC, and set the store locator range to 15 miles, you'll find there are 283 "Dunkies" (are you really serious about that nickname? Do you just do it around me as some kind of prank?). There's one on my block. There's one on the next block, too.
Type in Fenway Park's zip code, and there are only 253 of them within its 15-mile radius.
I guess I'm just trying to stop the fighting between the cities, since I have connections to both. We should save it for the baseball diamond. Not likely, though, since both Bostonians and New Yorkers are stubborn. In fact, I'm twice as stubborn for having grown up in between. I still call Sports Guy "Boston Sports Guy," so I understand if you Bostonians want to keep thinking Dunkin' Donuts exists nowhere else but Boston. But if you really loved it, you'd set it free.
After all, you'll always have Store 24.
And rotaries.
And pedestrian crossing signals that never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever say "Walk"...
Comments:
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If you've ever been to RI, the DD factor is just about as ridiculous. Hell I live in a small town and there's 5 of them in my town. Two of them are right across teh street from each other(well one is in a Stop and Shop but still!) Considering my graduating class in high school was 118 divide that by 5 and you got like 20 students to a Dunkin Donuts or so....it's crazy, man.
Signed,
Somebody who has worked at Dunkin Donuts for 5 years
Signed,
Somebody who has worked at Dunkin Donuts for 5 years
# posted by 
: Sunday, December 18, 2005 5:13:00 PM
: Sunday, December 18, 2005 5:13:00 PM
Dunkin' Donuts is getting bought out by the Carlyle group, so they're officially on my shitlist.
# posted by : Sunday, December 18, 2005 6:34:00 PM
: Sunday, December 18, 2005 6:34:00 PM
piney--thanks for the RI point of view.
phil--really? terrible job. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3995.htm
Above is a documentary about the evil Carlyle Group. Some of it is in Dutch, but most is in English.
phil--really? terrible job. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3995.htm
Above is a documentary about the evil Carlyle Group. Some of it is in Dutch, but most is in English.
Jere: yup.
See here:
Three private equity firms confirmed Monday that they had agreed to buy the parent of Dunkin' Donuts for $2.4 billion.
Bain Capital Partners, the Carlyle Group and Thomas H. Lee Partners are acquiring Dunkin' Brands, a franchiser of Dunkin' Donuts restaurants, from Pernod Ricard, the French wine and spirits company.
Terrible job indeed. Now, instead of the "time to make the donuts" guy, they're being made by war profiteers and criminals.
See here:
Three private equity firms confirmed Monday that they had agreed to buy the parent of Dunkin' Donuts for $2.4 billion.
Bain Capital Partners, the Carlyle Group and Thomas H. Lee Partners are acquiring Dunkin' Brands, a franchiser of Dunkin' Donuts restaurants, from Pernod Ricard, the French wine and spirits company.
Terrible job indeed. Now, instead of the "time to make the donuts" guy, they're being made by war profiteers and criminals.
# posted by : Sunday, December 18, 2005 11:07:00 PM
: Sunday, December 18, 2005 11:07:00 PM
Wow, and they're joining forces with two American icons--Tommy Lee and Bain, as in Conrad, who played Mr. D.
But all really, really funny jokes aside, that is a terrible job.
But all really, really funny jokes aside, that is a terrible job.
My sister calls it "Dunkies". I consider it the equivalent of "Packie" for dialect and cultural context. It's like a packie with caffeine and donuts instead of alcohol.
He is right about Dunkin Donuts in RI. The franchise basically owns the state at this point. I think they must have some kind of deal where they get first dibbs on any abandoned property...and also non-abandoned property. I have twice found, coming home from school, beloved local businesses magically transformed into Dunkin Donutses (which are, themselves, now local and beloved). At this point there has got to be about one store for every 2 square miles in the state. You can basically drive in any direction along a somewhat busy road and get to a DD within 10 minutes. I have applied this principle twice in unfamiliar parts of RI, it's quite useful.
I would also like to point out that the time-to-make-the-donuts guy may have been the first person to sucessfully pull off the Hitler mustache since 1945.
I thought people were kidding about the Dunkies thing too, and I was born and raised in MA. The thing that threw me off was that the some people who called it Dunkies were the ones who called their friends from back home in Swampscott their 'Swampies', a term which is both sickeningly cutesy and utterly loathsome.
So, yeah.
Now, if I want to caffienate at home over the summer, which evil should I go with: Carlyle-owned DD, or Starbucks? Cause either way apparently my not falling asleep on my morning commute is going to oppress someone.
So, yeah.
Now, if I want to caffienate at home over the summer, which evil should I go with: Carlyle-owned DD, or Starbucks? Cause either way apparently my not falling asleep on my morning commute is going to oppress someone.
Well I consider myself a Dunkin donut devotee - I even have their damned coffee shipped out to me here in California. It is not a particular obsession or anything - I am more of a creature of habit and frankly I don't like Starbucks or Peets or anything else out here so it is just as easy to have 3 pounds shipped each month and make at home.
I have never called it Dunkies - sounds like a dumb name. I never really thought it a Boston thing - remember the SNL skit "You can't get there from here" and one of the questions was how many DD were there on the drive from Hartford to Nahua (or something like that).
I will nitpick on the 280 versus 250. Don't you think a significantly greater portion of the approximately 706 square mile area covered by our search in Boston falls in the Atlantic ocean than the same area in NY? and also what about on a per capita basis.
I have never called it Dunkies - sounds like a dumb name. I never really thought it a Boston thing - remember the SNL skit "You can't get there from here" and one of the questions was how many DD were there on the drive from Hartford to Nahua (or something like that).
