COUNTING ON COMMUNITIES TO SUPPORT LOCAL COFFEE SHOPS
This column originally appeared on Wicked Local.

As was evidenced in this column last week, the National Coffee Association (not to be confused with the National Sleep Foundation) sponsored a series of commercials in 1984 aimed at what they termed the New Coffee Generation, the legacy of which now lives on through the compromised health of our American youth – the so-called Coffee Achievers. 

At presumably any Dunkin Donuts today (at least according to my highly caffeinated wife) you can order cookie dough coolattas, caramel swirl iced lattes, chocolate chip cookie flavored coffee, chocolate cake coffee, fudge brownie coffee, cupcake flavored coffee, and something called a dunkaccino (which I think sounds like a casual dress pant that can also be used for swimming).   This is along with a rather large selection of overpriced, microwave sandwiches poor enough in quality to make McDonald’s look like a steakhouse with each individual order guaranteed to dramatically slow down any line you are attempting to get through before the onset of, let’s say, the next millennium.  Oh yeah.  There are also cookies and glorified desserts for every holiday imaginable with the possible exception of Ground Hog Day (but don’t hold me to that).   Last but not least, there are still donuts and muffins which you can conveniently order by dialing 1-800-BORING.

Don’t get me wrong.  Dunkin Donuts is not completely to blame.  Being our own local New England-based company, they should be the ones who are more loyal to their New England constituency and its subsequent well-being.  When Starbucks arrived on the scene it certainly upped the corporate ante, challenging Dunkin Donuts to increase in both selection and price in an attempt to compete with the coffee-centric Seattle market.  Whereas Starbucks was the expensive addition to the market, Dunkin Donuts certainly felt inclined to profitably oblige (and rightfully so from a straight business standpoint).  While the prices for a small, medium, and large coffee were .60, .75, and (I think) .85 cents  roughly 25 years ago, they have now risen to $2.34, $2.56, and $2.77 depending on which Dunkin Donuts location you buy from (and don’t even get me started on that).  Starbucks is not any cheaper, although they arrived here as the more expensive, pretentious alternative in the first place.  This rate of inflation is tantamount to buying a Toyota Corolla for somewhere around $50,000.00 and while the Corolla is an extremely reputable car, you would be hard pressed to find anyone willing to pay $50,000.00 for one, never mind buying one every morning or (as was once my caffeine-induced habit) three times a day. 

We must remember that Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks are both corporate wolves in sheep’s clothing.  They are encouraging and profiting from what could be construed as our next American health crisis, and by enticing our youth similar to the way that the cigarette giants were found to focus their less than respective market on kids, they are committing equally unethical attempts at enlarging their already tremendous (I did not steal that word from Donald Trump) profit margins.  It is important that we take advantage of our local community establishments before they are squeezed out and become things of the past.  When I lived in the North End years ago, I would get my coffee every morning from Mangia! Mangia! on Endicott St. and my business was appreciated.  I was greeted daily from behind the counter, “Here comes Jay!  Give me some sugar so I can sweeten this guy up!”  My coffee was put on the counter with a sense of community, a feeling that is the polar opposite of waiting in an extraordinarily long drive-thru line, forking out $2.77 or more for a coffee, solicited for a tip, and driving away only to realize that (once again) your order is wrong. 

Gone are the days of the famed Dunkin Donuts character (played by Mike Vale – a man I had the pleasure of befriending while doing hotel work) that would drag himself out of bed declaring, “It’s time to make the donuts.”  There would not be time enough in his day to successfully make the donuts considering the amount of consumable selections that Dunkin Donuts is currently overextended with.  Service no longer matters.  Money does - and it comes at the expense of our kids who continue to dish out valuable cash for liquefied cupcakes, caramel, brownies, and chocolate cake.  Is it really any wonder that childhood obesity is commonly referenced as a social malady in contemporary America?  Are we to blame our kids?  They are kids, after all, and are understandably enticed by the sugary based appeal of what America apparently runs on.  But if we are actually going to preach health and wellness as is so commonly implied these days, let’s leave the frequently (and often symbolically) blamed school lunches out of the equation.  It is not what happens in our school cafeterias that is deteriorating the health of our youth.  It is far more likely the fault of the beverages that they are walking through the doors of the schools with. 

Small businesses are more important than ever in our local communities.  Growing up in the small town of East Bridgewater, I remember my dad bringing me into Luddy’s (later the Village News) and sitting at the breakfast counter.  The smell of coffee permeated the air and the background sound of an awakening community was everywhere.  It was not packaged, it was not antiseptic, and it was not impersonal – and the memory is invaluable.  So if you are traveling through your local neighborhood and you are looking for some community coffee, check out the Coffee Corner in Scituate, or Bob’s Muffin Shop in Columbian Square in Weymouth, or the Brant Rock Market in Marshfield, or Dawn ‘til Dusk in South Weymouth, or the Corner Café in Marshfield, or even Mangia! Mangia! if you find yourself in Boston’s North End.  If you want to be a real Coffee Achiever, support your local breakfast counters and neighborhood coffee establishments and don’t let them get swallowed up by corporate impostors. 

But if you find yourself continuously growing out of your dunkaccinos, you know where to get your morning beverage. 

-Jay Gillespie

Jay Gillespie is a columnist, singer-songwriter, humorist, and historian.