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Dunkin’ teams with rapper Jelly Roll in National Doughnut Day promotionDunkin’ teams with rapper Jelly Roll in National Doughnut Day promotion

The coffee-and-doughnut chain is giving away treats and selling new clothing

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

June 6, 2024

2 Min Read
dunkin merch promo
A Dunkin' doughnut t-shirt

Dunkin’ is celebrating June 7, National Doughnut Day, by handing out a free doughnuts with every beverage purchase on that day and also has released a merchandise line available at shopdunkin.com.

Additionally, the chain of more than 13,200 locations globally has enlisted entertainer Jelly Roll to promote the celebration with a minute-long video on TikTok and Instagram.

In the video, the performer shows his own strategies for dunking his favorite doughnuts.

The new merch includes a pink “Jelly” hoodie and a white “Grab Me a Glazed” hoodie, both for $40, and two T-shirts with pictures of doughnuts on them that are $30 each.

Additionally, Dunkin’ recently teamed up with sponge company Scrub Daddy to offer doughnut-shaped sponges for $9.98 each via the Scrub Daddy web site.

“No one loves donuts and coffee more than Dunkin’ and our amazing customers,” Dunkin’ vice president of category management Beth Turenne said in a statement. “National Donut Day is a special day for us because it’s all about celebrating that love and obsession. Plus, we get to share that joy by giving away millions of free donuts.”

Dunkin’, which changed its name from Dunkin’ Donuts in 2018, said it sells more than two million doughnuts and Munchkins doughnut holes annually.

Related:Dunkin’ introduces new LTO menu items during Super Bowl commercial with Ben Affleck and Tom Brady

And consumers continue to enjoy doughnuts too, according to a recent study by supplier Rich Products in collaboration with research firm Datassential. It found that 56% of consumers buy doughnuts at least once a month, and more than 33% buy them multiple times a month. Probably in response, doughnuts' appearance on menu has increased by 47% over the past 10 years. The favorite doughnuts of 60% of consumers is the traditional glazed variety, while 37% prefer them to be frosted, dipped or stuffed with a creamy filling. 

The Jelly Roll video is just the latest Dunkin’ collaboration with celebrities. The chain, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Inspire Brands, ran an ad during the Super Bowl featuring Ben Affleck, who has appeared in numerous Dunkin’ commercials in recent years, including one with rapper Ice Spice, in a band called the DunKings with fellow actor Matt Damon and football legend Tom Brady failing to impress Affleck’s wife, Jennifer Lopez.

On a smaller scale, Dunkin’ has featured lifestyle and etiquette expert Martha Stewart, in videos on social media making an espresso Martini and illustrating how to shake an iced beverage politely.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected] 

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About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality for Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group, with responsibility for spotting and reporting on food and beverage trends across the country for both publications as well as guiding overall F&B coverage. 

He is the host of a podcast, In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: [email protected]

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bret.thorn.52
Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary

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