2/07/2011

Is Dunkin' Donuts "Cheap and Low Class"?

Danny: "Donuts are totally a low-class food.*"
Kate: "Sure, but Dunkin' Donuts is like Starbucks."
Danny: "How is Dunkin' Donuts like Starbucks?"
Kate: "You know how there's a Starbucks on every corner in Conifer? That's how it is in Western Mass!"
Danny: "But that doesn't mean that it's not low class."
Kate: "Everybody goes there. EVERYBODY."
Danny: "McDonalds?"
Kate: "McDonalds isn't necessarily low class."
Danny: "I can't think of anything more low class."
Kate: "Maybe if you ate there every day for every meal!"
Danny: "I think the difference is that when you think of Starbucks, you think of coffee, but when you think of Dunkin' Donuts, you think of donuts, and donuts are a low-class food. Donuts are in the name!"
Kate: "Okay, but everbody at home goes to Dunkin' Donuts primarily for their coffee."
Danny: "But it's still in the name. And they DO sell donuts. Starbucks doesn't sell donuts, they sell pastries and croissants."
Kate: "And now they sell $3.00 half-cups of oatmeal."
Danny: "Exactly! If anything screams elitism, it's absurdly priced peasant food relabled as a health food!"
Kate: "You could buy about 3 pounds of oatmeal for that much."
Jane: "Waaaah!!!"

Better go appease the whiner.

But I'm wondering what you think. Is Dunkin' Donuts cheap and low class? Dot, you worked there for a stint. What say ye?


* Danny wants to add for clarification that he is not an enormous snob, that he ate donuts every morning for 3 years in high school.

9 comments:

  1. I've only been there once or twice...and the one time I wanted hot chocolate and THEY DIDN'T SELL IT. Therefore, I don't like them. I think pretty much the majority of traditional fast food is low class though (especially McDonald's). Just not a fan. Doughnuts are a very delicious food though. I can't remember the last time I had one...but now I sort of want one.

    ReplyDelete
  2. When I was working construction in 2003, our crew sent a guy out to Dunkin' Donuts religiously to pick up food for the 9:00 break. I usually got a bagel with cream cheese, but that was just me.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I can see that Danny is carrying on the fine Challis tradition of extreme food snobbery.

    ReplyDelete
  4. well---i worked for dunkin donuts for....7 years! i dont really classify anything as "low class" food. food is food to me. i mean, bacon was considered a peasant food back in the day--and seriously, everyone loves bacon! but starbucks definitely markets to the upper class and dunkin donuts has always geared itself to the "working class" the american joe gets his cup of joe {and donut} every day before work--
    i was just telling tom how much i missed dunkin donuts--so sad they arent out here!

    ReplyDelete
  5. You are right-- Dunkin is the Starbucks of New England. I don't really get it, but whatever. I have to say though-- I love me some donuts therefore will not agree that they are low-class. :)But I can see where Danny is coming from.

    ReplyDelete
  6. DD certainly is as prolific in NE as Starbucks is in CA- when I lived in Long Beach, you could stand right outside of the Starbucks on 2nd street and literally see another Starbucks one block away in either direction. Also, there were at least three other coffee places in between. In MA, we'd always use DD as a defining landmark- "Go south until you see a Dunkin Donuts on your right. Turn left and continue on until you pass another Dunkin Donuts, which is kitty-corner from your destination," etc.

    If you know anything about coffee (what tastes good and what tastes cheap), you will know that comparing Starbucks to DD is like comparing 5 Guys to McDonalds- they are not on the same level. (and Kate, McDonalds is totally cheap and low class!!)

    For coffee, I'd go to Starbucks (expensive, but quality) (not that I drink coffee anymore!), for pastries or bagels, DD all the way. They're just as good as SB's and a zillion times cheaper. Einstein's Bagels are amazzzzzing... now I'm hungry for a bagel and a donut!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sarah, I'm going to have to go with Kelly on this one: food is food and can't really be low class. The filthy rich sometimes eat at McDonalds and D&D with the filthy poor (heh).

    I would say your eating HABITS betray your social class more than what the place is. I mean, Chef's Table and other super fancy, expensive restaurants are exceptions because they automatically exclude those who can't afford it, but EVERYBODY eats at McDonalds (and in Mass, D&D). How can it be "low class" if everybody does it? I mean, minus anybody who has ever read supersize me.

    And then, what about in other countries? McDonalds was a popular, clean, fancy restaurant in Jordan. People really wanted to work there. The same burger there is a zillion times better than the one here. So how can we really label all of McDonalds as low class? It's so massively ubiquitous that you can't.

    You're so right about using D&D for landmarks. Greg once gave me directions that were like, "Turn left at the D&D, go down the street until you get to a D&D, then turn right, keep going past the next D&D, and then when you see a D&D, you turn right again and you'll be there." Haha.

    I want a bagel, too. Between Rounds was way better than Einstein's or D&D.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I just ate at Mcdonald's this morning lol. Now I want a Donut!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I don't think donuts are low class. I think they transcend all lines. They come in many sizes and flavors. When they are filled and powdered they are heavenly.

    Eating dirt and road kill are low class.

    ReplyDelete

Add a comment!