I will nitpick on the 280 versus 250. Don't you think a significantly greater portion of the approximately 706 square mile area covered by our search in Boston falls in the Atlantic ocean than the same area in NY? and also what about on a per capita basis.
I remember the skit. Sandler: "Ya bettah bring ya nunchucks when ya go ta Rawxbury."
Actually, if you narrow it down to 10 miles, the fenway zip code wins. I'm just saying it's about the same overall.
And there is a lot of water around manhattan, what with it being an island and all. You've got Long Island Sound and the Atlantic around us, too. Then again, nearby Brooklyn would be the fifth largest city in the U.S, per that sign on the Welcome Back, Kotter theme.
Also, I'd like to point out that writing about DD on a Red Sox blog and getting more comments about it than I've had on any other topic in recent memory kind of proves my point about it being a Boston thing. Wait, so it actually disproves my point. I don't know. Thanks for the interest either way, everybody.
Actually, if you narrow it down to 10 miles, the fenway zip code wins. I'm just saying it's about the same overall.
And there is a lot of water around manhattan, what with it being an island and all. You've got Long Island Sound and the Atlantic around us, too. Then again, nearby Brooklyn would be the fifth largest city in the U.S, per that sign on the Welcome Back, Kotter theme.
Also, I'd like to point out that writing about DD on a Red Sox blog and getting more comments about it than I've had on any other topic in recent memory kind of proves my point about it being a Boston thing. Wait, so it actually disproves my point. I don't know. Thanks for the interest either way, everybody.
Funny how the most random threads take off when you least expect.
I still refuse to give up on this one. NY and the 10 or 15 surrounding miles has something like 12 million people (compared, probably to about 4-5 million in Boston) - the per capita factor.
And while I knew you would come back about NY being an island and all - I don't even think it is close.
I don't know the exact distance, but I think that Atlantic is more than 10 or even 15 miles from the Stadium. and the water footprint is a fraction of that around fenway:
Yankee stadium:
http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?addr=&csz=10451&country=us&new=1&name=&qty=
Fenway:
http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?addr=Van+Ness&csz=Boston%2C+MA&state=MA&uzip=02108&ds=n&name=&desc=&lat=42.34575&lon=-71.09695&mlt=42.34575&mln=-71.09695&zoomin=yes&BFKey=&resize=l&trf=0&mag=5
Oh well, sorry to beat a dead horse.
Do you think anyone actually drinks the DD Latte?
I still refuse to give up on this one. NY and the 10 or 15 surrounding miles has something like 12 million people (compared, probably to about 4-5 million in Boston) - the per capita factor.
And while I knew you would come back about NY being an island and all - I don't even think it is close.
I don't know the exact distance, but I think that Atlantic is more than 10 or even 15 miles from the Stadium. and the water footprint is a fraction of that around fenway:
Yankee stadium:
http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?addr=&csz=10451&country=us&new=1&name=&qty=
Fenway:
http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?addr=Van+Ness&csz=Boston%2C+MA&state=MA&uzip=02108&ds=n&name=&desc=&lat=42.34575&lon=-71.09695&mlt=42.34575&mln=-71.09695&zoomin=yes&BFKey=&resize=l&trf=0&mag=5
Oh well, sorry to beat a dead horse.
Do you think anyone actually drinks the DD Latte?
Whoa, whoa, ginga, I never said anything about the Toilet Bowl. I said from my zip code in Manhattan, which shall go undisclosed, thanks.
Boston has about a quarter of its 15 mile radius covered by water. New York has less, but there is Jamaica Bay, Upper New York Bay, and Long Island Sound.
Granted, the population is bigger in the NY-area. I'm just saying, it's fairly close for a company that many people thinkis a "Boston thing."
And you're right, the bigger the radius, the more NYC wins in termas of total stores. Boston wins on the 5 and 10 mile, NY wins on 15 and up.
Boston has about a quarter of its 15 mile radius covered by water. New York has less, but there is Jamaica Bay, Upper New York Bay, and Long Island Sound.
Granted, the population is bigger in the NY-area. I'm just saying, it's fairly close for a company that many people thinkis a "Boston thing."
And you're right, the bigger the radius, the more NYC wins in termas of total stores. Boston wins on the 5 and 10 mile, NY wins on 15 and up.
"In 2000, the U.S. decennial census counted Brooklyn's population at 2,465,326 making it New York City's most populous borough." That's from bedc.org.
Queens has 2,229,379 as of that same 2000 census. Even by the '03 estimate, Queens still comes in over 200,000 people short of Brooklyn's 2000 count.
Maybe you've been keeping a head count since then and you know the secret truth, but I'm going by facts. Also, the Welcome Back, Kotter theme wouldn't lie.
Queens has 2,229,379 as of that same 2000 census. Even by the '03 estimate, Queens still comes in over 200,000 people short of Brooklyn's 2000 count.
Maybe you've been keeping a head count since then and you know the secret truth, but I'm going by facts. Also, the Welcome Back, Kotter theme wouldn't lie.
What is your record for most comments on a single post?
I think at GYS we once hit 50, although I think that was a game log which kind of does not count.
Sorry about the confusion over the proper zip code. And hey I actually agree with you on the issue. I guess I was just being a little argumentative.
Maybe the anonymous guy really did know something. The way the Mets have played of late I probably wouldn't want to admit to living there.
I think at GYS we once hit 50, although I think that was a game log which kind of does not count.
Sorry about the confusion over the proper zip code. And hey I actually agree with you on the issue. I guess I was just being a little argumentative.
Maybe the anonymous guy really did know something. The way the Mets have played of late I probably wouldn't want to admit to living there.
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