If you’ll indulge me, here is part two of my Dunkin Donuts love story. (We’ve got history!) Actually, I should really call this Donut Love, The Prequel, because it starts at *the beginning*.
Someone else who "gets it"
To put my relationship with the Altamonte Springs Dunkin Donuts in a context readers of this blog will understand, when I started patronizing the store, my hair was in the early 70s version of a pixie cut and the color of my roots was a non-issue. Below, please find a brief essay I wrote about all this several years back. In addition to explaning the depth of my devotion (dysfunction? :), it will offer you a little advice I think will serve you well. Enjoy!
When my son was younger, he was once given an assignment to write an autobiography. One of the topics he was to address in this autobiography was his place of birth. I’m sure the other kids wrote things like Poughkeepsie, NY or New Orleans. My child wrote that he was born at Florida Hospital near the Dunkin Donuts. I thought this was pretty amusing. When I go to Dunkin Donuts, a related thought often goes through my mind. I glance over at the hospital and smile to myself thinking, Ahhh, look… my little sweetheart was born there.
Dunkin Donuts recently had a message on its marquee thanking its customers for 30 years of patronage. As one of the people who has been frequenting that store for those three decades, I say a resounding, “You’re Welcome”.
Shortly after my parents got divorced and my mother decided we needed to move several hours upstate to make a fresh start, my brother, my sister and I began our relationship with the Altamonte Springs Dunkin Donuts. Our father, who I have often described as a better part time father than most full time fathers, faithfully drove an eight or nine hour round trip to see us every other weekend from the time we moved to Central Florida when I was still in elementary school until the time my younger brother went off to college. Sometimes he even drove another two hours once he got here so we could spend the weekend at the Cocoa Beach Holiday Inn. When that didn’t happen, the place we stayed at most often was the Ramada Inn, located less than a mile and a half from the beckoning orange and pink sign.
The Dunkin Donuts sign is actually one of the things I like best about that store. I don’t know the owners personally, but I know this… they’re good people. Sometimes the sign out front advertises the coffee or a particular special, but more often than not, the message on the sign is something uplifting. That has been the case for as far back as I can remember.
As I recall, my sister liked the “honey dipped” donuts or the crullers the best, my brother the jelly and my Dad the maple. What I liked then were the chocolate cream filled ones. (I’ve since moved onto chocolate glazed.)
While the donuts were the big draw when I was a child, the coffee, polite kids behind the counter and cleanliness keep me coming back. Starbucks, Einstein’s and Panera’s have their place, to be certain, but for a regular $1.99 cup of coffee to jump start your morning, Dunkin Donuts just can’t be beat.
As for the kids, two things stand out to me. One, they must ride to work in Doc Brown’s Delorean, because they exhibit a level of customer service you just don’t see from teenagers today. The other thing that I’ve noticed is that the same kids are there week after week, which I assume means that they enjoy their jobs.
The reason I feel the need to mention the Altamonte Springs Dunkin Donuts, is because our town just “hired” the donut store version of a buxom blonde secretary in a tight skirt and scoop necked blouse. Right down the street from Dunkin Donuts in an old Pizza Hut, a gimmicky new donut, coffee and dessert chain with a provocative name and an eye catching logo (Hotties - in funky black letters, “i” dotted with a little red heart) just set up shop. About a mile down from this new Hotties, is a Hotties billboard, so you can’t really miss the place.
Hotties is cute. I know because I’ve been there. The floors are black and white and the employees smartly dressed and solicitous. The donuts, pastry versions of the houses in Seaside or Celebration (Florida’s planned communities), are symmetrical, colorful and artfully arranged. They sit on silver chrome trays behind glass. Some have pink icing. Some have white icing. Some have chocolate icing and a few have cherries on top. In the back of the store, there is a beverage station complete with a gleaming silver coffee urn and on the side wall, neatly arranged merchandise shelves.
The reason I went to Hotties, aside from curiosity, was because my son and his friends begged me to take them there. While they didn’t tell me this directly, I could tell by what they said to each other that the desire to try new donuts had nothing to do with this request. Based on the appearance of the sign, these boys were convinced that Hotties was Hooters with a different menu. (Since I knew it wasn’t, I obliged.)
Everyone I’ve talked to about this – including the boys - prefers Dunkin Donuts’ donuts to Hotties’ donuts. I could compare the coffee, but why? It would be too much like watching the US Men’s Olympic Basketball Team take on five random Hungarians… As I said earlier, nobody makes coffee like Dunkin Donuts.
I bring all this up for a reason. Whenever you are faced with a really important decision …. like what to have for breakfast or whether to cheat on your spouse, remember this phrase: “Watch out for the Hotties.*”
** Note: shortly after I wrote this, Hotties closed.
*** Additional Note: While it’s OK to look hot … (Hello! I write a blog about hair and fashion)… when it comes to people .... and/or a donut shops … never underestimate the value of relationships and good taste! :)
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