Dunkin’ Donuts

William Rosenberg dropped out of school at fourteen. Among other odd jobs he held around his native Boston, he delivered telegrams for Western Union and was employed as a door-to-door salesman. During World War II work was plentiful and he saved $1,500 in war bonds. After the war he cashed in the bonds and borrowed an additional $1,000 to start a business that sold coffee, sandwiches, and baked goods from converted telephone trucks at worksites in suburban Boston. Within three years his company, called Industrial Luncheon Services, was operating 140 trucks. Observing that doughnuts were always in high demand, in 1948 he opened a small doughnut shop called the Open Kettle in Quincy, Massachusetts. Two years later he renamed his shop Dunkin’ Donuts. In 1955 he sold his first franchise; by 1966 there were enough shops around the country that Rosenberg set up Dunkin’ Donuts University to help franchisers run their businesses. By 1968 there were 334 outlets; by 1986 there were 6,900. In 1970 the company opened its first outlet abroad, in Japan. Dunkin’ Donuts began to advertise on television in 1978. In 1983 they had an incredible success with a commercial showing Fred the baker (played by Michael Vale) arising before dawn and mumbling, “Time to make the doughnuts,” as he made his way to his Dunkin’ Donuts shop. This was honored by the Television Bureau of Advertising as one of the five best commercials of the 1980s.