Time to Make the Donuts: The Founder of Dunkin Donuts Shares an American Journey
Written by: William Rosenberg
Editorial Reviews:
It all started when Bill Rosenberg took a leap of faith and bet his future on a donut.
If you like "Time to Make the Donuts: The Founder of Dunkin Donuts Shares an American Journey, you might also like ...
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Powerful Business Empire
Comment: A great and interesting read for Managers, VP's and CEO's. A very interesting man, and business!! Founded in 1950, today Dunkin' Donuts is the number one retailer of hot regular coffee-by-the-cup in America, selling 2.7 million cups a day, nearly one billion cups a year. Dunkin' Donuts is also the largest coffee and baked goods chain in the world and sells more hot regular coffee, iced coffee, donuts, and bagels than any other quick service restaurant in America. Dunkin' Donuts has more than 7,200 restaurants in 30 countries worldwide.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A coffee company at its finest
Comment: While this biography is very self serving it is a good look at an interesting company. With the rise of Krispy Kreme and starbucks it is easy to forget about the largest donut chain in the country. Rosenberg talks about his days and his focus as a coffee shop. To Dunkin donuts the donuts are simply a side business. This mentality is fascinating and for small business trying to decide on a mission this would be well worth reading. The book is fairly well written and it is hard to find books on this subject so if you are interested it is worth reading.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Rambling tale with lessons if you have the patience to find them
Comment: Yes, it's the rags-to-riches story of a hard working, resourceful man. But a storyteller he is not. It is a painfully drawn out and wandering story, much like listening to your grandfather telling you about the "good old days." Giving a distracting level of detail, and naming what must be everyone that Mr. Rosenberg worked with or knew over his long career gives the reader the feeling that the writer simply transcribed this repetitive and wandering tale. Though Mr. Rosenberg proved to be a successful entrepreneur, I doubt he was as all-knowing as he suggests. He claims credit for virtually every good decision and denies responsibility for bad ones. I feel sorry for the son who Mr. Rosenberg claims to love so much. The son was given little credit for the success of the enterprise despite the fact that it was his son who ran the day-to-day business since becoming President in 1963. Yes, there is much that can be learned from this book - work hard, care about your product, and treat people fairly - but it seems to me that Mr. Rosenberg must have forgotten some of his own advice.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Building a Restaurant Empire One Donut at a Time
Comment: Bill Rosenberg's rise to the top is one filled with passion and drive and this aggressiveness is captured in "Time to Make the Donuts". Like many entrepreneurs, Rosenberg wasn't blessed with an bottomless bank account or a wealthy family to back him up. He was born into a lower- middle class family and he worked hard to achieve his dreams.
Rosenberg's business encounters are many and some of them are interesting to read about. In 1962, for example, he received a call from a guy named Jim McLamore, a young entrepreneur in his own right, who was looking for someone to become business partners with him while he tried to grow his hamburger business. He came to Rosenberg because he had heard about Bill's reputation for successful franchising. He asked Rosenberg to invest $150,000, which would make the two men 50/50 owners in the business. Rosenberg went over the business plan with his associates, but they decided to decline the offer because McLamore's business was in Florida, which was far away, and they wanted to concentrate on making donuts. McLamore's new business was called Burger King. Had Rosenberg accepted the offer, his $150,000 investment would have been worth more than $8 million just three years later! Rosenberg's Dunkin Donuts still grew into a highly successful business but it's fascinating when you think about how differently the course of business history would have played out if this and other decisions had gone the other way.
Besides business, Rosenberg's personal life and his problems with his health are discussed at length in this book. He talks about his marriage to his first wife, Bookie, along with his divorce and remarriage to wife #2, Ann. He also discusses his children and his relationship with his parents and three siblings.
On the issue of health, Rosenberg successfully fought off cancer on two occasions and this greatly affected his outlook on life. On one of the occasions, he was told that he had only a few months to live. While lying in a hospital bed, one of his best friends showed up at his bedside. He gave Bill his crucifix to wear, claiming that it had always brought him good luck. Bill accepted, and in return he gave his Catholic friend his Jewish Chi to wear. Within days, Rosenberg was told by the doctor that the cancer had completely cleared up. Rosenberg jumped out of bed so excited, he claims that he "almost hit the ceiling". He had narrowly escaped death again. This, and other stories like them, are found throughout this book and while they have nothing to do directly with the Dunkin' Donuts chain, they add a more human, personal dimension to the writing.
