Entenmann's Blamed Its Windowless Packaging Flop On Hurricane Ida

Donut lovers at home, with the smear of chocolate frosting and cookie crumbs on their faces, already know far too well what's waiting for them inside an Entenmann's box. But it's probably nice for them to see what they're buying, something customers had been able to do for around seven decades. The transparent window started in the 1950s in Long Island when Martha Entenmann, wife of the founder's son, William Jr., had the idea to put a transparent window on the box top — a change from the traditional white bakery box — to tempt customers and show off a bit. But the show was over in 2021 when the window got replaced with a photo of the box's contents.

While the devil's food crumb donuts and apple snack pies inside the boxes remained the same, passionate fans of Entenmann's slighted or possibly duped. Upset took to social media to register their complaints. A Twitter user speculated about whether the reasons for the change were environmental. Another tweeted that they felt "personally attacked." On TikTok, a user complained that they couldn't see whether moldy donuts were lurking inside the boxes. One commenter vowed never to eat the treats again while another said they had already stopped since the packaging change. But now, nearly 18 months later, Entenmann's chocolate frosted donuts and sprinkled iced brownies are once again contained in the familiar package. And according to the company, it only changed in the first place because of a natural disaster.