Dunkin' Donuts and Nut Allergies
Please click the link below & read my updated blog post about Dunkin Donuts allergy policy.
Updated on 1/23/2018
All Dunkin Donuts locations are different when it comes to allergies, please check yours before ordering.
Dunkin’ Donuts is a relatively new treat for our family. We started treating Carter to Dunkin’ after his hemoglobin levels improved in September following his HUS infection, and it just became our thing. After the doctor, we’d head over to Dunkin’ to celebrate good health. Kind of ironic since Donuts are in no way healthy for you.
Fast forward, I was talking to my best nut free mom friend, and she threw out the idea of Dunkin’ for my nut allergic kiddo. She said that she had tried a Dunkin’ location with her nut allergic son, talked allergies, and gave it the OK. So I thought what the heck, it’s Friyay, it’s been a week, and we could ALL use a donut from Dunkin’. There are two on our way home, so why not?
We went in to Dunkin’ talk to someone about our food allergies. It was our lucky day. The nice young man behind the counter also had peanut and tree nut allergies. He informed us all about the strict guidelines Dunkin’ follows, including the special carts the donuts are wheeled over to the pretty case on, labeled, and carefully transported around the kitchen with the “allergy donuts” always in the same place, clearly marked. Dunkin’ is clearly passionate about protecting its guests and we felt that today. We talked for about 20 minutes, then chose our donuts.
Dunkin Donuts staff also showed us how safe the donuts actually are (nut free) by eating a donut himself that was located next to a donut with peanut topping. He was fine and we talked about anaphylaxis for a while before heading out.
His confidence gave us confidence and my daughter demolished her donut once we got home. Of course, I had my Epi ready, but I knew she’d be fine.
This was her FIRST DONUT! Chocolate with sprinkles!
She was over the moon happy. Around 200ish calories, this is something that I don’t mind as an occasional treat!
Thank you, Dunkin’ for making allergies a priority. We are grateful for small treats like this that are close to home, and special.
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That is excellent news! My third son is allergic to tree nuts. We recently found out by his reaction to a pecan, which led to an ambulance ride to the ER. I am constantly worried that a place will claim to have allergy practices but not actually follow them. Thank you for this article!
As somebody with a severe nut allergy (only when I eat them) with years of experience regarding this: Do not EVER fully trust a place when they say it is safe. The *ONE* time I let my guard down and trusted somebody, I ended up in the hospital and was on steroids to suppress my immune system for two weeks after.
People mean well, but with the bazillion “allergies” out there these days people start to get sloppy because there are so many special orders for gluten free etc. I am a cook for 15+ years and there are very few restaurants I would trust with certain things (salads etc). Lots of nut cross contamination on salad stations. Even in fine dining restaurants like the ones I work in – I wouldn’t eat a salad unless I made it.
Where I am working at the moment, Minneapolis, there is a fantastic place that absolutely doesn’t use nuts at all. The whole place is dedicated nut free. It’s awesome. First donut I had in years! You should try to look for a place like that.
Thank you for your feedback. I hope you also saw our follow up piece on Dunkin, too. We dont consider this a totally safe option. It’s up to the individual to make that call based on their local dunkin donut shop 🙂 thank you so much for the MN recommendation! We will check it out!!
Oh this is good to know, next time I’m in the US I’ll give it a try! 🙂