Through Six Decades the Adie Family Remains Connected to their Community By Cheryl Alkon
L
ike many long-time franchisee families, the Adies have fond memories of Dunkin’ Donuts days gone by—when customers sat on 18 stools around a horseshoe countertop, drank six-ounce cups of coffee served in china cups with saucers and ate donuts and fancies. Bill and Arleen Adie opened their first Dunkin’ Donuts in 1968 in Chelmsford, Mass. (about 30 miles northwest of Boston). Back then, women who worked at the Adie’s Dunkin’ wore uniforms consisting of dresses and a decorative pink covering for the hair that pinned to the top of their head. Men wore white pants and a pink shirt adorned with the original Dunkin’ Donuts logo. At the time, Bill and Arleen were working alternate shifts at an area printing company known as the Courier Citizen company; Bill worked nights as a linotype operator, while Arleen worked days in administration. They were hard working people, who believed that having their own business would pay off in the future. They accepted it was a lot of work. “They had to plan for college for their four children back then,” says Tom Adie, who now runs the family business with his brother Don and his brother-in-law Andy Conway. “When they opened the store, Dad
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Top:(L-R) Don Adie, Tom Adie and Andy Conway, circa 1983 worked both jobs. Dad would start his day greeting customers at 6 a.m. and work at the Dunkin’ shop through the afternoon. From there he worked the second shift at the Courier. Mom would end her day at the Courier at 4 p.m., head home to make dinner and be at the shop in the evening writing payroll checks, interviewing prospective employees and doing the weekly schedule.” As Tom recalls, Mom and Dad’s shop was a community destination, serving coffee and donuts to a group of locals who all knew each other. It was 15 years before the television show Cheers popularized the idea that people would sit at a bar (or
Bottom: Don Adie, Andy Conway and Tom Adie photographed in 2014
counter) where “everybody knows your name.” “People would sit together and meet their neighbors; business people would come in and get started for the day. Lawyers, postal workers, construction workers would all chat with each other while having their coffee and sitting on those pink stools. It was an interesting, dynamic and diverse crowd.” Adie remembers. Bill and Arleen recognized that Dunkin’ was something special and, as it was for most franchisee families at the time, business was the focal point of family activity. During the weekends the entire family