7 Facts About Dunkin’ in Massachusetts
Dunkin’ started in Quincy in 1948 as a doughnut shop called Open Kettle.
Bay Staters who stop in every morning might not know that, let alone other parts of the chain’s history.
Here are the facts about Dunkin’ in Massachusetts that even regulars don’t not know.
1. 52 Kinds of Doughnuts
When the Quincy shop became Dunkin’ Donuts in 1950, it sold 52 kinds of doughnuts, at a time when four or five varieties was the norm, Boston.com reported.
In January 2013, Dunkin’ tested gluten-free cinnamon sugar doughnuts and blueberry muffins in some Boston-area locations.
In April 2013, a glazed doughnut breakfast sandwich was introduced in a few eastern Massachusetts locations.
Dunkin’ described its Boston Kreme in a 2019 blog post as a yeast shell with Bavarian Kreme filling and chocolate icing.
2. Ordering a Regular
Reporters phoned Dunkin’ locations in 2014 and asked managers and employees how to make a medium coffee regular.
From Boston to Worcester, a regular meant coffee with cream and sugar.
The answer held in the western towns of Westfield and Lee too.
Dunkin’s Regular by Cup Size
In that phone check, Dunkin’ employees described a medium regular as three creams and three sugars.
A small got two of each, and a large got four of each.
3. Dunkin’ Stores in the Affleck Ads
Dunkin’ aired its first-ever Super Bowl commercial in February 2023, set at a drive-thru in Medford, Massachusetts.
Ben Affleck played the worker taking orders at the window, and Jennifer Lopez starred alongside him.
The store is on Commercial Street, according to the Boston Globe in 2025.
Another store, at 35 Squire Road in Revere, is the backdrop for a different Affleck spot.
In that one, employees mistake him for Matt Damon.
4. Open Kettle
Dunkin’ began in Quincy as a donut shop called Open Kettle, which founder Bill Rosenberg opened in 1948.
He renamed it Dunkin’ Donuts in 1950.
Before opening the shop, Rosenberg ran mobile canteens that brought coffee and lunch to shipyard workers, according to Mass Moments.
A franchisee family bought the Quincy shop in 1979.
The family remodeled it in 2011 with an old-style script sign and a counter with stools.
An October 2025 Globe photo caption calls the Quincy shop the original Dunkin’ location, established in 1950.
One reader who visited the Quincy shop as a kid recalled that you could only get a coffee and a doughnut.
5. Nickel Donuts, Dime Coffee
In 1950, Dunkin’ Donuts charged five cents for a donut and ten cents for a cup of coffee in Quincy.
If you wanted a donut and a coffee, you paid fifteen cents.
Many predicted the business would fail.
Bill Rosenberg grew up in Dorchester and left school at 14 to help support his family.
In 1955, he began licensing franchisees to use the Dunkin’ Donuts name, following the model of Howard Johnson’s.
6. Name Change
Canton-based Dunkin’ Brands announced in September 2018 that its Dunkin’ Donuts chain would drop “Donuts” from the name on Jan. 1, 2019.
Dunkin’ had begun testing the shorter name at a Quincy location about eight months earlier.
The company said the change reflected a growing focus on coffee and other drinks.
Harry Chapin, chief executive of the Boston marketing firm Forge Worldwide, told WBUR he can’t see the doughnut market blowing up unless it’s artisanal or craft doughnuts.
The new branding was set to appear on packaging, advertising, the website and social channels.
Dunkin’ listed the new name alongside a simpler menu and dedicated mobile ordering lanes as efforts to stay relevant to younger customers.
The logo kept its familiar rounded font, along with the orange-and-pink color scheme the company has used since 1973.
7. Canton Headquarters
Dunkin’ Donuts moved its headquarters to Canton in 2004, Boston.com reported in 2013.
Dunkin’ Brands Group was still headquartered in Canton in October 2020.
Psst! How much do you know about Massachusetts food history? Take our quiz and see if you can ace it.
Quiz
Bay State Food Trivia
Answer these questions on Massachusetts food history. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?
Friendly’s first shop sold double-scoop ice cream cones for 5 cents in the 1930s. How did that price compare with local soda fountains?
A Dunkin' in Every Town
By 2022, Stow had lost both of its Dunkin' locations.
If you lived there, you had to drive to Maynard, Hudson or Bolton, about three miles from the center of Stow at the closest.
Readers told the Boston Globe about their favorite Dunkin' locations.
One South Weymouth store on Route 18 has a double drive-thru, with one lane for mobile orders and another for traditional orders.
A Dedham reader praised the Spring Street store in West Roxbury and said about 1,000 regulars come through every morning.
Two people at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology set a goal of visiting a Dunkin' in every city and town in the state.
They had visited 293 Dunkin' locations by then.
If you live in the state, your town is part of that goal.
There's also a Norwell Dunkin' location that's essentially just a take-out window.
Some locations are tiny.
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