America runs on doughnuts

Doughnuts are an early-morning meeting requirement. Not counting the low-carb craze that reached its pinnacle a few years ago, doughnuts are an expectation at any gathering with other green professionals that begins before noon. Doughnuts are mainstays. They’re an innocent pastry filled with glazed goodness. A conversation starter or the sugar boost needed to kick-start focus at a meeting. At least that’s what I’ve always thought.

Last week while watching what I thought was the “lite” news segment on the local Fox channel, I saw a story on how Dunkin’ Donuts was trying to gain a foothold by adding 20 new stores in North Texas this year (125 are planned by 2010).

The cheerful news reporter talked to a few doughnut fanatics who couldn’t wait for the chain to build stores here. They were mainly Northern transplants who had a hankering for the chain’s tasty coffee.

The reporter then spoke with Dunkin’ Donut franchise management, who expounded on the premise that the Dallas area is an untapped market, yadda, yadda, yadda. You know, the typically fluffy news lite feature designed to fill time and boost corporate product-placing morale.

I grew up a block away from a Dunkin’ Donuts, so I was pleased to hear about the chain’s impending arrival in the Lone Star State. My nearly Homer Simpson-esque daydream about jelly-filled Munchkin doughnut-hole goodness caused me to pause. When I went to change the channel, I set down the remote as the story took a somewhat nasty turn.

The formerly bubbly reporter looked directly at the camera, smiled and acidly said, “But what about the effect Dunkin’ Donuts will have on the local doughnut stores?”

She went on to claim that the arrival of a national doughnut chain would crush small, family-run local, neighborhood doughnut shops. Dunkin’ Donuts went from a happy place to purchase excellent coffee and a French cruller to an evil big-business conglomerate out to destroy wholesome, mom-and-pop doughnut purveyors.

I was shocked.

Where was this news reporter when Home Depot, Lowe’s and Wal-Mart stormed into peaceful neighborhoods, squashing independent garden centers, grocery stores and hardware stores in their wake?

When did my local Fox start to care about the little guy? The independent?

The Dunkin’ Donuts incident isn’t the first David vs. Goliath story that I’ve seen recently in the news. It was just the most surprising. Doughnuts are innocent breakfast-meeting food, not tools of the apocalypse.

So, is public opinion being manipulated back to the side of small, independent businesses? I hate to say it, but in a lot of ways, I hope so.

If the local news reporters can attack something as innocent as a doughnut chain, maybe they’ll start seeing the destruction that other independents-crushing chains can bring.

I’m not saying that all mega-chain corporations are bad, just that there needs to be a balance. Both need to survive for our businesses to thrive and survive.

Customers need a choice. They need the opportunity to buy from the store of choice -- be it big or small.

I guess time will tell where public opinion on the small store vs. large chain will turn. In the meantime, pass me a jelly doughnut with sprinkles.

-- Jyme

Comments

[trey]

We had the Krispy Kream dougnut chain come to Sacramento a few years ago. There we're news stories about this wonderful event and the lines waiting for doughnuts we're long. The little local doughnut shops we're given their obituary and we moved along.

Now Krispy Kream is no longer in our area. Something to do with the low carb craze, stock tanking, or something else.

The independent doughnut shop that was written off? It's still there. It survived!

There is room for both the chains and independents. It's just now we independents have a voice, and people can hear from all the different businesses. When we listen the independents often do a better job explaining what they are about better than the chains.

[k. parkinson]

The scenario the story painted is exactly what happened in our town. Krispy Kreme came to town with hundreds of customers waiting in lines. ALL of our locally owned shops except ONE closed and now--- krispy kreme is gone too! We Americans need not to be so short sighted. Cheap prices now are paid for later. Case in point- all of our purchasing products overseas because production makes them cheaper is now seriously affecting our economy because we purchase more from foreign countries than they purchase from us. We have no one to blame but ourselves. We look for the immediate affect to ourselves, not the long run effect for the entire nation.