Dunkin' Donuts first Bay Area outpost heading to Walnut Creek
VOTE: Are food chains with cult followings, like Dunkin' Donuts, worth the hype?
Matt Cobo is about to make East Bay doughnut lovers very happy.
Cobo, a Dunkin’ Donuts franchisee, is set to open the Bay Area’s very first outpost of the beloved East Coast doughnut chain later this month.
As reported last February, the 2,200-square-foot shop, located 1250 Newell Avenue in Walnut Creek, is one of twelve future outposts that Cobo is aiming to open in Contra Costa County over the next few years. The chain first announced plans for Bay Area expansion last summer and construction began on the space — a converted Taco Bell — in March.
The official opening date for the Walnut Creek location is set for Wednesday, June 22, and will include a ribbon cutting ceremony, as well as food and drink samples and special giveaways. While the lines on opening day may not be Din Tai Fung long, with the pastry empire’s many loyal fans, if you go, you should probably brace yourself for a crowd. [I suppose there's people who will try anything, ONCE!]
Hours for the shop will be daily from 5 a.m.-9 p.m.
There are many Dunkin Donuts shops around my home base. Once upon a time, they were not bad. Now nearly all of them bring in the baked goods from some central bakery and only once a day. A donut that is just minutes from the hot grease or oven is heavenly. None of that is now available from Dunkin. All their tv ads here (and there are many) are about their liquid offerings. Those are mostly based on a mediocre blend, rather flavorless if you learned to drink coffee in Europe, as I did. The Dunkin Donut brand was based on a cake donut (not raised) with a special shape--a lump on the side touted as a handle for dipping the thing in hot coffee. Now they don't even have that shape available. If you ask the person behind the counter for a real dunking donut they just look at you blankly.
Hey, New England RUNS on Dunkin. I pass 10 shops on my way to the office, and go just near the original Dunkins shop. it's a funny part of the culture here, and so popular sometimes the drive through lines back up into the roads and interfere with traffic.
It's an occasionally convenience for me, I prefer my coffee from home or some of the small one-off locally owned shops. I will drink their espresso, or an iced coffee. I rarely eat donuts, but they do Boston Creme very well. It is really no worse than Starbucks, but less snooty and less expensive.
“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.” ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg, paraphrasing Sarah Moore Grimké
I doubt Dunkin will have the same traffic impact that Krispy Kreme creates when it opens a new store. Neither is all that great, IMHO, but I agree with SG that a fresh donut is going to be good at any competent bakery, Dunkin and Krispy included.
I remember when Dunkin Donuts was here in Washington State. They left about 20 years ago, about the same time Winchells started to disappear and the chain coffee shops like Starbucks spread like a plague.
Death is Nature's way of telling you to slow down.
