Dunkin’ Donuts Expansion Plan Will Hurt Some Existing Franchisees

About:

According to a New York Daily News article by Cindy Gluck, a franchisee of Dunkin’ Donuts, the company is looking for reasons to sue existing single-unit franchisees in order to replace them with multi-unit franchisees.

“America may run on Dunkin’, but Dunkin’ Donuts is running me out of business. I wanted our store manager to share in our success, I offered to sell him a 15% stake. I wanted everything to be upfront, so I immediately notified Dunkin’ Donuts. Dunkin’ said that even though the transaction had yet to be completed - and even though I had notified the company beforehand - I had still violated their policies.” Says Cindy Gluck, Dunkin’ Donuts franchisee.

Dunkin’ Donuts is suing Cindy and her partner and trying to force them to sell their 2 locations for 50% of what the stores are actually worth. Dunkin’ Donuts plans to sell these stores to multi-unit franchisees who have the capability of opening 5 or more locations.