What Happened to Mister Donut?

It’s been nearly 30 years since the company that owns Dunkin’ Donuts bought Mister Donut stores in the U.S. That’s when nearly all the Mister Donuts in America became Dunkin’ Donuts locations.

There are three Dunkin’ Donuts locations in Schuylkill County. Two in Pottsville and another in Saint Clair.

Dunkin Name Change

Then, news came last year that Dunkin’ Donuts planned a re-branding of its thousands of stores in the U.S.

Rather than calling itself Dunkin’ Donuts, the stores will simply be known as Dunkin’. Of course, that hasn’t happened yet. It was supposed to happen at the beginning of 2019. And here we are at the end of 2019 and the Dunkins are still Dunkin’ Donuts.

Apparently, when “Dunkin” beta-tested the name change, people weren’t too thrilled about them dropping the Donuts from its name.

But, half the people you meet already call it just Dunkin’. And no matter what you tell people your business name is, they’re going to call it what they call it.

Remembering Mister Donut

In fact, you’ll still find people around here who still call Dunkin Donuts “Mister Donut”. And just like there are two Dunkins in Pottsville, there were two Mister Donuts. But the one at Route 61 and Mauch Chunk Street is the one most celebrated for its smog of cigarette smoke.

Did you know that Mister Donut is still a thing? It’s part of Dunkin Brands Group, a company founded in 2004.

Mister Donut remains a strong brand name, just … on the other side of the world. It’s one of the top fast-food business brands in Asia but there’s just 1 remaining Mister Donut store in the U.S.

Mister Donut in Japan

Check out this compilation of Mister Donut commercials from Japan. They’re always up to something … Munchy munchy.

Not Forgetting Mister Donut

Mister Donut isn’t the only brand name people remember fondly enough to still associate with the brand or business that replaced it.

What’s weird, is that people in the coal region and Pottsville, specifically, will still call it Mister Donut but they secretly wished it were Dunkin Donuts. That’s because in the 1980s, all we saw on TV was this guy …

It took forever for people to start calling it Value City and not Gee Bee.

And the A-Plus in Pottsville was known as the AM-PM for decades after the name change. And how can you forget there was an IGA in every town long after the IGA brand wasn’t being used by those supermarkets.

Are there any stores you still call by their old name? Let us know in the Comments below.

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CHECK OUT MORE FROM THE SCHUYLKILL COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF MEMES

 

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