What's the deal with "Donut Man" in Myrtle Beach?

August 20, 2009 12:42 PM

What's the deal with the "Donut Man" store on Business 17 in Myrtle Beach? It looks like a Dunkin Donuts but apparently isn't.

I drove by and decided to check out the "Donut Man" place on Business 17 in Myrtle Beach the other night, since it seemed like it was a non-chain donut store. So I went inside and beyond the place looking like a NJ Turnpike rest area, the donuts looked exactly like the ones at Dunkin Donuts, and even one of the signs had the Dunkin Donuts colors.

I searched around but wasn't able to find out anything. Did this place used to be a Dunkin Donuts? Is it an unbranded Dunkin Donuts? Is it coincidentally just like a Dunkin Donuts?

posted by Godbert to travel & transportation around Myrtle Beach, SC (6 answers total)

I am thinking that it was a dunkin donuts that lost its chain license maybe? I saw one of these in keywest this past new years.
posted by majortom1981 at 12:49 PM on August 20, 2009

You may find this of interest: Not Fooling Anybody.
posted by Diagonalize at 12:56 PM on August 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I'm thinking it's a former Dunkin Donuts where the owner lost the franchise. Just slap a new name on it and keep crankin' out...mmmmmmmmm, donuts.
posted by Thorzdad at 12:57 PM on August 20, 2009

For reference, there is also a "Donut Man" in Hadley, MA (link to some random donut blog) that is mysteriously Dunkin-esque. Remarkably similar donuts, coffee drinks, etc. I heard that the owner ran a Dunkin Donuts franchise for years before opening it.
posted by drumcorpse at 2:04 PM on August 20, 2009

Seconding what drumcorpse said - our Donut Man's stuff is almost exactly like Dunkin' Donuts if you could buy a slightly "premium" edition.

Dunkin' Pro®.
posted by clango at 3:00 PM on August 20, 2009

Some business owners choose to stop being part of a franchise at the end of some contract period; we had a Dairy Queen that did that near us, and the owner chatted to us about it at length one day. She was trying to avoid the high cost of buying approved supplies and fixtures through the company; sadly, the place did not thrive as a non-DQ and closed not long after.

My former sister-in-law owned two franchise stores and she and my brother often complained about the ridiculous cost of buying the "official" light fixture or shelving, say, versus what you could get something comparable for at Home Depot.

My favorite is when they remove the absolute minimum of signage. For instance, in your example, they might have covered over "Dunkin" but left "Donuts." We have a former JiffyLube where they just took the "Jiffy" part off the sign. Classy looking!
posted by not that girl at 6:28 PM on August 20, 2009