What food item is Massachusetts best known for? You might recognize certain brands – like Fluffernutter, Ken’s Steakhouse dressing, or Cape Cod Potato chips, from trips to the local grocery store with your host family. These products are among the most famous foods to originate in Massachusetts and have become popular nationally. Maybe you’ve been to the Somerville Fluff Festival? Then you’ll know that Massachusetts takes pride in its food innovations. To show appreciation for similar food creations, Thrillist recently published this article, detailing the most important foods to come from each state. The results for New England were what you might expect, Maine was recognized for its lobster rolls, Vermont for Ben & Jerry’s Ice cream, and Connecticut for the burger. L.A. Burdick Chocolate mice were highlighted in New Hampshire, Del’s Lemonade was chosen for Rhode Island…and Massachusetts’ most important food contribution was Dunkin Donuts.
If you’ve ever wandered through the streets of Boston, this may not come as such a surprise. You can a find a Dunkin’ (or two) on almost any street, and the corporation never has a shortage of advertisements on Boston’s billboards, taxi cabs, or buildings. Just how many Dunkin’s are there in Massachusetts? Well, according to the map below, there’s a lot. Boston.com counts 61 Dunkin stores in Boston alone, with countless others across the state, and over 9,000 in the continental US with about 2,000 stores in 36 countries internationally. In Massachusetts, the brand outnumbers Starbucks 10 to 1, so maybe Boston really does run on Dunkin’?
How did Massachusetts most famous corporation, and apparent greatest food contribution, get its start? It’s an interesting story. In 1948, Dunkin’ founder, William Rosenberg owned a coffee shop in Quincy, Massachusetts called “Open Kettle”. In 1950, Rosenberg changed the shop’s name to “Dunkin Donuts”, thus the first Dunkin’ store was born. The store then began to be franchised in 1955 and grew form there. Recently Dunkin Donuts dropped the “Donuts” from its name and now just goes by Dunkin’. The corporation is currently headquartered south of Boston in Canton, Massachusetts.
In 1990 Dunkin’ acquired their main competitor, Mister Donut and changed many of those locations to Dunkins. However, a lot of the international locations were not changed, which is why you can still find a Mister Donut in several countries abroad. If you’re a student from Japan or another Southeast Asian nation, then perhaps you’ve been! Of course, there are many other places in the city find the perfect donut. If this post made you hungry for something frosted and sweet, treat yourself to a snack from one of Boston’s best donut shops. Enjoy!
