Mister Donut

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Mister Donut (ミスタードーナツ) is a donut shop that originated in the United States but has since moved primarily to Japan (though there are some stores operating in areas of Taiwan), where it has become the largest donut chain in the country.

Mister Donut began in the 1950’s in Boston, Massachusetts. The American brand was bought by the owners of the Dunkin Donut company in 1990, 7 years after another company known as Duskin Company purchased the rights to Mister Donut for Asia.

History

Two brothers in law, Harry Winouker and Bill Rosenberg, had a falling out and decided to split up their partnership and start new businesses on their own. Bill Rosenberg founded Dunkin Donuts and his brother in law, Harry, founded Mister Donut.

Mister Donut sold over 35 different kinds of doughnuts and other baked goods, including what some people referred to as the “world’s best coffee.” With demand for his stores high, Harry Winouker started franchising his stores across the US and Canada.

Mister Donut was then bought from Winouker by Multifoods in 1970. It’s chief competitor was still Dunkin Donut and though Mister Donut was still achieving a great deal of success, Dunkin Donuts was still beating it in terms of overall financial numbers.

In 1983, a company known as Duskin Co. Ltd. in Japan bought out the trademark and sales rights for all of Asia, allowing the company to open as many stores as they want in Asia without requiring additional purchases.

By 1990, Mister Donut was struggling in America, but was thriving in Japan. The company’s North American branches were bought out by Dunkin Donuts, but the Asia stores continued to be owned by Duskin. Today, there are over 1100 stores in Japan alone. Dunkin Donuts left Japan in 2005.

Because Duskin owns the rights to all Asia for distributing Mister Donut stores, there are approximately 1400 other Mister Donuts spread across Asia, including the Philippines, Indonesia, South Korea, Thailand, and Taiwan. There are also Mister Donuts that remain in El Salvador and Toronto, though in Canada there are only three stores remaining.

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