By Bailey Lowe
Dunkin’ Donuts is preparing to unveil new and returning items to the menu starting May 3rd, 2024.
The notification and arrival of these new products got me thinking about my recommendations for customers, especially since I have worked there for four years.
Beginning with drinks, there are only two I have consistently had over these past few years:
· Small Iced Coffee, 1 Caramel, 3 Cream, 1 Liquid Sugar. This drink is perfect for people who don’t like very sweet coffee but also want to avoid the bitterness of Dunkin’s original blend.
· Small or Medium Strawberry Dragon Fruit Refresher, ¼ green tea, extra ice, extra juice. The green tea tends to water down the flavor of the refresher, so if you want to taste the juice properly, I would suggest adding extra ice and less green tea. This drink is perfect if you have a sore throat or are very hot in the summertime.
As for donuts, I don’t recommend having a Dunkin’ donut because it is mostly air and sugar. However, if I had to recommend one, it would be the Vanilla Frosted. It is sweet and has icing, but other than Glazed, I would say to go with the standard starter donut. It can be paired with most drinks and does not affect the drink’s taste when consumed together, so it is a good choice for someone new to the business.
Next are the sandwiches, which are the most difficult to recommend because of dietary issues and other factors. My go-to sandwich is either a Sourdough toasted with butter, which is friendly for most diet-concerned people, or sausage and white cheddar cheese on a plain bagel with ketchup. For the sausage sandwich, you have to specify that you do not want the egg and want to swap the American cheese for the white cheddar. If you order any of the standard sandwiches, fair warning, you will get a stomach ache.
Lastly, the side for the sandwich. The most obvious answer is the hashbrowns, but when ordering, make sure to tell them to cook them crispy and fresh. We have warmers that cause the hashbrowns to be soggy if they weren’t originally made very crispy. The employees might be frustrated, but let them. The hashbrowns always taste better fresh.
I also recommend the Everything mini-bagels, but I warn those with lactose intolerance against them because they come pre-stuffed with cream cheese. They are tasty and less dense than a sandwich while still leaving you feeling full.
Overall, my biggest suggestion is to ask for your food and drink to be remade if you are not satisfied. Yes, this annoys me, but from the customer’s perspective, it is important that you are satisfied with the product you have spent your money on. Food being cooked the proper way or a drink label being followed correctly makes all the difference in the enjoyment of any of the items I have listed. I can confirm this is true because I make all of my own food, obviously, and when it is made right and fresh, it tastes much better.