When I was younger, I could have sworn every Dunkin Donuts was open 24 hours a day. Everyone remembers those commercials with Fred the Baker talking about how it was always “time to make the donuts.” Daytime, nighttime, always making the donuts. But lately, it seems being open 24/7 is more the exception than the rule. That sucks and here’s why.
First of all, there are the situations where you’re on a road trip, it’s getting late, you’ve still got a few more hours of driving, and you really need coffee. When you see a DD along the way, you expect it to be open. But when you pull up and they’re closed (or it’s almost closing time and they’re out of coffee) there’s nothing worse. You could have at least been another 5 miles down the road in the time it took for you to get off the highway and stop in, all for nothing.
More often, are the nights time when I’ve gotten out of work, craving a quick donut. It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes my sweet tooth gets the best of me. There are 2 Dunkin Donuts on my way home. You’d think that’s great, but it’s not. I get out of work at 11:45pm, and both of these DD locations close at midnight.
Even though one DD is very close to work, and I could get there before they close… obviously, DD doesn’t want to be stuck with a ton of unsold doughnuts when the night is over. The shelves are pretty bare by 11:50 — assuming they’re even still open. Out of the once or twice I actually tried, they’ve usually already got the doors locked and they’re not paying attention to the drive-thru. And if they do respond, they’re usually all out of the “good” kinds of donuts, just down to a few of the crappy varieties nobody likes. (At least they’re not wasting tons of food every night, so I guess I can’t be too angry.)
The other DD is right in my town, right next to a major interstate highway… nestled between a Days Inn, and a 24-hour McDonald’s. You’d think the traffic from the highway and the other travel-friendly neighbors would warrant keeping this DD open 24 hours, but apparently the owners disagree. They too, close at midnight. I wish they’d reconsider, but I’m not holding my breath.
Although I couldn’t find any evidence of my theory, I’m pretty sure every DD used to be open 24/7. In fact, every single one of the “older ” DD’s I could think of have always been open 24/7 and they still are. So I’m gonna blame DD’s parent company for this one. Obviously, a 24/7 “requirement” limited the number of people willing to open DD franchises. After all, there are plenty of communities where a DD could bring in decent daytime business, but they’d lose big at night (or maybe yuppie zoning laws forbid them being open all night). The company must have repealed the 24/7 rule at some point, opening the floodgates for a ton of new franchisees. Makes sense to DD — more franchisees means more revenue. But it sucks for customers who expect DD to be open anytime, and they aren’t.
A DD ad popped up on my AIM buddy list window a few minutes ago, and I immediately thought, “a chocolate glazed would really hit the spot right now.” But not when I’d have to drive 25+ miles to get it. If the one here in town was open 24/7, I could have been out and back with a donut in hand, in the time it’s taken me to write this post.
Do You Agree? Go to DD’s website and leave them a comment about why they should be open 24/7.
Do You Disagree? Leave me comment below!
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