Fans praise Dunkin’s ‘short king’ menu item: ‘My time is now’

Short King drink is available from 19 March to 26 March

Dunkin’ has renamed one of its menu items to celebrate the start of the spring season, but the nickname has sparked amused reactions from customers.

For the first day of spring on 19 March, the breakfast chain announced in a news release that it would be coming out with a new menu item. The company wrote that it would be honouring “short kings” with a limited time drink.

A short king is a pop culture term for a man that is shorter, but also comfortable and confident in his height.

“In honour of the first day of spring and all our loyal short king fans out there, beginning March 19, a Dunkin’ small iced regular coffee will be available in the Dunkin’ App under the name ‘The Short King,’” Dunkin’ wrote in the news release.

“This honorary name will only be available for a limited time through 26 March, so make sure to grab a small iced coffee for yourself... or the short king in your life!”

To further celebrate the promotion, the company took to various social media platforms including TikTok and Instagram to share a skit of two large coffees giving a small coffee a crown to make him king and showering him with flower petals for spring as the two proclaimed, “Long live Short King Spring!”

Dunkin’ also made a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that read: “Short King Spring is officially here, so we renamed our small iced coffee the ‘Short King’ in the Dunkin’ app. Tag someone you’re celebrating with.”

The X post featured a photo of a small iced coffee with a one sentence description reading: “Because sometimes you don’t need a large, or even a medium, you just need a Short King.”

Many people ended up leaving comments on the post, with responses varying from people who thought the temporary name change was funny, those who appreciated it as a “short king” themselves, and others who followed the post’s request by tagging the “short king” in their lives.

“My time is now,” one person replied, showing off a photo of them wearing a shirt that said “short king” on it.

“Celebrate our short kings,” another reply on X read.

“They’re targeting short kings to push mobile orders, they’re too short to order at the register,” a third reply joked.

The new campaign comes after Dunkin’ came under fire when a woman showed a flaw in a bagel she received from the breakfast chain. The woman, under the username @spamspamham on TikTok, took to the platform to show off her bagel with a larger opening than normal.

“Girl, I ordered a bagel at Dunkin’,” her video began. “Why is she open like that?” she asked her viewers, displaying a bagel that seemed to have more space in the inside hole than there is a bread ring surrounding it.

After posting, the TikToker’s video went on to receive over one million views, with many commenters laughing at the bagel’s appearance.

“Dunkin’ makes bagels like they mad at us,” one comment read.

Another commenter agreed, writing: “I got one just like that a few days ago lmao she was a big oval.”