IamA Dunkin Donuts employee. Don't know how popular this is going to be but I have a couple hours to kill. AMA!

Do you get to take home old donuts?

Yes there's an unspoken limit of 12 among employees and it's great because I hate to see the donuts go to waste and my wife loves me for it Absolutely not, against policy and how dare you even suggest that.

Why are so many locations so bad at making coffee? Dd has pretty good coffee, esp for the price point, but so many locations can't brew worth shit

Brewing at DD is an art that should be done only by the employees who are experienced.

I don't mean to sound like I'm putting on airs, but that's true. Brewing needs to be done in a certain order in a certain time and in a certain way but we just let anyone do it in order to maintain speed and quantity.

That's unfortunate. They should really look into a system that's more foolproof. I've never worked food service so I'm not sure what your workflow is but I know there are (consumer) coffee machines that are foolproof as long as you put the right proportions in and correctly handle brew temp. I have to believe that with the money involved in the coffee business there are commercial models with similar properties, perhaps even models that take the proportion part out of the equation and leave employees only responsible for maintenance. Truly great coffee may require an artist's touch, but the good to very good can be achieved with science alone.

Thanks for the candid answer, in any case.

I appreciate it my man. I think the reason we don't switch to a more modernized/computerized form of brewing is there's a certain charm to the traditional pots and seeing the grinds put in right next to the counter. It's supposed to reassure the customer that we are supplying the freshest coffee, but it definitely backfires when someone just brews a pot fast to save time.

My DD always just gives me free shit. What am I doing right. This morning my girlfriend and I got two sandwiches and a wink when we ordered one.

Been getting random free coffees for years. Is it that easy to just give it all away?

When no one pays attention, oh yeah.

Do you think Krispy Kreme is better?

They definitely have the better donuts, no doubt. But our coffee is so much richer.

What does the coffee do for a living?

Real estate.

What do you think of the pumpkin donuts and the reese's donuts?

I wish they would never leave.

The pumpkin donuts are amazing. The reese's donuts are good but they aren't reese's peanut butter.

No it's not officially licensed Reese's peanut butter, which is weird because we obviously partnered with them in order to get the name and logo. Instead, our peanut butter filling is in a gelatinous bag that's really fun to play catch with :)

It's still good for what it is but it's still false advertising. Imagine it with real reese's. It would be the best donut.

I feel like the real Reese's peanut butter filling is a little too thick for a donut filling. Maybe they could modify it a little or something.

Best and worst customer interaction you've had while working there?

Edit: a word

Best came maybe a week into the job. I had my "I'm New" badge on and very badly messed up this one guy's drink AND food, but he was very cool about it, very patient, and now he's one of our regulars. Great guy.

Worst came just yesterday actually. This lady came into the drive-thru mumbling and not facing the microphone, so when she drove up to the window and I asked her to repeat her order, she looked away and mumbled again. When I tried to ask her to repeat it again, she got unbelievably mad and handed me some money and a gift card. I swiped her card then used the money to cover the difference, but when I tried to hand her her latte she straight up refused and said she wanted the card, the paper money, and the corresponding amount of points on her card as if she made the purchase. After literally 5 minutes of back and forth between me, the employee who initially took the order, and the lady, she ended up speeding off with the money and the card, but angrily threw the latte back into the window in response to repeatedly being told she could not just "get the points anyway". It was terrible, it shook the employee up quite a bit (she's rather new), and it caused a 13 car buildup for drive-thru. That's 12 cars deep plus however many customers we had up front. It was the worst experience I've ever had at work and the situation led to a couple more wrong orders for drive-thru.

r/talesfromretail

Did not know this existed. Thanks!

Do you ever just look up at the stars?

Um...that sounds like fun. But we don't have a sunroof or anything. Am I misunderstanding the question?

Does someone at the store bake the doughnuts? Or are they shipped in? Why doesn't anyone know what simple syrup is when I ask for that in my iced coffee?

The donuts are shipped in but they are baked every night by a baker.

It's because we are trained from the very start to always ask about and make assumptions about sugar-free flavoring when someone already wants cream and sugar in their coffee. Really stupid, most employees who work there longer than a couple months will start to learn...thing is most people only stay a couple months anyway.

If the donuts are shipped in, does that mean that someone at the retail location is in charge of ordering the varieties and quantities of donuts for the next day? Is there some recommended way to estimate how many donuts you will need? Does the Dunkin Donuts company own the "bakery" or whatever you call it that supplies the retail locations? How many bakeries are there, or how many retail locations are served by one bakery?

Varieties and quantities are dictated by management, and when the truck comes in we are just as surprised as you will be. The franchise owner gets directions from corporate for those sorts of things.

I cannot speak on how many stores are served by each bakery or even how many bakeries there are. As far as I am concerned, they just magically appear in the truck and it's all handled by the franchise owner.

Are most of the employees drug addicts like the one I worked at? Heh

No, we are paired with a gas station so that's where they work. We have the alcoholics :)

Sometimes, there are tip cups at the register. How are tips divided/distributed? Does it add up to a significant amount?

Tips used to be divided equally among crew members with a certain amount withheld for the night baker's cut, but there are some new rules regarding tip jars. Apparently corporate and therefore our franchise owner doesn't want us using the tip jars, so if you see a location doing that they are sticking it to the man :)

Wait they did away with tips? I lived off those tips in HS cause the paycheck was worthless

Well, they did away with tips at my location and the other 6 owned by the same franchise owner, but our regulars from before still try to leave us tips.

