Dunkin' Donuts Launches National Contest Inviting Americans To Help Create Its Next Donut

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March 18, 2009 // Franchising.com // Canton, Mass. - Donuts bring people happiness, smiles and fun...and now a chance to win $12,000. Dunkin' Donuts, America's all day, every day stop for coffee and baked goods, has launched its first-ever "Create Dunkin's Next Donut" online contest, offering Americans the opportunity to channel their imagination and love of donuts into inspiration by creating their own original donut for the chance to win a $12,000 grand prize and have their tasty treat sold in participating Dunkin' Donuts locations throughout the country.

Beginning today and running through April 7, visitors to www.DunkinDonuts.com/donut can build their virtual personal donut masterpiece from among dozens of flavors, toppings, fillings and shapes. A dozen finalists, selected by a panel of Dunkin' Donuts judges, will travel to Dunkin' Donuts University, the worldwide training center for the company located in Braintree, Massachusetts, in May for a bake-off facilitated by Dunkin' Brands Executive Chef Stan Frankenthaler and the company's donut experts. The public will also be invited to vote for their favorite finalist online beginning May 15. The grand prize winner / creator of "Create Dunkin's Next Donut" contest will be unveiled on National Donut Day, June 5.

The contest is open to all US residents 13 years of age or older. Each person can enter up to three donut creations, with no purchase necessary to participate. Finalists will be selected based on their individual donut's ingredients, name, inspiration and marketability. The winning donut will be selected based on the vote of the bake-off judging panel, as well as America's online vote.

To coincide with the contest launch and make it even easier for consumers to treat themselves to the simple pleasure of a donut, Dunkin' Donuts also announced a special new donut value promotion. Beginning today, participating Dunkin' Donuts locations nationwide will offer a donut for 49 cents, with the purchase of any medium or larger hot coffee.

Dunkin' Donuts today also introduced two new delicious donuts, Berries n' Kreme and Dunkin' Delight. The Berries n' Kreme donut is a bavarian creme filled donut, topped with strawberry icing and Berry Bark sprinkled on top. The "Dunkin' Delight" decorated donut features a yeast ring donut with chocolate icing, and pink and orange sprinkles on top. Both new donuts are available nationwide at participating stores through April 21.

According to Frances Allen, Dunkin' Donuts' Brand Marketing Officer, this is the perfect time for Dunkin' Donuts to shine the spotlight on donuts as the ideal treat for today's challenging times. "Donuts, perhaps more than any other food, lift people's spirits and bring genuine delight to any situation, whether it's a busy meeting at work, weekend errands or just a quick escape from the daily grind. And now more than ever, Americans are seeking those small moments of happiness," she said. "With our new Create Dunkin's Next Donut contest, donut value offers and new flavors, we're creating more opportunities for people to come together to celebrate donuts and help spread some joy in very easy, affordable and fun ways."

Dunkin' Donuts has led the donut category for nearly 60 years, selling 2.5 million donuts and Munchkins™ 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.

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