Author of Doughnut History Judges Dunkin' Donuts Bake-off

Billed as the world’s largest coffee and baked goods chain, Dunkin’ Donuts sells 52 varieties of doughnuts at more than 8,800 franchises worldwide.

On May 28, 2009, IUPUI anthropology Professor Paul Mullins, author of “Glazed America: A History of the Doughnut” helped the international company select a new Dunkin’ doughnut for production.

Mullins was one of two judges for the bake-off competition of the Create Dunkin’s Next Donut Contest. During the bake-off at Dunkin’ Donuts University in Braintree, Mass., he sampled the doughnuts selected as finalists from the more than 130,000 “recipes” Americans submitted in the contest.

Mullins and fellow bake-off judge Diane Werner, food director for Taste of Home magazine, tried "Bodacious Banana” – a Bananas Foster-filled doughnut topped with chocolate icing and shredded coconut; “A Nutter One” – a chocolate creation with crème filling, peanut butter icing and chopped Reese's® Peanut Butter Cups; “Grandma's Blueberry Maple Donut" – a blueberry cake donut with maple icing; and nine other doughnuts described in a Dunkin’ Donuts press release.

“I get to eat 12 doughnuts,” said Mullins, who enjoys doughnuts from a mom-and-pop bakery in Indianapolis. His “Glazed America” attracted the attention of Dunkin Donuts’ representatives who invited him to serve as a contest judge. The book, published in 2008, traces the development of this country’s consumer culture through Americans’ relationships with the doughnut.

Dunkin’ Donuts founder Bill Rosenberg’s autobiography served as reference material for “Glazed America.”

“I used his book quite a bit,” Mullins said.

Rosenberg was on the “cutting edge” of franchise marketing, researching and implementing business practices that have since become standard among almost all food service chains, according to the IUPUI professor.

An Entrepreneur’s Hall of Fame inductee, “Rosenberg was a pretty clever guy,” the IUPUI professor said.

Dunkin’ Donuts will announce the $12,000 grand prize winner of the doughnut contest on Friday (June 5, 2009) National Doughnut Day. The franchise will produce the winning creation as a “limited edition” donut.

In online voting that ended at midnight Wednesday (May 27, 2009), visitors to the contest Web site could vote for their favorite doughnut creations. A rating system based on the online votes and bake-off results will determine the grand prize winner.

The creator of each doughnut finalist received  $1,200, a year’s worth of donuts, and a copy of Mullins’ book.

Updated June 1, 2009