The taste of Dunkin’s donuts can vary with location because, as per a TikTok by Dunkin’ franchisee Amir Mohamed, the stores can get their donuts in three different ways.

Dunkin’ stores can bake donuts in-house, get them from a central manufacturing location (CML), or order frozen donuts called JBOD (just baked on demand) and reheat them in-store.

While no publicly available database shows which Dunkin’ store uses which method, Mohamed asserts that the chosen method significantly influences the taste of a store’s donuts.

Before switching to a CML with about 30 other Dunkin’ stores, one of Mohamed’s stores baked hundreds of donuts in-house every night for 12 years for his seven franchise locations.

Dunkin’s in-house and CML donuts are baked every night, so stores with no frozen stock often run out of certain donut flavors and must await a fresh supply the following morning.

CMLs — which supply donuts to stores early in the morning before opening — help create consistency. Additionally, donuts in stores that use the same CML will taste pretty similar.

JBOD donuts are ideal for locations incapable of baking donuts in-house due to a shortage of space or staff. They also allow Dunkin’s mobile food trailers to serve donuts anywhere.

However, as per Mohamed, freshly baked in-house donuts are bigger, filled better, and taste better than CML and JBOD donuts. That was the case for Mohamed’s stores, at least.