Mister Donut facts for kids
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Food and beverage |
| Founded | 1956 |
| Founder | Harry Winokur |
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Area served
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United States, Hong Kong, Japan, Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore, El Salvador, Middle East |
| Products | Doughnuts, coffee, bagels |
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Mister Donut is a famous international chain of doughnut shops. It was started in the United States in 1956 by Harry Winokur. Today, most of its stores are found in Asia. They sell yummy doughnuts, coffee, muffins, and other pastries.
After a company called Allied Domecq bought Mister Donut in 1990, many of its stores in North America changed into Dunkin' Donuts. Even though there's only one Mister Donut left in the United States, the brand is very popular in places like Hong Kong, Japan, El Salvador, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Singapore.
Contents
The Story of Mister Donut
In 1955, Harry Winokur worked with William Rosenberg, who started Dunkin' Donuts. Harry Winokur later decided to create his own doughnut company. He teamed up with his son-in-law, David Slater, to open Mister Donut stores.
Mister Donut quickly became very popular. Winokur and Slater decided to let other people open Mister Donut stores as franchises. This helped the company grow fast. Soon, there were 275 Mister Donut stores across the U.S. and Canada. In 1970, a big food company called International Multifoods Corporation bought Mister Donut from Winokur.
Mister Donut Goes Global
The first Mister Donut shop in Japan opened in Minoh, Osaka, in 1971. A training center for Mister Donut was also built in Japan that same year. In 1973, the popular French cruller doughnut became available in Japanese stores.
In 1978, brothers Sutthichai and Sutthikiat Chirathiwat opened the first Mister Donut store in Siam Square, Bangkok, Thailand. They helped make doughnuts very popular in Thailand. Since 2003, Central Restaurants Group has managed Mister Donut in Thailand.
In 1983, a Japanese company called Duskin Co., Ltd. bought the rights to open Mister Donut stores across Japan and Asia.
In the 1980s, Mister Donut was the biggest rival to Dunkin' Donuts. In 1987, Elie G. Saheb brought Mister Donut to the United Kingdom. He opened a pilot store and bakery in Fulham, London. By 1988, the rights for Mister Donut in Europe were sold.
By the late 1980s, Mister Donut had over 550 stores in the United States and Canada. In 1989, a large British company, Allied-Lyons plc, bought Dunkin' Donuts. After this, Dunkin' Donuts then bought Mister Donut from International Multifoods in 1990.
Most Mister Donut stores in North America were given the choice to change their name to Dunkin' Donuts. However, Mister Donut franchises in other parts of the world, like Japan and El Salvador, continued to operate on their own.
In 2005, a group of three U.S. investment firms bought Dunkin' Brands, which owned both Dunkin' Donuts and Mister Donut. By 2012, Dunkin' Brands became fully independent. In 2020, Inspire Brands bought Dunkin' Brands. This meant Mister Donut's brand management became part of Inspire Brands.
As of 2017, there was only one Mister Donut store left in the United States, located in Godfrey, Illinois. However, there were 10,000 Mister Donut stores worldwide! In 2016, Mister Donut Japan had over 1,300 stores, making it the largest doughnut chain in Japan. Duskin Co., Ltd. also operated Mister Donut stores in China, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, and Malaysia.
Mister Donut's Look and Mascots
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Mister Donut has a fun orange and white logo that looks like a chef with a mustache. More recently, the company created cute mascot characters based on its doughnuts. One famous character in Japan is "Pon de Lion" (ポン・デ・ライオン, Pon De Raion). He is a lion whose mane is shaped like the "pon de ring" (ポン・デ・リング, Pon De Ringu) doughnut.
In El Salvador, the mascots are five friendly doughnuts and a rooster. The rooster is used for their breakfast menu. The company uses the same logo as Japan and its slogan is "La gran variedad," which means "The great variety."
Mister Donut Around the World
Asia
Mister Donut stores can be found in Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Singapore.
Japan
In Japan, Duskin Co., Ltd. owns the Mister Donut franchise. It is the biggest doughnut chain in Japan, with 961 stores as of March 2021. Keiji Chiba, a manager at Duskin, changed the recipes and made the brand seem more upscale. This helped Mister Donut become very successful in Japan. Before Mister Donut, Japanese people often thought of doughnuts as just snacks for kids.
A survey in 2013 found that Mister Donut was the third favorite fast-food restaurant in Japan. It was behind McDonald's and MOS Burger.
Philippines
The first Mister Donut store in the Philippines opened in Manila in 1982. It has become the country's second-largest doughnut chain, with Dunkin' Donuts as its main competitor. In 1995, the Ramcar Group took over the Mister Donut franchise in the Philippines.
Most of its 1,800 locations are small stalls, often found inside shopping malls. About 200 are full-sized stores. Mister Donut products are also sold in 7-Eleven stores and KFC restaurants. Some locations sell coffee, but they mostly focus on doughnuts. The doughnuts are made to suit the local taste, with smaller sizes and different flavors.
Taiwan
In 2004, the Uni-President Group brought Mister Donut to Taiwan. They planned to open 100 stores in Taiwan within three years.