Rosenberg writes this book as both a personal biography and a lesson plan on how to successfully run a business. He provides tips and insights into what worked and what didn't in his quest to be the best that he could be. Jessica Keener is the editor of the book. She writes for the Boston Globe and has written several articles over the years about Dunkin' Donuts and its founder. She does a nice job with her editing work, making the book read like it was written by a professional writer.
Rosenberg's storytelling could bother some people because he does come off as a little arrogant at times. Throughout the book, one will find quotes like "I was proven right", "my methods worked", "I built a successful operation", etc. But however conceited Rosenberg may seem, he deserves credit for pointing out the fact that many other people were responsible for his success, from his business associates all the way down to the individual store managers and cashiers. Also, it's hard to deny that Rosenberg is a success story. Can we really blame the guy for pointing out that his methods, more often that not, were successful?
"Time to Make the Donuts" is a worthwhile book to read. It's full of good advice, good business tips, and inspirational wisdom. Rosenberg's rise from a working class neighborhood to the king of donut making is an enjoyable discovery, both in the business sense and in the personal sense. He proves over and over again that great results can be achieved in the restaurant business with hard work and an insistence on quality and customer service.
Customer Rating:
Summary: From the Kitchens of Boston to your Left Ventricle
Comment: Amateur chefs making an impulse purchase on the basis of the book's title will want to reconsider, as this is NOT a how-to guide to the making of this distinctly American confection. I myself was bitterly disappointed to make this discovery. However since I was trapped in the purgatory of traffic school when I furtively cracked its cover, I decided to forge ahead with this ghost-written autobiography of the founder of Dunkin' Donuts anyway.
Dewey Decimal Number: 338.7616479573
EAN: 9780867308617
ISBN: 0867308613
Label: Lebhar-Friedman Books
Manufacturer: Lebhar-Friedman Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 208
Publication Date: 2001-11-25
Publisher: Lebhar-Friedman Books
Studio: Lebhar-Friedman Books
 | Format: Hardcover List Price: $24.95 Our Price: $19.46 Your Save: $ 5.49 ( 22% ) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Average Customer Rating: |
Editorial Reviews:
It all started when Bill Rosenberg took a leap of faith and bet his future on a donut.
If you like "Time to Make the Donuts: The Founder of Dunkin Donuts Shares an American Journey, you might also like ...
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Powerful Business Empire
Comment: A great and interesting read for Managers, VP's and CEO's. A very interesting man, and business!! Founded in 1950, today Dunkin' Donuts is the number one retailer of hot regular coffee-by-the-cup in America, selling 2.7 million cups a day, nearly one billion cups a year. Dunkin' Donuts is also the largest coffee and baked goods chain in the world and sells more hot regular coffee, iced coffee, donuts, and bagels than any other quick service restaurant in America. Dunkin' Donuts has more than 7,200 restaurants in 30 countries worldwide.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A coffee company at its finest
Comment: While this biography is very self serving it is a good look at an interesting company. With the rise of Krispy Kreme and starbucks it is easy to forget about the largest donut chain in the country. Rosenberg talks about his days and his focus as a coffee shop. To Dunkin donuts the donuts are simply a side business. This mentality is fascinating and for small business trying to decide on a mission this would be well worth reading. The book is fairly well written and it is hard to find books on this subject so if you are interested it is worth reading.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Rambling tale with lessons if you have the patience to find them
Comment: Yes, it's the rags-to-riches story of a hard working, resourceful man. But a storyteller he is not. It is a painfully drawn out and wandering story, much like listening to your grandfather telling you about the "good old days." Giving a distracting level of detail, and naming what must be everyone that Mr. Rosenberg worked with or knew over his long career gives the reader the feeling that the writer simply transcribed this repetitive and wandering tale. Though Mr. Rosenberg proved to be a successful entrepreneur, I doubt he was as all-knowing as he suggests. He claims credit for virtually every good decision and denies responsibility for bad ones. I feel sorry for the son who Mr. Rosenberg claims to love so much. The son was given little credit for the success of the enterprise despite the fact that it was his son who ran the day-to-day business since becoming President in 1963. Yes, there is much that can be learned from this book - work hard, care about your product, and treat people fairly - but it seems to me that Mr. Rosenberg must have forgotten some of his own advice.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Building a Restaurant Empire One Donut at a Time
Comment: Bill Rosenberg's rise to the top is one filled with passion and drive and this aggressiveness is captured in "Time to Make the Donuts". Like many entrepreneurs, Rosenberg wasn't blessed with an bottomless bank account or a wealthy family to back him up. He was born into a lower- middle class family and he worked hard to achieve his dreams.
