Whether they are hit with hangovers or exhausted after a long week of exams, some Tufts students make their way to The Broken Yolk each weekend to unwind and eat breakfast in a locally owned, familiar environment. The Broken Yolk, a nearby breakfast joint located just off Powder House Circle, has built a relationship with Tufts students and Somerville community members alike in the years that it has been doing business.
But The Broken Yolk has had a revenue decrease of late; while many local business woes can be chalked up to the economic downturn, the eatery may have a different reason for its losses. A new convenience store with a Dunkin' Donuts kiosk, replacing a former convenience store and Keno parlor, was recently opened in Powder House Circle. Since the opening of the store, some community members have voiced concern that business in the Dunkin' Donuts is detracting, and will continue to detract, revenue from The Broken Yolk.
Joe Grafton, executive director of Somerville Local First -- an organization that works to sustain the local economy and community by supporting local businesses -- explained that revenue lost from The Broken Yolk could take away from the entire Somerville community.
"Based on the data that I gathered from The Broken Yolk, they're looking at a revenue decrease of [approximately] $95,000 this year, which for a business that size is crippling. They won't be in business for a year if they go down that far," Grafton said, though he added that it is too soon to tell if the losses will indeed be so great. He explained that this is an important issue to Somerville because local businesses tend to spend locally.
"[A] franchise has to pay for all of its purchasing and ... marketing materials and products and equipment from the franchisee, so all that money leaves the community," Grafton said. "A local business would usually go to a local printer or a local Web designer, and they would spend that money in the community which would then get recirculated ... The Somerville local economy would stand to lose something like $50,000 just based on The Broken Yolk not being able to reinvest that money in the community."
One aspect of the new Dunkin' Donuts that Grafton and others find troubling is the manner in which the convenience store was opened. When the store transitioned from its previous form, the new owner only had to meet with a Davis Square task force and did not have to obtain approval from members of the community.
"[The development] was deemed by inspectional services in Somerville to be what is called a by right installation or by right development, and what that means is that the use of the building isn't changing and so there's no special permitting or a community process that has to be followed for a new business to come in," Grafton said. "The issue is that this development came through the legal channels but didn't have to go through the community channel."
Additionally, Grafton feels that the decision to call the development by right was not completely accurate. "The representation was that 25 percent or less of [the store] would be a Dunkin' Donuts, and it was sort of presented as a kiosk ... like you would see in a gas station. I haven't been there recently -- I think they added some racks -- but for the first couple weeks especially, and if you go into the establishment, it definitely has the feel of a Dunkin' Donuts," he said. "All of the materials throughout the store are the same color and material as a full Dunkin' Donuts, so it just has the feel of a Dunkin' Donuts with a convenience store on the side ... The takeaway, unfortunately, is that the community sort of got a Dunkin' Donuts without having the opportunity to say whether or not it wanted one."
Senior David Gottesman agreed that the store may have misrepresented how much of a role Dunkin' Donuts would play. "I think it's definitely more than 25 percent [Dunkin' Donuts]," he said. "I went there the other day not even knowing it was a convenience store just seeing the big Dunkin' Donuts' sign."
There are factors, however, that may prevent the kiosk from detracting business from other restaurants. The store does not offer any seating and has no plans of adding any, according to notes from the Feb. 23 Davis Square task force meeting. This may prevent the establishment from detracting business away from The Broken Yolk, which draws in a plentiful sit-down crowd.
"I don't think it will have a big impact on The Broken Yolk ... because it's usually really cold here, and there are no tables in that Dunkin' Donuts," Gottesman said. "It's just the Dunkin' Donuts stand, so unless people are going to go there and take it out or it's a really nice day, I feel like The Broken Yolk's going to be just fine."
Arthur Halas, owner of The Broken Yolk, explained that his restaurant offers many more options to customers, and thus he does not feel threatened by the new establishment.
"Right now I'm busy ... We weren't so much in the wintertime, but now it's starting to pick up," he said. "A lot of people come [to The Broken Yolk] because we have different products, like homemade muffins; who's going to come [to Dunkin' Donuts] to eat homemade muffins?"
To Grafton, though, the main problem is not necessarily the existence of the donut kiosk but rather the fact that it was put in without approval from the businesses of Somerville.
"The issue is that the community process, I don't know if it was really followed; legally, it was, but it's just unfortunate that there's this situation," Grafton said. "I would hope that ... people in Tufts and involved with Tufts will do everything they can to support that business [because] otherwise it's just not going to be there."
Demonstrating support through frequenting the eatery will be easy for some Jumbos.
"[The Broken Yolk] is what I'm used to. It's been there since I've been at college, and it's good; it's not too expensive. It's never overly crowded," Gottesman said. "It's sort of the comfort breakfast food that I have grown to know and like."
Gottesman added that some students he knows have formed friendships with the restaurant staff and that, to some, The Broken Yolk is a social arena as well as merely somewhere to eat.
Grafton agreed that the local restaurants are important to colleges.
"[I'm sure] that there's some population of people on campus that have a personal relationship with The Broken Yolk," he said. "The morning after some crazy night that some nonsense happened, [students can say] 'I had breakfast at The Broken Yolk and ... laughed with my friends,' and that's something that people will carry with them years in the future ... I know I've had experiences like that, and generally speaking, you're only going to find that at a local, independent business."
