When Qdoba franchise owners learned that Jack in the Box, owner of their fast-casual restaurant chain for the past 14 years, was thinking of selling, they banded together. “There’d been talk of forming an association for quite some time, and this was just the last motivator,” says Ron Stokes, chairman of the newly formed Qdoba…
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It’s not every day an independent franchisee association can announce the son of the President of the United States will speak at its annual meeting. But with the assistance of a well-known Dunkin’ Donuts family, Eric F. Trump has confirmed he will appear at the 2017 DDIFO National Conference. “This is a wonderful honor for…
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Scott Campbell, who owns a network of Dunkin’ Donuts shops in New York City, knows change is coming. His team has been preparing for it for months. Coming on the heels of a city-wide mandate that raised minimum wage to $11 per hour this past January – and will top out at $15 an hour…
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Carl Andrade From the time he was a teenager, Carl Andrade had little doubt he would work for Dunkin’ Donuts. His two other brothers, Manny and Tony, were already established as Dunkin’ franchisees. “It was 1975 and I worked as a baker at Tony’s shop in Holbrook, Mass. I was there a year and a…
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To paraphrase Paul Revere’s famous warning: “Change is coming! Change is coming!” You know all about it: Dunkin’s menu simplification, aimed at improving the brand’s competitiveness by reducing the number of sandwiches and keeping the focus on beverages. In the Tampa area, franchisee Alex Fernandez gladly rolled out a menu reduction in early August, having…
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You win some, you lose some. As we head into the fall, franchise owners from Dunkin’ Donuts and other QSR systems have some reasons for optimism and some things to worry about as well. Increasing the minimum wage has been all the rage over the past few years, with union and other activists successfully pushing…
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Has it ever occurred to you that you don’t actually own your network of Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants? Well, let me clarify that proposition…while you most likely own the assets, such as the coffee pots, menu boards, and Radiant systems, you do not have the unfettered ability to sell your business. Even if you and your…
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There’s an old proverb that says, “Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors” – with the logical corollary being that rough going will surely forge good men of the sea. Such could be said for former Merchant Marine Todd LaLumiere, who after a rocky start and a series of subsequent obstacles along the way, has…
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Steve Catalano knows firsthand that one person can make a difference. Catalano has raised more than $180,000 for Lyme disease research since 2015, after his daughter contracted it. That’s a hefty sum in such a short time. But he started giving back long before it became personal. A Dunkin’ Donuts franchise owner for 27 years, he…
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To paraphrase Paul Revere’s famous warning: “Change is coming! Change is coming!” You know all about it: Dunkin’s menu simplification, aimed at improving the brand’s competitiveness by reducing the number of sandwiches and keeping the focus on beverages. In the Tampa area, franchisee Alex Fernandez gladly rolled out a menu reduction in early August,…
Read More »