Happy Birthday, William Rosenberg!

[thewayne]

He would have been 104 today.

He had quite a remarkable life: left school after the 8th grade when his parents lost their shop during the Great Depression, delivered telegrams for Western Union, was the first Jewish trade union delegate for Bethlehem Steel.

And founded Dunkin' Donuts.

When he opened his first coffee and donut shop, initially called Open Kettle, others were selling five varieties of donuts.

He opened with 52.

He was the Baskin-Robbins of little fried cakes.

Very interesting Wikipedia article, I think I'd like to read his autobiography. That's quite an entrepreneur.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Rosenberg

Comments

[moxie_man]

And it's a shame the company has forgotten its roots.

[thewayne]

These days, it's evolve and expand massively or get ignored by Wall Street and don't have access to money in a crisis or when you need it.  Ridiculous We went to a DD in Berlin, I just had to see what it was like compared to an American DD.  Pretty much 100% identical except for the signage, though I imagine the recipes were slightly different based on what the EU will allow in ingredients.  Tasted the same, as far as I recall.  There's a DD in Phoenix that I go to occasionally near one of my favorite bookstores, but I haven't been to it in a couple of years. We're supposed to get a DD/Baskins Robbins in one building here, but their opening was subverted by the shutdown.  And a Starbucks decided this could not go unchallenged, so built a store on the same plot of land.

[moxie_man]

As a child, DD's in my area were open 24/7 with a baker onsite. They made donuts fresh all day long. There was a glass window between the restaurant side and the bakery/frying room where you could watch them being made. Sit-down counter like a diner. You were served your coffee if eating/drinking-in in a real mug, perfect for dunking your donut in. Speaking of which, ask for the classic Dunkin' Donut (with a handle for dunking it in your coffee) and they'll look at you like you've grown a third eye as they won't know what you're talking about as they haven't produced their namesake donut in over 20 years.

You don't see that now. Good luck finding more than 6 or 8 varieties of donuts in one here, none of which are made fresh onsite, but shipped in from some factory somewhere each day.

Like I said, they've forgotten their roots. Yes, they've evolved. Personal opinion, not for the better. They're lucky there aren't a lot of people like me who remember back when they were actually good and not a cookie-cutter knock-off of many other coffee/bakeshops.

[thewayne]

Yeah, my neighborhood had such a DD, can't remember if it was 24 hrs, but it was certainly open early as my dad was up at like 4am in the summer and up there every morning.  I remember that window and being able to see into the kitchen. It is a shame about the lack of variety these days.  I don't know if they're owned by the same parent as Baskin-Robbins or franchisees are allowed to own both, or what, but we're theoretically getting one building here that has both.