By Carol Coultas,Business Writer

AUBURN – Look carefully, and you can see the hallmark of Jeannette Hould’s work.

Doughnuts are flush against the forward lip of their display trays. Every pumpkin spice, chocolate frosted and old-fashioned leans 30 degrees to the left. So do all the others. The bright pink paper liners the doughnuts sit on are spotless – not a single grease stain among them.

After 25 years with Dunkin’ Donuts, Hould knows what she’s doing.

“I have all these little tricks,” said Hould, as she waved her hand, gesturing toward the doughnut display case at the Riverside Drive shop. “All the doughnuts are put out just so. Everything is clean and swabbed.”

Hould has been sharing her expertise for a long time.

She laughs thinking that many of the new hires she trained as high school students are now in management. One is her boss.

“She’s great. … We really have a good crew here,” said Hould.

As shift supervisor, Hould arrives at work in the wee hours of the morning and begins the setup work that will pay off hours later. She weighs the coffee for each pot, adjusts the water temperature and volume.

Her preparations mean there’s no variation between the coffee served at 5 a.m. and the coffee served at 10 a.m.

“It’s always the same quality. We never get any complaints,” she said.

The Riverside Drive shop is the third post for Hould in Frank Minigell’s seven-shop franchise. Minigell’s father, Tony, helped train her back in 1980. He’s the one she credits with her fastidious attention to the doughnut case.

“Manicure the doughnuts’ … I’d always hear that. Those were Tony’s words,” she said with a chuckle.

Hould spent 14 years as night manager at the Center Street Dunkin’ Donuts and 10 at the Florian’s market kiosk. She opted out of management last year (the computer technology was getting to her) and happily is back behind the counter in New Auburn.

Her new assignment brings her face to face with one the nicest parts of her job: the customers.

“I like to see my customers, learn their names. It’s nicer than referring to them as the guy with the medium coffee with cream,'” she said.

Unfortunately, some of the changes the company has adopted over the years have curtailed her time with customers. Gone are the counters where customers and staff could chat over a cup of joe.

And now that the doughnuts are all baked at a central Lewiston location and trucked to the shops, Hould can no longer do the finish work on them.

“That was one of my favorite things,” she said. “Putting on the sprinkles, dipping the glazes, filling the doughnuts … that’s what I miss.”

Oh, and Munchkins fresh from the oven.

“There’s nothing like them,” she said, rolling her eyes upward.

When she started working at Dunkin’ Donuts 25 years ago, the menu offered coffee, doughnuts and soup. Now it sports lattes, sandwiches, muffins, bagels and all sorts of flavored coffees.

She said the specialty coffees and drinks are popular with the younger customers, but she’s convinced it’s the regular Dunkin’ Donuts coffee that has brought the company its success and will guarantee its future.

“It really is the best coffee in America,” she said, dismissing the notion of competitors moving in on the local market.

It was a commitment to family that initially drew Hould to the franchise. Her husband, Paul, worked construction, and she wanted a night job so she could be home during the day with their two daughters. Now that they’re grown, Hould said she expects to put in another three years before retiring with her husband. Then it’s off to the NASCAR circuit and other sports venues, which they both love.

She’ll miss her job, though. She likes the company and was touched when she was recognized for her 25 years at an employee reception this year. And she still takes pride in her standards of customer service.

“A couple of weeks ago a customer came in with an order for coffee and doughnuts that totalled $74,” she said. “We had the order filled in less than five minutes.”