Dunkin’ Donuts just launched a new menu of savory afternoon items created exclusively for Buffalonians, by a Buffalonian. Well, a Kenmore native, actually.
Jeff Miller, a 1994 Kenmore West graduate and Dunkin’ Donuts chef, was the driving force behind the creation of the new menu and it was because of his ties to this community that he was chosen to work on the product development.
“It was a really great chance,” Miller said. “I got the notification that we wanted to come up with a great line of sandwiches for Buffalo, and they said, ‘We know the guy to get behind that.’ So they put me on the team and we worked with some local folks here in the market to decide what we were going to put on the menu.”
Dunkin’ Donuts already had an existing menu of lunch and dinnertime items with their flatbread sandwiches, but Miller said the company realized it was time to expand.
“I think we’re one of those good chains that sells breakfast all day, so people are coming to us all day. We listen to our customers in this area and they said they were really looking for these types of products from us. We wanted to roll it out and give them what they wanted,” Miller said.
The new menu, which debuted April 5, includes four new sandwiches: Roast beef with cheddar cheese and horseradish on a French roll; turkey and bacon sandwich with cheddar cheese and ancho sauce on a French roll; tuna salad on a bagel; and chicken salad on a croissant. Additionally, they’ve introduced three soups: Chicken noodle, tomato and broccoli cheddar.
The items are exclusive to the 34 Dunkin’ Donut restaurants located within the Buffalo area and have been designed with local tastes in mind.
“You’re in Buffalo, you know you have to have a good roast beef sandwich,” Miller said. “It’s a familiar flavor with a little bit of a twist. We have Buffalo wings in the area, so the spicy sauce (in the turkey bacon sandwich) was a little nod to that.”
Mary Ellen Miller — Jeff’s mother and a retired teacher from the Ken-Ton district — says her son is constantly packing up foods unique to Buffalo when he returns to his home in Boston, Mass., after a visit.
“When he comes home, he takes a lot of things back with him,” Mary Ellen said. “He’ll take the hot dogs and mustard, it’s really amazing and I’m very proud of him.”
The new Buffalo menu is not necessarily being used for test market purposes, but Miller said if the products do well, their availability may expand.
“If people come out and they try enough of it and it sells well here, Buffalo could be on the forefront for the whole country and different markets to try it,” Miller said.
Miller has been working for Dunkin’ Donuts for eight years at their headquarters in Boston, Mass., doing product development for both the donut chain and it’s sister, Baskin-Robbins.
“I don’t think a job gets any better than going to work and having to test ice cream at 9 a.m.,” Miller laughed during a phone interview.
Miller started showing an interest in the culinary arts while he was in high school. He was encouraged by one of his teachers to take up an internship with a fine-dining Italian restaurant in the area, Pranzo.
“They taught me really everything about what it’s like to work in a kitchen. I learned everything from chopping carrots and onions and soups to working a pasta station,” Miller said. “At the very end I got to work with the head chef, expediting putting all the plates together and make sure they looked good. That’s really what got me so excited about working in food.”
Mary Ellen says she was a bit surprised when her son announced his intentions to study at a culinary school after graduating from Kenmore West.
“I wasn’t sure in the beginning if that was something he just wanted to experiment with and (I wasn’t) really sure where that would take him in terms of the college background but, wow, he’s done a lot with it. I’m thrilled at how far he’s come,” she said.
Despite his success moving him away from the area, Miller says he still tries to make a trip back home a few times each year, and says that he often gets wrangled into cooking Thanksgiving dinner. But it’s more than just hot dogs and mustard that he misses from the area.
“Growing up in Buffalo, it’s hard to be a die-hard sports fan,” Miller laments. “I miss my local sports teams and it can be hard to be a Bills and Sabres fan in Boston. That’s probably what I miss the most.”
“And certainly my family, don’t get me wrong,” he added quickly.
Contact features editor Danielle Haynes at 693-1000, ext. 116.
Features
Related Photos
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Dunkin’ Donuts chef Jeff Miller presents the new savory afternoon items available to purchase at the Buffalo locations of the fast food chain. Miller is a Kenmore native and was the driving force behind the creation of the new menu. Don Heupel
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Chef Jeffrey Miller, right, talks with his mother, Mary Ellen Miller, who stopped by at the North Buffalo Dunkin' Donuts. Don Heupel
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Some of the items for sale as part of the new afternoon menu are the chicken salad sandwich and broccoli cheddar soup. Don Heupel
Kenmore native creates new menu items for Dunkin’ Donuts
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