The Once-Popular Dunkin' Breakfast Sandwich Fans Desperately Want Back

Whether or not you like Dunkin', it's hard to argue with this chain's success. Besides being America's oldest donut chain, it's now one of only four restaurant chains with 10,000 locations or more. Like any other chain, however, Dunkin' has had its fair share of hits and misses on the menu over the years. Some of these, like many of its discontinued drinks, deserve a comeback. We'd add the Big N' Toasted sandwich to that list as well.

This breakfast sandwich was originally introduced to the menu in 2011 and included two eggs, cherrywood-smoked bacon, and American cheese between two slices of Texas toast. Professional reviewers loved it, and Dunkin's loyal customers loved it even more. Sadly, Dunkin' dropped the sandwich from its menu in 2018, and it hasn't appeared as a permanent menu item since.

The calls for the return of Dunkin's Big N' Toasted are loud and clear across the internet. One Facebook commenter says it was much better than what appears to be its replacement: the Sourdough Breakfast Sandwich. Another Facebook user agrees: "Take the sourdough away and bring [the Big N' Toasted] back." A Redditor calls the sandwich one of their favorite menu items at Dunkin': "That big toast sandwich always has a place in my heart."

It seems the Big N' Toasted's replacement was the Sourdough Breakfast Sandwich, a similar breakfast option with two "eggs" that aren't real eggs, five slices of bacon, and white cheddar between two slices of sourdough toast. The sandwich sells for about $8 on Dunkin's current menu. If you believe online commenters, this replacement doesn't hit nearly as hard as the discontinued Big N' Toasted. So, why did Dunkin' drop the Big N' Toasted from its menu?

Some Redditors speculate that the sandwich was taken off the menu because of its labor-intensive preparation. "The best menu item ever but I'm sure it was a pain for employees ... It was delicious and made me happy." On the first Reddit thread, an alleged former Dunkin' employee commented: "It's absolute hell to make and the pre-oiled bread that gets heated to 400 [degrees Fahrenheit] burns like hell."

Sadly, that's just part of the restaurant world. If the labor cost of an item doesn't make sense from a profitability standpoint, a restaurant chain is likely to cut or reconfigure said item — even if it's widely popular. The same thing happened when Panda Express started using premade orange chicken sauce to save on labor costs, instead of making it in-house as it did before. For the sake of Dunkin's loyal customer base, though, we hope the famous Big N' Toasted will at least make a temporary return on the restaurant chain's menu some time soon.