The first Friday in June, June 2 this year, is National Donut Day.
Started by the Salvation Army in Chicago in 1938, the day honors the group’s “donut lassies,” who served treats and provided assistance to soldiers on the front lines during World War I. (And this isn’t to be confused with National Doughnut Day, which is in November and celebrates the actual food.)
And with National Donut Day, comes donut deals!
This list is subject to change and more deals may be added as they are announced.
Dunkin’ Donuts: Buy any beverage on Friday, June 2, and you’ll get a choice of any free doughnut at Dunkin’.
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts: Each customer is welcomed to pick any style of doughnut—free of charge, no purchase required—on Friday.
Tim Hortons: Buy a coffee (hot or iced) on Friday and mention National Donut Day, and you’ll get a free donut.
Entenmann’s: Free Entenmann’s donuts are being handed out in New York City’s Times Square on Friday, and donut fans all over can enter a sweepstakes to win free Entenmann’s donuts for a year.
Cumberland Farms: Purchase any coffee or fountain drink from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Friday and you’ll get a free doughnut. The offer is valid in remodeled Cumberland Farms locations throughout the Northeast and Florida.
Duck Donuts: Each customer gets a free doughnut with any purchase on Friday at this doughnut shop chain with dozens of locations in the eastern U.S. stretching from the Jersey Shore to North Carolina. Your National Donut Day receipt also comes with a coupon good for a half-dozen free doughnuts with the purchase of a half-dozen, valid through August 31.
Fractured Prune Doughnuts: Each customer gets a free OC Sand donut (glazed, covered in cinnamon sugar) on Friday, no purchase required.
Honey Dew Donuts: Purchase a medium-size beverage or larger on Friday and you’ll get a free Coco Loco Donut—a new flavor with almond flavored chocolate frosting, sprinkled with coconut flakes.
LaMar’s Donuts: Print this “Golden Ticket” or show the screen on a device for a free doughnut on National Doughnut Day, no purchase required.
Sugar Shack: Locations in the Alexandria and Arlington areas of Virginia are giving out free donuts on Friday to anyone wearing a Sugar Shack T-shirt. Also, every customer who makes a purchase on Friday gets a Donuts4Good card, which awards the holder a free donut. The idea is you’re supposed to give the card to someone who has done a good deed and deserves a donut.
**Deal info courtesy TIME.com**
Want to learn more about donuts? Here you go:
Doughnuts have been around since long before the First World War, and we have the Dutch to thank for them. The Dutch would make “olykoek,” which translates to oily cake. The first Dutch doughnuts didn’t have a hole, but they were fried in hot oil and the dough was sweet.
It wasn’t until 1847 that the holed-out doughnut we know and love today appeared. Hanson Gregory, 16 at the time, claimed credit. Sick of doughnuts with a raw center, he used a pepper pot to punch out holes to help his doughnuts cook more evenly.
By 1920, Adolph Levitt, a Russian living in New York, had invented a doughnut machine. Thirteen years later, doughnuts were proclaimed the “Hit Food of the Century of Progress” by the World’s Fair in Chicago.