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Date: 12/9/2020
WEST SPRINGFIELD – Donut Dip has been voted fourth-overall best donut in Massachusetts, and first-overall in Western Massachusetts.
The votes came from the public during a “Taste of Massachusetts” Donut Championship contest, in which 71 donut shops across the state were nominated.
Donut Dip finished behind third-place Rocco’s Doughnut Co. in Millbury and Westborough, second-place Kane’s Donuts in Saugus and Boston, and the first-place finisher, Donna’s Donuts in Tewksbury.
The contest was spearheaded by Vincent Errichetti of Errichetti Media LLC.
In a conversation with Reminder Publishing, Errichetti explained how he always wanted to do a contest with public choice voting, but never had the technology that would make it fair for everyone who wanted to vote.
“I wanted something that was very secure,” said Errichetti. “So I finally found a webpage called ‘Form Site.’”
This website allowed Errichetti to set up a poll, and give people access to vote for their favorite donut. The catch was that they needed their email address, and they could only vote once per round.
“This makes it a very fair and balanced system, so that no one can really take advantage of it,” said Errichetti. “It’s meant to be fun, but it’s also meant to show and demonstrate who actually has popular places.”
Errichetti explained how most Facebook pages outside of Western Mass. get criticized because they do not go to Western Mass. enough to highlight some of the premier establishments in the area.
“It’s hard, because it’s not like we go or don’t want to go,” said Errichetti. “It comes down to the fact that if you look where the actual population centers are, Western Mass. is less than 10 percent of the entire state’s population.”
To reach this wider scope of the public, Errichetti decided to have open nominations, where people would incorporate their input for what they think is the best donut shop in their area. Through posting on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn, Errichetti received upwards of 1,300 nominations. From there, he picked out the duplicate choices, and narrowed it down to 71 donut shops.
For the first round of voting, the public was asked to pick their four favorite donuts out of the 71 places. Round two featured the top eight, round three the top four, and round four featured the top two, according to Errichetti. Residents were allowed to pick their favorite two out of the top eight, favorite one out of the top four, and their winner out of the top two.
“I figured it was a very fair way of doing it,” said Errichetti. “As long as I knew it was fair, I knew no one would complain.”
One of the main goals of this contest, according to Errichetti, was to offer an escape from the daily political news cycle that dominates the world at this very moment.
“People need escapism,” said Errichetti. “They need to have fun debates, like ‘what’s the best donut?’ They want a break from the politics.”
This contest was also a way for small businesses to get widespread exposure. According to Errichetti, businesses who did not even make it out of the first round were thanking him for spearheading a contest such as this one.
“It was really a hugely positive experience,” he said.
Due to the overwhelming response for this contest, Errichetti said that he plans on creating more food surveys in the future. With football season in full force, he claims that burgers and wings could be the basis for the next contest.
“I’m looking for stuff that’s good and easy for takeout,” said Errichetti. “One of the best things about burgers is they travel well.”
Donut Dip’s ownership did not respond to requests for comment as of press time.