CANTON, Mass. (May 18, 2009) – Americans channeled their imagination and love of donuts into a culinary treat of their own design for Dunkin' Donuts' first-ever "Create Dunkin's Next Donut" contest. From nearly 130,000 donut contest creations submitted online, Dunkin' Donuts, America's all-day, everyday stop for coffee and baked goods, today announced 12 finalists who will compete for the chance to win a $12,000 grand prize and have their winning donut sold in participating Dunkin' Donuts locations throughout the country.
Americans can vote for their favorite finalist online at www.dunkindonuts.com/donut. The lucky dozen includes:
- "A Nutter One" – A chocolate butter kreme-filled donut with peanut butter icing and chopped Reese's® Peanut Butter Cups (Carol D'Angio, Palm Beach Gardens, FL)
- "Bodacious Banana" – A Bananas Foster-filled donut with chocolate icing topped with shredded coconut (Christine Roman, Ellenville, NY)
- "Chocolate Monkey" – A Bananas Foster-filled donut with chocolate icing topped with Hershey®'s Milk Chocolate shavings (Michelle Ventura, Cranston, RI)
- "Economic Crunch" – A cake donut with chocolate icing topped with graham cracker crunch and butternut crunch (Michael McNeil, Aliso Viejo, CA)
- "Frozen Assets" – A chocolate mint Bavarian-filled donut with white icing topped with blue and green sprinkles (Kimberly Brooks, Orlando, FL)
- "Grandma's Blueberry Maple Donut" – A blueberry cake donut with maple icing topped with graham cracker crunch (Caitlyn Vandervelde, Coventry, RI)
- "Mexican Hot Chocolate" – A chocolate cake stick filled with marshmallow and topped with chocolate icing, Hershey®'s Cinnamon shavings and Hershey®'s Vanilla shavings (Jane Boderck, Easton, PA)
- "Sm'OREO" – A marshmallow-filled donut with chocolate icing topped with OREO® cookie pieces and graham cracker crunch (Laura Sherland, Smithtown, NY)
- "The Graham Slam" – A marshmallow-filled donut with chocolate icing topped with graham cracker crunch and white sprinkles (Nevrie Dauti, Wayne, NJ)
- "The King" – A Bananas Foster-filled donut with peanut butter icing and chopped peanuts (James Smith, Mount Vernon, NY)
- "Toffee For Your Coffee" – A glazed, sour cream cake donut topped with chopped Heath® Bar (Jeff Hager, Hoover, AL)
- "Tour de France" – A chocolate cake stick with hazelnut kreme glaze (Lindsay Piccotti, Clay, NY)
Finalists were selected based on the following criteria: use of ingredients in donut combination, donut name, and donut story. To learn more about the inspiration behind each donut, visit www.dunkindonuts.com/donut.
Each finalist wins $1,200 and will travel to Dunkin' Donuts' University in Braintree, Massachusetts 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 will be selected based on the outcome of the bake-off and America's online public voting. The grand prize winner of the "Create Dunkin's Next Donut" contest will be unveiled on National Donut Day, June 5, 2009.
"We were absolutely amazed at the number of entries into our contest, and the incredible creativity and originality of all of the submissions," said Frances Allen, Dunkin' Donuts' Brand Marketing Officer. "Clearly donuts create passion and delight among Americans, especially in these challenging times when people are seeking small moments of happiness. We salute our dozen finalists and everyone who participated in the contest to celebrate the joy and fun of donuts."
Dunkin' Donuts has led the donut category for nearly 60 years, selling 2.5 million donuts and Munchkin™ donut hole treats every day.
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.
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Contact:
Andrew Mastrangelo
Manager, Public Relations
781-737-5200
andrew.mastrangelo@dunkinbrands.com
Margaret Skrmetti
RF Binder
781-559-0437
Margaret.skrmetti@rfbinder.com
