How Fresh Are Dunkin's Donuts, Really? Here's What We Know

"Time to make the donuts." The famous catchphrase of Dunkin' Donuts became dear to Americans in the 1980s and '90s thanks to the hang-dog, bleary-eyed delivery by actor Michael Vale, aka "Fred the Baker" in more than 100 commercials. So beloved was the character, that when he "retired" in 1997, the city of Boston threw a parade for him and Dunkin gave away six million donuts in his honor. Perhaps more importantly for Dunkin, it stamped the idea into the national consciousness that the donuts are as fresh as they come, lovingly baking in ovens as we sleep and placed on the racks at your local branch as the cock crows.

It's a wonderful dream, but is it reality? The short answer is that it's generally not but depends on the particular franchise. As independent business owners, Dunkin franchisees have three options, revealed franchisee Amir Mohamed in an August 2023 TikTok video that went viral. They can bake the donuts in-house, team up with other Dunkin franchisees on a commercial kitchen (CML) to bake and ship the donuts each morning or get them frozen. Mohamed is not the only Dunkin' employee to call out donut freshness. In 2022, Dunkin' employee Sophia Fischett said in another TikTok video (now removed) that donuts were frozen. Ultimately, what each Dunkin does is up to the franchisee and may account for the claims of varying quality in the comments to Mohamed's video. Unfortunately, asking your local franchise directly is the only way to know. 

To be fair, Mohamed points out why his franchise stopped making donuts on-site after 12 years. "It was an absolute madhouse of an operation, cooking hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of donuts per location," he explains in the video. Teaming up with 30 other franchisees on a CML made practical sense. Plus, while they may not be piping hot, they still arrive within hours of baking. CMLs also meet demand much better, with some turning out thousands of donuts per hour. Nevertheless, Mohamed still admits his personal preference for in-house baking. "I felt like the donuts were bigger, everything was filled better, it just tasted better."

Something else that affected donut freshness was changing ownership and branding that put drinks ahead of donuts, in line with trends and competition from chains like Starbucks. In fact, in 2018, Dunkin officially dropped "Donuts" from its name and declared itself a "beverage-led" brand, underscoring that the majority of its revenue came from selling drinks. That's, in part, because coffee is simply more profitable, explains the Wall Street Journal, requiring fewer ingredients and less labor. Today, it's the caffeine and calories in products like Nick DiGiovanni's Dunkin' iced coffees, Martha Stewart's Dunkin' Espresso Martini Collab, and the summer Dunkin' drink with the highest amount of calories that fuels the slogan, "America Runs on Dunkin."