UNC-themed doughnut named after Roy Williams available at Dunkin' until Saturday

Although the North Carolina men’s basketball team’s season ended earlier than most Tar Heel fans hoped, the dunkin’ continues. 

Until Saturday, Dunkin’ is offering a limited-edition doughnut called the “Ol’ Roy,” named after UNC men's basketball head coach Roy Williams. The doughnut is Boston Crème, Williams’ favorite type of Dunkin’ doughnut, and it’s topped with Carolina Blue icing. 

For each doughnut sold between March 14-27, 50 cents will be donated to the UNC Children’s Hospital and Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to team with Dunkin’ to provide financial assistance to these worthy causes through the sale of this custom Boston Crème,” Williams said in a press release. “It’s a fun way for fans of all teams to support the work at the Children’s Hospital and Food Bank.”

Cameron Shoaf, the special events coordinator for UNC Children's Hospital, said Dunkin’ has done multiple drop-offs, where they delivered doughnuts and coffee to the hospital as a way of showing appreciation for health care workers. 

“(Dunkin') also partners with Carolina Athletics, so it just made a lot of sense when they mentioned they wanted a philanthropic aspect of their footprint that UNC Children’s would be a topic of discussion," Shoaf said.

So far, the Ol' Roy has been a big hit. In fact, Wendy Barszcz, a general manager for Dunkin’, said the stores had people calling in advance asking for the Ol’ Roy. 

“The day that they hit the shelf, by 11 a.m., I sold 20 dozen of them, and they were requested all afternoon, so we just didn’t have any more to sell,” Barszcz said.

Barszcz said the doughnut has been popular among a wide range of people, from students to UNC fans, and even family members of UNC students.  

“I had an older man call me from right outside of Chapel Hill,” Barszcz said. “I told him I only had a dozen on the shelf, and he said, ‘Give me six of them, put them up right now, and I’m on my way, I’ll leave right this second to pick them up.’”

Sophomore Katherine Eltz said she stopped by Dunkin’ on her way home from work one morning and was excited to see a UNC-themed doughnut.

“I thought the doughnut was really good because I love Boston cream doughnuts,” Eltz said. “But I had also heard about the partnership with UNC Children’s, so knowing that my money was going to a good cause made it even sweeter.” 

UNC Children’s Hospital provides care for children from all 100 counties in North Carolina and from around the world. 

The campaign also benefits Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina, which last year distributed over 70 million pounds of food and household items. The donations from the Ol’ Roy doughnut will help with the food bank’s efforts to feed the over 553,000 people in the Carolinas facing food insecurity.

“Our friends at Dunkin’ have been wonderful supporters of our mission to end hunger for quite some time," Kay Carter, CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina, said in a press release. "Their dedication to feeding our neighbors in need in a 24-county service region is visible through their hours of volunteerism and grant opportunities for child hunger programming."

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