What would most people be surprised to learn about Dunkin Donuts?

Wow haha. That's a tough one.

I guess it depends on what would surprise you. I'm going to go with the fact that there is literally no difference between a latte, a cappuccino, and a macchiato. Sure, the macchiato is layered and there's no such thing as an iced cappuccino, but they are made of the exact same ingredients with the same amounts and there's no difference in the amount of caffeine in each. You are being fooled.

I'm Canadian so I've been devoid of the Dunkin Donuts experience. Is there a price difference? Has anyone caught on?

Donuts are the same price as a Tim Horton's, but ours are bigger. Everything else (hot and iced coffee, sandwiches and wraps, etc.) are cheaper at Dunkin than Tim's, but that might be because of the US-Canadian price differences in general. I'm no global economist haha. I just sell donuts.

I think he meant different prices on the drinks you listed.

Oh wow, probably. To answer that question, yes there is a price difference, with macchiatos (macchiatoes? macchiaten?) being the steepest price I guess because they are not stirred and that makes them...better? It's the same ingredients and it's a shame not many people catch on that they are paying a little extra for a latte that is not mixed up.

do you get annoyed by frequent customers? i go like every other day and get the same thing and i feel like i'm always annoying because my order is complicated/a lot of stuff lol.

It all depends on attitude. I would take a complicated/long order from a nice regular over a simple/short order from an asshole any day. It's what separates a frequent customer from a regular. Regulars, regardless of their orders, are the best ones and I go out of my way to make sure they get their stuff fast and correctly.

What kind of menu hacks have you developed while working there? Breakfast sandwich on a donut with a chicken patty...that kinda stuff. And, is the mornings iced coffee the evenings unsold hot coffee?

Best thing I've ever "created" at work was a maple sausage waffle sandwich with honey mustard and a dollop of syrup. It is insane and it's a crime that we don't serve that to customers.

Also I'm very happy to say that we never save unsold coffee at night to use the next day. Every type from cold brew to hot to iced is made fresh every day. I feel like Dunkin does a lot of stuff wrong, but this is not one of those things.

Additionally, the hot coffee is turned over at least once an hour. The iced coffee on the other hand is only turned over when it runs out, or at closing time.

I think the official time the hot coffee is supposed to be made is every 18 minutes, but during the slower parts of the day that becomes 30-45 minutes.

Dang they must have changed it. Was an hour 6ish years ago.

Well 18 minutes is what the training video said, but no one except the newest of workers do that and even then they learn that's such a waste about three days in.

What's the creepiest/scariest/strangest thing to happen to you while working?

There was a creepy kid who kept warning everyone about clowns in the forest, and later than night I saw him outside looking in and smiling.

What's your favorite thing on the menu??

Toss-up between the maple donut and the chicken croissant with ancho sauce. If you haven't tried the ancho sauce, do yourself a favor.

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That's a question for a corporate Dunkin AMA. I have no clue, they just come in the truck and it's either use them or pour the coffee directly down our customer's throats, and that's been shown to have very little success...

Does the Manager Special ever change or is it always the icing filled chocolate covered one?

It hasn't changed since the beginning of summer, but before that it used to be something different. It all comes from corporate, and has nothing to do with individual stores or managers unfortunately, or else my customers would be seeing some pretty unique/awesome combos :)

What was the biggest order you've seen a costumer place, that you suspected was going to be eaten by that person alone?

Oh man, there was this one guy and he ordered 3 drinks immediately followed by two sandwiches and 6 donuts, then started to slow down and acted as if he was checking his phone to make sure he "got everything they wanted" but it was kind of obvious he was acting. I got him everything he wanted and gave him a couple extra munchkins just because I felt kinda sorry for him. I've totally done the "make sure I ordered what they want" thing at a pizza place before...

Not gonna lie, I was expecting bigger numbers. I can see myself placing a similar order if I was away from home and about to spend an all-nighter in a place with no food.

That's fair. I heard from my former manager that there was a lady who ordered 5 dozen donuts, all glazed, and happily announced her intentions on eating them all in one night. Have no idea if it's true or if she was joking, it's just what I was told haha.

Hey! I worked at dunkin too! do you smoke pot in the walk-in like I used to?

Nope.

Why don't they fill my iced coffees to the top? Do they do it to save money?

No, it's just hard to get down right because the ice and flavors/cream are put in first and when we mix it up it spills everywhere if we fill it to the top and makes the cup sticky.

Do you see a lot of cops or is that just a myth?

Mostly myth, the cops I do see are regulars and they don't usually get donuts. Just coffee.

Have you ever cleaned the restrooms and was it disgusting?

Haha, thankfully the bathrooms are located in the gas station we are paired with so I have never had to clean it.

Do you think Mr Donut is better?

Never had them, willing to say they are. There are very few of our donuts that I enjoy, and that's not just because I work there.

Do you guys ever reuse ground coffee beans? Because thats what your coffee tastes like 8/10 times.

Sorry to hear that. My store never has. We don't even grind the beans until we are down to 1/4 of our current pot, in order to ensure freshness.

Where is your store? I want to come try your coffee. Please please please be in eastern MA!

Sorry bud. Try East TN

You ever cum inside the Boston Kreme? Lol my boy did but he was nervous he said and only nutted a little bit lmao.

No and your username disgusts me