• March 18, 2009

A new Dunkin' Donuts contest running through April 7 is encouraging donut lovers to create DD's next flavor by using a special online donut-creation tool. The winner will bag a $12,000 grand prize, and the winning flavor will be sold in DD stores.

The promotion is strongly reminiscent of The Cheescake Factory's "What's Your Flavor?" contest. That contest is offering a grand prize of a trip for two to the original TCF store in Beverly Hills, Calif., with the winning flavor named after the creator and sold in TCF stores for a year. TCF's contest drew more than 10,000 entries, and cheescake fans are now being asked to go on the contest's microsite to vote for their favorite finalist flavor.

In addition to its create-a-donut contest, Dunkin' announced two special flavors available through April 21 ("Berries n' Kreme" and "Dunkin Delight")--plus a promotion, which began on Wednesday, offering a donut for 49¢ with the purchase of any medium-size or larger hot coffee. --Karlene Lukovitz