Thailand
In Thailand, Mister Donut has been a leader in the doughnut market since 1978. Their slogan is "Donut for Fun." As of December 2011, Thailand was the biggest market for Mister Donut outside of Japan in terms of sales. Mister Donut has over 320 branches across Thailand, and more open every year. These include stand-alone stores and branches inside shopping malls and supermarkets.
In 2015, Central Restaurants Group planned to open 30 new Mister Donut stores in Thailand. They hoped to sell doughnuts in all 77 provinces by the end of that year.
Indonesia
In Indonesia, Mister Donut is managed by Indomaret. The first store opened in 2015. There are 7 stand-alone stores and 1,350 smaller stands inside Indomaret outlets. These are mostly in city centers, malls, airports, train stations, or as shop-in-shops within Indomaret stores.
Singapore
In May 2023, Mister Donut opened its first store at Junction 8 in Singapore. This happened after a successful test run in August 2022.
China
Mister Donut stores in China closed down in 2019. This was after almost 20 years of business, due to high costs. Ten stores in Shanghai closed in April 2019.
Hong Kong
The first Mister Donut store in Hong Kong opened in Tsim Sha Tsui on October 26, 2024.
South Korea
Mister Donut briefly came to South Korea in July 2014. However, the contract ended because the local partner broke the rules. They were selling products that were not on the official menu. The stores reportedly closed in 2017.
Europe and Middle East
Mister Donut trademark rights for the United Kingdom were acquired in 1987. The rights for the European markets were acquired in 1988, and for the Middle East in 1995.
The Americas
United States
After Dunkin' Donuts bought Mister Donut in 1990, most stores either closed or became Dunkin' Donuts.
A few stores in Pennsylvania and Ohio remained Mister Donut. Their owners formed a group to keep getting good prices on supplies. By 2006, these stores changed their name to Donut Connection. They still sold the same items as Mister Donut. Some Donut Connection locations still have the old Mister Donut look inside.
Today, only one store in the United States continues to operate as Mister Donut. It is located at 2720 Grovelin Street in Godfrey, Illinois.
Canada
Mister Donut stores in Canada became fewer in the late 1990s. The last three stores in the Toronto, Ontario area closed around 2006.
El Salvador
In El Salvador, the menu includes some local foods from Salvadoran cuisine. As of 2014, there were 30 Mister Donut stores in the country. Some even offered 24-hour service.
What's on the Menu?
Mister Donut is known for its coffee and doughnuts. But they also serve many other foods, like hamburgers and noodle soups.
In 2004, the first Mister Donut shop in Taiwan offered 50 different doughnut flavors every day. Each flavor had a label showing how sweet it was. The store also sold about 15 kinds of drinks.
In 2007, Mister Donut in Japan admitted they had used old syrups in some of their drinks. They quickly fixed the problem.
The company has created special doughnut lines for different events. For example, they made soldier-themed doughnuts for National Doughnut Day in Thailand. The money raised helped military personnel.
In June 2013, Mister Donut in Thailand launched "SushiDo." These were sushi-themed doughnuts! They looked like sushi but were sweet. Options included sweet doughnut versions of shrimp, egg omelet, tuna, and salmon. Sugary frosting replaced the raw fish. For Halloween 2013, Mister Donut introduced Hello Kitty jack-o'-lantern doughnuts. These came in pumpkin or strawberry flavors.
As of 2014, stores in El Salvador focused on a more "homey" menu. They offered local favorites like pupusas and tamales alongside large cream-filled doughnuts.
In April 2014, the company launched a croissant-style doughnut, which became very popular.
In May 2014, Mister Donut worked with the Japanese fast food chain Mos Burger. They created the MOSDO! burger. This burger used a spiral-shaped chorizo, lettuce, and spicy chili sauce. The "buns" were Mister Donut's French Cruller doughnuts!
In April 2015, Mister Donut released new items like the "Brooklyn Merry-Go-Round." This doughnut used both cookie and bagel dough. The company planned to launch new main products every three months.
In 2015, Japan revealed a summer doughnut menu inspired by Brooklyn, New York. These items combined several foods into one, like the famous Cronut. For example, they had berry or lemon doughnuts cut in half with a layer of yogurt in the middle.
As of May 2016, about 80% of the menu at Mister Donut bakery and cafe was coffee drinks. The rest were doughnuts.
In Japan, popular items as of July 2016 included old-fashioned doughnuts covered in chocolate or cinnamon. They also had a "chocolate almond croissant muffin," a salty doughnut, a chocolate-covered churro, and a "financier donut."
Mister Donut's "signature" item in Japan is the "Pon de Ringu." It has a cartoon lion mascot. The "pon de ring" is made of a connected circle of dough balls. There are different kinds, like the pon de angel, which is filled with cream.
Images for kids
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Pon de Eclair
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Green tea donuts
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Chocolate donuts
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"Mister Croissant Donut", a cronut-inspired donut in Japan
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Pokémon-themed donuts
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Red bean mochi-flavored donut
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Curry-filled donuts in Japan
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Glazed donuts shaped like rabbits
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Halloween themed donuts
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Burger using Mister Donut items as the bun
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See also
In Spanish: Mister Donut para niños
- List of doughnut shops
- List of coffeehouse chains
