The original Dunkin Donuts store in Quincy during its grand reopening. Photo: Chris Fama/WBZ NewsRadio
QUINCY, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — The original Dunkin' store held a grand reopening in Quincy on Wednesday.
The owners of the store on Southern Artery have been remodeling the location, which originally opened in 1948 under the name "Open Kettle," then rebranded to become the first "Dunkin' Donuts." The company details that a rumor says the name may have stemmed from the idea of dunking donuts into coffee from an Executive Architect.
Now named Dunkin' internationally, the original Quincy location still fashions its retro "Dunkin' Donuts" sign out front.
"We're so happy and proud of the way the remodel came out, how we were able to mesh the new with the old," said Victor Carvalho, franchise co-owner.
To celebrate the reopening, the first Dunkin' is giving away free coffee for a year to a hundred 'lucky' customers.
Mayor of Quincy Thomas Koch wasn't shy to declare that the city emphatically runs on Dunkin'.
"Dunkin' is Quincy, and Quincy is Dunkin'," Koch said.
The franchise owners, Victor and Octavio Carvalho say it was difficult keeping the remodeling under wraps while renovations were underway.
"We weren't even able to share some of it with our own teams, and then to have this turnout is just amazing," Octavio said.
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The reopening fell on the same day a national Dunkin' coffee giveaway called "Soundtrack of the Summer Sweepstakes" was set to end. Through Wednesday, Dunkin' customers could enter in a certain code into their Dunkin' app to enter for the chance to win multiple prizes, including free Dunkin' Coffee for a year.
It's certainly grown from its roots, as according to the coffee company, Dunkin' sells around 60 cups of coffee every second, with a total of 2 billion cups sold worldwide in 2017.
WBZ's Chris Fama (@CFamaWBZ) reports.
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