CANTON, Mass. (June 5, 2009) -- What better time for Dunkin' Donuts to announce the winning donut in the company's first-ever "Create Dunkin's Next Donut" contest than today, National Donut Day. The grand prize winning donut is "Toffee for Your Coffee", a glazed, sour cream cake donut topped with chopped Heath® Bar created by donut devotee Jeff Hager of Hoover, Alabama. Jeff wins $12,000 and his winning donut will be sold in Dunkin' Donuts locations throughout the country beginning this fall.
To commemorate National Donut Day and the announcement of the grand prize winning donut, today participating Dunkin' Donuts shops throughout the country will offer every customer a free donut of their choice, with the purchase of any beverage, limit one per customer. National Donut Day, held the first Friday of June each year, was started by the Chicago Salvation Army more than 70 years ago.
According to Jeff Hager, the inspiration for his donut creation was simple. "Glazed sour cream donuts are my absolute favorite, Heath toffee is by far the best candy treat, and Dunkin' Donuts sells the best coffee," he said. "Put that all together and you've got 'Toffee For Your Coffee!'"
Jeff was selected as one of 12 contest finalists from nearly 130,000 donut contest creations submitted online. As a finalist, he received $1,200 and traveled to Dunkin' Donuts' headquarters in Canton, Massachusetts last week for a bake-off before Dunkin' Donuts' culinary team and company leaders, along with Paul Mullins, author of Glazed America: A History of the Doughnut, and Diane Werner, food director for Taste of Home, the #1 cooking magazine in the country. The winning donut was selected based on the vote of the bake-off judging panel, as well as America's online vote at www.dunkindonuts.com/donut.
Dunkin' Donuts has led the donut category for nearly 60 years, selling 2.5 million donuts every day.
Please visit http://www.bluestarmedia.com/DunkinDonutsBakeOff.htm to download broadcast quality video from the "Create Dunkin's Next Donut" Bake-off and of the contest winner. To see online videos of the "Create Dunkin's Next Donut" Bake-off and contest winner, go to www.dunkindonuts.com/donut.
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About Dunkin' Donuts
Founded in 1950, Dunkin' Donuts is America's favorite every day, all-day stop for coffee and baked goods. Dunkin' Donuts is a market leader in the regular/decaf coffee, iced coffee, hot flavored coffee, donut, bagel and muffin categories, and the largest coffee and baked goods chain in the world. Dunkin' Donuts has earned the No. 1 ranking for customer loyalty in the coffee category by Brand Keys for three years running. The company has more than 8,800 restaurants in 31 countries worldwide. In 2008, Dunkin' Donuts' global system-wide sales were $5.5 billion. Based in Canton, Massachusetts, Dunkin' Donuts is a subsidiary of Dunkin' Brands, Inc. For more information, visit www.DunkinDonuts.com.
Contact:
Jessica Rosen
RF|Binder
212-994-7522
jessica.rosen@rfbinder.com
David Puner
Communications Manager
781-737-5200
david.puner@dunkinbrands.com