My family and I will occasionally decide to eat way more than our daily allowance of sugar in a single sitting… literally for breakfast. Mmmmm donuts. Homer Simpson loves them, we love them, and I imagine if you are reading this you love them too.
As residents of Euless, TX near the border of Grapevine, TX, we have semi-frequently visited a local “mom-and-pop” donut shop called DonutLand. The staff has aways been nice and courteous. Recently, literally in the same shopping center a Dunkin Donuts popped up. Immediately my heart sank for the local donut shop. I believe they will have a hard time competing with a large national chain. A couple weeks ago we decided to get only for the kids a couple donuts and I thought to myself, screw Dunkin Donuts, we are going to support the mom and pop donut shop, DonutLand and we did. We bought a couple donuts, I added a small tip and was quite proud of myself that I supported a local business.
This morning, I woke up and thought to myself, you know what, it may be interesting to compare the two side by side. Apples to apples. Donuts to donuts. More specifically, Chocolate covered to chocolate covered and Glazed to glazed. Who would win? Putting my cheering for the small business aside, what donut place do we actually prefer? Let’s find out.
This was a not very scientific test.
Pricing
I went to DonutLand first. I feel it is noteworthy that I was the only one in the store. They were immediately available to help me and I purchase 3 chocolate covered and 3 glazed. The total came to $6.43. I was quickly on my way and went to Dunkin Donuts. I went to the drive through and there were 3 cars in front of me. One truck seems to take quite a while. When I ordered the same exact order, I immediately noticed what I perceive as a huge price difference. The total on the screen was $7.99 for 3 chocolate covered and 3 glazed donuts. I had a bit of sticker shock and this just feels like a lot compared to what I just spent at DonutLand. I also noticed it did not show a total with tax and on the final receipt, I indeed, did not appear to pay tax. Someone is right and someone is wrong. Gosia did as quick search and evidently, it looks like bakeries do not need to charge sales tax in Texas. Perhaps there is an opportunity for Donutland to further increase revenue. Note: I am not an accountant or in any expert or authoritative position to advise who should or should not charge sales tax. In any case, DonutLand wins for price.
Taste
Gosia had 2 glazed to compare (one from each store)
Sarah (my daughter) had 2 chocolates to compare (one from each store) and
Joshua had 1 chocolate and 1 glazed (one from each store)
He started with 1 glazed from Donutland and 1 chocolate from Dunkin. He then later had 1/2 of a glazed from Dunk and 1/2 of a chocolate from Donutland.
I had 2 glazed to compare (one from each store) and later I had Sarahs remaining donut (from Dunkin) and a chocolate from DonutLand to compare.
We noted that the dough was darker on the Dunkin Donuts, and the Donut Land donuts were larger (in volume, not nescerrialy mass)
Gosia’s thought the DonutLand donut was fluffy, airy and possibly less sweet. The Dunkin donut was cakey, and more sweet.
My daughter (4) and my son (7) both agreed that they liked the Donut Land donuts more than Dunkin Donuts with the first send of donuts they had. My son would change his mind of the winner on the second set. He did Not like the chocolate from DonutLand and preferred Dunkin’s chocolate covered much more. He even stated he will never got a chocolate from DonutlLand again.
For myself, when I compared the glazed, I gave a slight edge to Dunkin. I agreed the Donut land one was fluffier and the Dunkin donut was closer (but still quite far away) to a cake like consistency, however, I felt the DonutLand donut seemed just a tad undercooked. It seemed a little doughy for me. I give Dunkin Donuts a slight edge over DountLand.
For the chocolate covered, it was a similar story. It did seem as if the quality chocolate was better for Dunkin Donuts and I again gave an edge to Dunkin Donuts.
The family seemed to overall enthusiastically enjoy DonutLand more than Dunkin Donuts, with the exception of my son who did like the Dunkin chocolate more than the DonutLand chocolate. I only gave Dunkin an edge over DonutLand and did not feel it won by a large margin by any means. This meant that between my lone slim margin support for Dunkin Donuts and the wider margin support for DonutLand by three family members, a decision was made.
Better donuts (3/4 family members) and better pricing. Overall, the winner is clear. Congrats DonutLand.