Boston Magazine |
Editor’s Letter
Blowing the lid off.
By James Burnett
The image should be familiar to attentive students of celebrity journalism: Ben Affleck, bleary-eyed and scruffy, captured by a photographer/stalker’s shutter as he clutches a jumbo cup of coffee. If Affleck is in L.A. or pretty much anywhere else, the cup will be from Starbucks, whose wares he’s been pictured with so often that it’s been rumored—falsely—that the chain pays him big money to drink its brews in public. But when Affleck’s back home, it’s different. Around here he is strictly a Dunkin’ Donuts guy. I don’t think it’s exaggerating to say that Affleck’s fealty to the Dunk, even more so than his well-worn Red Sox hat, helps us to forgive the Pearl Harbor–Surviving Christmas interregnum and remain happy to claim him as one of our own.
Dunkin’ Donuts, you see, has the power to redeem. Okay, maybe that’s not quite the word—we are talking about a company that deals in Coolattas and éclairs—but you know what I’m getting at. Certainly no other corporate brand is as wrapped up in what it means to be from Boston. That the company was acquired earlier this year by a mostly local consortium of leveraged-buyout firms which plans to Dunkify the country by opening 10,000 new locations in the next decade and a half—well, it kinda makes a Bostonian proud, given that most of our iconic businesses have gone in the opposite direction.
When we decided to take a fresh approach to our Best of Boston cover this year, the Dunkin’ Donuts cup was the obvious symbol to play off. Fortunately Dunkin’ HQ agreed, paving the way for Holly Lindem’s brilliant shot. Inside the package itself—the biggest we’ve ever assembled—you’ll find plenty of other updates and upgrades. But what hasn’t changed is the careful thought that went into picking our 342 winners. Research began back in December, and in some cases our judges visited finalists several times before rendering their verdicts.
Putting it all together required long hours of editing and layout work and lots of late nights. While each of us here at Boston magazine has his or her own caffeination routine, I’m sure a few Dunkin’ iced coffees were consumed along the way. Possibly also the odd Coolatta, though that’s one part of the process we’d just as soon not discuss.
Dunkin’ Donuts, you see, has the power to redeem. Okay, maybe that’s not quite the word—we are talking about a company that deals in Coolattas and éclairs—but you know what I’m getting at. Certainly no other corporate brand is as wrapped up in what it means to be from Boston. That the company was acquired earlier this year by a mostly local consortium of leveraged-buyout firms which plans to Dunkify the country by opening 10,000 new locations in the next decade and a half—well, it kinda makes a Bostonian proud, given that most of our iconic businesses have gone in the opposite direction.
When we decided to take a fresh approach to our Best of Boston cover this year, the Dunkin’ Donuts cup was the obvious symbol to play off. Fortunately Dunkin’ HQ agreed, paving the way for Holly Lindem’s brilliant shot. Inside the package itself—the biggest we’ve ever assembled—you’ll find plenty of other updates and upgrades. But what hasn’t changed is the careful thought that went into picking our 342 winners. Research began back in December, and in some cases our judges visited finalists several times before rendering their verdicts.
Putting it all together required long hours of editing and layout work and lots of late nights. While each of us here at Boston magazine has his or her own caffeination routine, I’m sure a few Dunkin’ iced coffees were consumed along the way. Possibly also the odd Coolatta, though that’s one part of the process we’d just as soon not discuss.
Originally published in Boston magazine, August 2006
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