Rosenberg's business encounters are many and some of them are interesting to read about. In 1962, for example, he received a call from a guy named Jim McLamore, a young entrepreneur in his own right, who was looking for someone to become business partners with him while he tried to grow his hamburger business. He came to Rosenberg because he had heard about Bill's reputation for successful franchising. He asked Rosenberg to invest $150,000, which would make the two men 50/50 owners in the business. Rosenberg went over the business plan with his associates, but they decided to decline the offer because McLamore's business was in Florida, which was far away, and they wanted to concentrate on making donuts. McLamore's new business was called Burger King. Had Rosenberg accepted the offer, his $150,000 investment would have been worth more than $8 million just three years later! Rosenberg's Dunkin Donuts still grew into a highly successful business but it's fascinating when you think about how differently the course of business history would have played out if this and other decisions had gone the other way.
Besides business, Rosenberg's personal life and his problems with his health are discussed at length in this book. He talks about his marriage to his first wife, Bookie, along with his divorce and remarriage to wife #2, Ann. He also discusses his children and his relationship with his parents and three siblings.
On the issue of health, Rosenberg successfully fought off cancer on two occasions and this greatly affected his outlook on life. On one of the occasions, he was told that he had only a few months to live. While lying in a hospital bed, one of his best friends showed up at his bedside. He gave Bill his crucifix to wear, claiming that it had always brought him good luck. Bill accepted, and in return he gave his Catholic friend his Jewish Chi to wear. Within days, Rosenberg was told by the doctor that the cancer had completely cleared up. Rosenberg jumped out of bed so excited, he claims that he "almost hit the ceiling". He had narrowly escaped death again. This, and other stories like them, are found throughout this book and while they have nothing to do directly with the Dunkin' Donuts chain, they add a more human, personal dimension to the writing.
Rosenberg writes this book as both a personal biography and a lesson plan on how to successfully run a business. He provides tips and insights into what worked and what didn't in his quest to be the best that he could be. Jessica Keener is the editor of the book. She writes for the Boston Globe and has written several articles over the years about Dunkin' Donuts and its founder. She does a nice job with her editing work, making the book read like it was written by a professional writer.
Rosenberg's storytelling could bother some people because he does come off as a little arrogant at times. Throughout the book, one will find quotes like "I was proven right", "my methods worked", "I built a successful operation", etc. But however conceited Rosenberg may seem, he deserves credit for pointing out the fact that many other people were responsible for his success, from his business associates all the way down to the individual store managers and cashiers. Also, it's hard to deny that Rosenberg is a success story. Can we really blame the guy for pointing out that his methods, more often that not, were successful?
"Time to Make the Donuts" is a worthwhile book to read. It's full of good advice, good business tips, and inspirational wisdom. Rosenberg's rise from a working class neighborhood to the king of donut making is an enjoyable discovery, both in the business sense and in the personal sense. He proves over and over again that great results can be achieved in the restaurant business with hard work and an insistence on quality and customer service.
Customer Rating:
Summary: From the Kitchens of Boston to your Left Ventricle
Comment: Amateur chefs making an impulse purchase on the basis of the book's title will want to reconsider, as this is NOT a how-to guide to the making of this distinctly American confection. I myself was bitterly disappointed to make this discovery. However since I was trapped in the purgatory of traffic school when I furtively cracked its cover, I decided to forge ahead with this ghost-written autobiography of the founder of Dunkin' Donuts anyway.
I was soon swept up by the exhilarating story of a relentless entrepreneur's rise to the top of the glamorous but cut-throat world of donut manufacture & distribution. I was also smitten with no small amount of civic pride, as Dunkin' Donuts sprang from the loins of my own native Boston. The narrative is interspersed with intriguing facts about the donut industry and its history. For instance, did you know that the modern word "donut" is a simplification of the word "doughnut," which itself evolved from the archaic term "dough knot"? Nor did I, sir.
Your inner Homer will be thrilled with this book and its lessons. And at just over 200 pages, it's the ideal length for a day-long sentence to traffic school at which attention must be periodically feigned. However this will limit your absorption of any important lessons being imparted. I myself learned this the hard way, when I caused a minor accident immediately upon leaving the school's parking lot by failing to signal. The delicious irony of this was not lost on my instructor, who had sullenly resented my divided attention throughout the day.
Technical Details
Binding: HardcoverDewey Decimal Number: 338.7616479573
EAN: 9780867308617
ISBN: 0867308613
Label: Lebhar-Friedman Books
Manufacturer: Lebhar-Friedman Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 208
Publication Date: 2001-11-25
Publisher: Lebhar-Friedman Books
Studio: Lebhar-Friedman Books
