Mister Donut is Japan’s most broadly loved donut chain, but this kind of behavior is more divisive.

Recently, a debate broke out online in Japan regarding Mister Donut. The topic wasn’t whether or not its donuts are good, as Mister Donut, being Japan’s largest donut chain for several decades now, has got plenty of fans. No, the question was whether or not it’s OK to take a donut from the shelf, put it on your tray, and then change your mind and put it back on the shelf without buying it.

For those who haven’t had the pleasure of visiting multiple locations, Mister Donut branches can largely be divided into two types. At some, generally branches with smaller amounts of floor space, the donuts are all lined up behind a counter, and you tell the staff how many of which you want (if you’re like us, that conversation usually boils down to “A lot of all of them, please”). But at many Mister Donut branches, you instead grab a tray and tongs as you enter, then take the donuts yourself from showcases. Once you’ve finished making your selections, you take your tray to the register, where the staff will ring you up.

▼ A serve-yourself Mister Donut interior

In a recent Twitter post, though, one Mister Donut customer recounted being shocked to see another customer take a donut from the case and set it on their tray, then, after some deliberation, nonchalantly put it back on the shelf. The original poster considered this a major breach of etiquette, and the majority of commenters agreed. Some, though, contended that as long as the tongs and tray have been kept properly clean by the shop staff, putting a donut back on the shelf shouldn’t cause any problems.

But what does Mister Donut have to say? After being contacted by Japanese online legal advice portal Bengoshi.com, Mister Donut’s parent company Duskin said that, since its employees are trained to make sure that the tongs and trays provided for customer use are kept clean, the chain has no explicit rule against customers putting a donut back on the shelf after having put it on their tray.

However, there are a couple of conditions to that. First is that Duskin says returning a donut to the shelf isn’t a problem “with normal usage” and that staff may approach a customer who’s determined to have handled foodstuffs or utensils in a manner that “affects quality or hygiene,” with quality ostensibly referring to the appearance of the product. So, for example, if you squashed the donut in the parts where you picked it up with the tongs, set one donut on top of another so that their glazes mix, or touched anything with the tongs or put anything on the tray that might have made them less clean than they were when initially provided, the donut you took isn’t going to be sellable anymore, and is going to need to be removed from circulation if you try to put it back on the shelf.

Duskin is very diplomatic in its language, being careful to phrase everything from the perspective of it keeping its tongs, trays, and overall operation very hygienic. However, it’s worth keeping in mind that, with the baseline high standards in Japan for things being clean, neat and orderly, a lot of customers who actually see a donut getting put back on a shelf will probably feel squeamish about then taking that same donut themselves, and might not even be too keen on taking a different donut from that shelf either. So while Mister Donut may not have an explicit rule against putting a donut back, it’s still unusual behavior, and something probably best avoided. After all, if you went so far as to put it on your tray, there’s a good chance that, deep in your heart, you really do want that donut, right?

Source: Hachima Kiko, Twitter/@teijidashkimeru, Bengoshi.com
Photos ©SoraNews24
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