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Dunkin Chair Says Franchisees Pleased With CEO Succession.

Story at Chain Leader and BlueMauMau

Are you pleased?Franchisees Say……

Very pleased: 10.2 %
Somewhat pleased: 17.9 %
Neutral: 38.4 %
Somewhat displeased: 20.5 %
Very displeased: 7.6 %
No Response(s): 5.1 %
 

40 Responses = 100%

DDIFO conducted the survey from 12/24/08 thru 1/13/09.

Comments:

1. It should have been Will Kussell!
2. Luther doesn’t know what a Franchise Owner is!
3. Not surprised – top secret –
4. Will Kussell is the logical successor.  He has all of the industry experience plus the only candidate with 10+ years of brand experience. Why not Will?
5. Luther started out great and ended up with a fizz at best
6. Just odd that at our toughest time for sales since I’ve been in the business 1996 to present Luther is leaving.
7. I am glad to see a change but since John Luther will remain as Chairman of the Board I don’t see any real change occurring right away.
8. John forgot about the costumer and what they want from us. Instead, he only focused on numbers to justify the private equity investment.
9. John has little to no trust left with the franchisees. It’s time for him to go.

 

New Dunkin Brands CEO Nigel Travis

What suggestions do you have for Nigel Travis the incoming CEO?

1. Tell the truth!
2. Stay the course.
3. Nigel needs to build bridges with the Franchisees. We were promised bridges but they were never built.
4. He needs to back off the remodels until financing is available and the economy stabilizes.
5. He needs to create focus and build from there.
6. Get rid of Steve Horn.
7. Let’s get back to basics!!
8. Please build a strong relationship with the franchisees and ensure that all components of Dunkin Brands are working in unison toward a clear goal.  Currently there is too much confusion. (i.e. marketing is not working effectively with operations, store standards seem to be arbitrary and created in the moment)  If the trust is brought into the relationship, there is no way Dunkin can fail at any of their objectives.
9. Listen to Will Kussell.
10. Re-build trust with the franchisees.
11. Acknowledge DDIFO! Work with us!
12. Do not sell our products off like Jon Luther Did.
13. Be Fair………..Not every franchisee wants to be a multi store owner………..get back to basics…COFFEE and DONUTS
14. To work closer with the DDIFO & listen to their points of views.
15. Hear the franchisee community – work with them in this tough economic time.
16. Protect existing store sales by: Limited and conservative development in New England
17. Increase development efforts overseas.
18. America runs on Dunkins…but Dunkin Brands runs on franchisees!
19. Be mindful of partnerships, i.e. Hess, P&G impact on the success of existing franchisees.
20. The success of existing franchisees sells the Brand nationally and internationally.
21. Work for two weeks in a store! You would have more practical experience than half your management team.
22. Pay attention to your owners. Listen to the franchise community first and your board second.
23. He needs to truly focus on franchisee profitability and quit providing lip service or the brand will suffer over the long term. He also needs to ensure franchisees are treated fairly as some in the past have not been treated fairly by loss prevention.
24. Do you plan on treating zees as intelligent competent people or continue the current degrading and disrespectful attitude.
25. Listen to the franchisees!
26. Get our products out of grocery store.
27. Get out of  Hess gas stations.
28. Make some new and exciting bakery products.
29. Don’t promise and not deliver.
30. Act to the franchisee statements on the franchisee behaves.   Do not implement capital programs in the units unless there is a ROI not just to increase top line sales. The consumer is king, not Royalties.
31. Concentrate on streamlining a menu that works.
32. Our Brands need to move away from the New England development mentality that is clearly crippling the markets outside the North East.  Store proximity in the Midwest and Southeast or devaluing the Franchisee’s investments.
33. Have a good understanding of unit economics. Operations is key to the success of the brand and Franchisees. If our bottom line is not healthy or there especially for small operators then why be a Dunkin franchisee?
34. The Franchisees know the business because they operate shops every day.  Dunkin’ Brands needs to operate their own network of shops so that they can see the effects that their operational changes make on daily management of the stores.  Until this time they will continue to operate in their utopia without a clear idea on what effects the changes they make will have at the store level.
35. Keep Dunkin SIMPLE bring us back to the basics…. most franchisees have forgotten the basics and at this point in the economy it could benefit
36. Take a good look at the history of this company. We already lost a lot of time and money trying to be a company that we are not supposed to be…Let’s go back to basics and give our customers what they always expect from us.