Time to make the donuts

Submitted by TheAVnerd t3_120hngs in boston

Is Fred the Baker and “time to make the donuts” regional? It aired and was popular before Dunkin aggressively expanded and there are still some states today without a dunkins at all. Other than “time to make the donuts” being written on the box I would assume people in Colorado wouldn’t know who Fred is, and the cultural phenomenon the campaign was.

Edit for clarity: I mean is awareness of Fred and the campaign regional. We get CiCi’s pizza ads here and there isn’t one around. SNL did a “Time to make the donuts” skit in the 90s so part of me thinks people in Montana would at least know the ad.

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Icy-Neck-2422 t1_jdhb6c6 wrote

Dunks expanded more internationally before they starting expanding westward in the US. They were overseas back in the 80s, but their expansion to the western states didn't happen in big numbers until the mid 2010s, so I bet people in Seattle wouldn't have gotten the ads back in the day (while the Fred campaign was still a thing in the 90s and earlier.)

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TheAVnerd OP t1_jdhcut0 wrote

Visited Thailand in 2008 and they had a dunks with some weird donut combos. Coffee sucked though.

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Chippopotanuse t1_jdhbifk wrote

I know someone who was in Korea a decade or so ago and said Dunks had some insane menu items over there. So yeah…checks out.

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f0rtytw0 t1_jdhhnm6 wrote

When I was there, you could buy a dunks air freshener/perfume and toothbrush with toothpaste.

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-Odi-Et-Amo- t1_jdhxeof wrote

I was in Barcelona and Rome around 97/98 and remember visiting a Dunkin Donuts.

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BsFan t1_jdhyyg1 wrote

I remember seeing one randomly in Aruba in 2005. It seemed odd because you never saw them outside of new England back then

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CarbonRod12 t1_jdm0ivl wrote

They were also in Western NY in the 90s before Tim Hortons moved in.

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Triumph790 t1_jdlsq8n wrote

Funny OP mentioned Colorado. I grew up there, and definitely remember those ads on TV in the 80s. We had a handful of Dunkin locations in Colorado in the 80s but they all failed. I remember going to this one in Boulder!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I85skux2uKg

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TomBirkenstock t1_jdhipr4 wrote

I grew up in Ohio where I knew of only one Dunks location in all of northeast Ohio, and I still remember those commercials. I think they were national.

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Some_Ride1014 t1_jdhrkos wrote

Originally each Dunkin made there own Donuts, right on site. As the company grew they changed to a commissary type system, where the donuts are made at regional locations and shipped to the stores. I don’t know if its still there, but on Dot ave in Southie there is a building where they make the donuts.

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dogmom603 t1_jdhxmdk wrote

I believe this change coincided with Fred “retiring”. It was all downhill after that.

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dante662 t1_jdign0j wrote

The change happened when Dunkin was bought by private equity. Economies of scale to lower costs.

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riski_click t1_jdizvs3 wrote

It makes me wonder.. if they continued making them in house, would they cost Blackbird/Union Sq Donut prices these days?

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Stronkowski t1_jdicjly wrote

We had one Dunkin Donuts in the nearby town when I was growing up in Vermont in the 90s. I remember it being so amazing whenever I got to go while tagging along on a trip to the grocery store, bookstore, DMV, etc.

I still don't for sure if my memories of those donuts are so much better than these days just cause I was a dumb kid and it was sugary or because they got that much worse when they stopped baking them onsite.

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bondsman333 t1_jdidvk7 wrote

My dad would barge into my room at like 7AM to wake me up for school every morning and say "TIME TO MAKE THE DONUTS!".

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Allamarain t1_jdhq7bd wrote

Yup! Saw the ads in the Midwest

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VoteCamacho2508 t1_jdi5lz1 wrote

We had that commercial down south. When I was a kid, I thought Duncan was that guy's name.

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blue_orchard t1_jdhho69 wrote

It was a major, nationwide campaign that lasted until 1997. Some areas may not have seen them if there were no Dunkins around, though.

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Emperor-Awesome t1_jdhnmvz wrote

Definitely remember that commercial growing up in Illinois, must've been all over the place.

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Bostonviadetroit t1_jdhv5y3 wrote

I remember those commercials in Michigan back in the 80s.

I also remember when they bought out dawn donuts in the early 90s, which was their major competition in the Midwest.

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loquacious_avenger t1_jdl449n wrote

I grew up just south of Seattle and saw those ads. Referenced it just yesterday when my husband asked if Dunks was open yet at 6:00 am.

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