Prior to 2003 for sure, which was they year they switched from fresh baked in house to par-baked frozen donuts. I suspect the rot started earlier than that though. The company was actively shifting away from coffee and donuts, and pursuing aggressive growth way back in the 90s.

2005 was when they went public. That's when the enshittification started. It all started when they went central with their bakeries and pulled all the baking from in house. Then the prices started going up. 25 cents per fiscal year, almost to the calendar date. Then shit started getting smaller. Less staff. The bagel toasters suddenly sped up a whole lot.

Fast forward to like say 2015, they were probably the biggest users of the TFW plan. Didn't train anyone properly. Couldn't keep staff. The toasters went so fast the bagels pretty much shot like a torpedo out of the toaster when someone put one down. Food was never warm. Lids leaked like hell, and no one would do anything about it.

Used to be a multiple times a day tim visitor. Best thing that ever happened to me was when they went to shit. It correlates directly with better health, better financial health and habits and it removed what was pretty much an addiction. I haven't even been inside one since COVID.

It was better then, yes. They still operated as a bakery at that point.

Before it was bought by Burger King in 2014