Most Dunkin’ Locations Do Not Bake Their Own Donuts — a Viral Employee Video Explains Where They Actually Come From

A video shared to X by the account @WallStreetApes showed an unnamed Dunkin' employee explaining that her location does not bake its own donuts.

"The amount of people who don't realize that we order our donuts from a bakery is wild," she said in the clip wearing her uniform.

She described a specific customer request she was unable to fulfill because of how her store gets its products. "I can't make this lady a plain stick. If I could, I would," she said, adding, "I don't bake it in-house and we can't order them."

@WallStreetApes added commentary suggesting three ways Dunkin' locations obtain donuts, though these claims were not independently verified. "So if Dunkin' Donut locations aren't baking their own donuts, then how do they get them? It turns out there's three different ways that each store can get donuts," the X user said.

The first method, in-house baking, was the least common, according to @WallStreetApes. "This means that the store makes their own donuts, which means the mixing, frying, all that kind of stuff," they said.

The second method was sharing a production site. "This is that bakery where a bunch of franchise locations or just locations in general all get their donuts from one centralized location. This is the most common," the account said.

The third method involved donuts that arrive frozen and are finished on-site. "A lot of Dunkin' Donuts apparently just are frozen and baked on demand, which is kind of wild that they would do that, but it is what it is," the account said.

The comment section was filled with personal accounts of local Dunkin' supply chains. One commenter corrected the process described by the X user, explaining that Dunkin' Donuts and similar products "aren't baked but fried," in oil, before being "dipped for glazing and color."

Another commenter drew a comparison to a different chain's approach to fresh baking. They wrote, "I worked at Panera as a teen and we got fresh bread delivered daily and there was a baker girl who came in when we were closing and she baked all night. Dunkin, y'all gotta do better."

The X user further revealed a number that shocked the viewers. "It turns out about 95% or more do not bake from scratch in-house," the account said, adding that the remainder come from a centralized location or frozen supply.

One user realized the same after a specific item they ordered was affected due to the supply chain. "I figured that. I haven’t eaten at DD in years however, my favorite bake [sic] good is always get [sic] was cheddar twist bagel. One day, a local DD was out of it and they told me a local shape [sic] makes it and they come by every Saturday to drop it off."

The employee's video did not identify her specific store or region, and Dunkin' corporate has not issued a statement addressing the video directly.

The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the sourcing details described in this video. The details above reflect the accounts as shared on X by @WallStreetApes.