Running Head: DUNKIN’ BRANDS GROUP, INC.
About Dunkins’ Brands Group Inc.
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DUNKIN’ BRANDS GROUP, INC.
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Summary
This essay examines the Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc., but specifically, the essay looks into the company’s
two global franchisees, the Baskin Robbins and the Dunkin’ Donuts. This will include the franchisees’ core
activities, their locations, their commercial performance including sales figures, as well as any other aspect of the
companies.
Introduction/ Key Facts
The Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc. is an American restaurant Holdings Company founded in 1950 by William
Rosenberg in Quincy, Massachusetts as Open Kettle whose name was changed two years later, and which, by 1954,
had opened five Dunkin’ Donuts shops (Pride, Hughes, & Kapoor, 2014). Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc. runs two fastfood restaurant chains, namely, Baskin Robbins and Dunkin’ Donuts (Brand Power, 2013). The headquarters of
Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc. is in Canton, Massachusetts. Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc. has over 18,000 distribution
points in about 60 countries in the world. According to National Association of Securities Dealers Automated
Quotations (NNASDAQ), Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc. is among the world’s prominent franchisors in fast food
restaurant also referred to as quick service restaurants (QSR) that serve hot and cold coffee, pastries, and hard-serve
ice cream. The holdings company licensed its first franchise in 1955 (Brand Power, 2013). Towards the end of
Fiscal year 2013, the nearly 100% franchised Dunkin’ Brands’ business model comprised of approximately 11,000
Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants as well as 7,300 Baskin-Robbins restaurants (Pride, Hughes, & Kapoor, 2014). For the
whole of 2013, Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc.’s franchisees reported total sales of close to $9.3 billion (Brand Power,
2013).
The Dunkin’ Donuts
Dunkin’ Donuts was founded in 1950 and is arguably America’s most preferred all-day, everyday outlet for
coffee and baked pastries. This fast food chain is a market leader in serving hot regular, decaffeinated, iced, and/or
flavored coffee (Brand Power, 2013). Dunkin’ Donuts also serves pastries like bagel, donut, and muffin categories.
For eight years consecutively, Brand Keys, a global leader in customer loyalty and engagement metrics, ranked
Dunkin’ Donuts at No. 1 for customer loyalty in the coffee category. With close to 11,000 restaurants in 33
countries all over the world, Dunkin’ Donuts has continued to score highly in sales and profits since its inception
(Dunkin’ Brands, 2014).
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Since its inception, the goal and mission of Dunkin’ Donuts has been to “make and serve the freshest, most
delicious coffee and donuts quickly and courteously in modern, well-merchandised stores.” The company has really
strived to ensure that they still use the original proprietary coffee blend recipe that Dunkin’ Donuts’ founder created.
For its exemplary work, Dunkin’ Donuts has earned itself numerous industry recognition awards, ranking the
restaurant chain at the top in numerous categories (Dunkin’ Brands, 2014). For instance, since 2007, Dunkin’
Donuts’ has been ranked by Brand Keys twice at No. 1 in iced flavored, regular, and decaffeinated coffee category;
once at No. 1 in donut category, once at No. 1 in bagel and muffin category; No. 2 in breakfast sandwich servings;
and No. 1 in customer loyalty in the coffee category.
Baskin Robbins
A franchise of the Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc., Baskin Robbins was founded in 1945 in Glendale,
California, by brother in-laws, Irvine Robbins and Burton Baskin, two ice cream enthusiasts who had a passion to
create more than 1,000 flavors of ice cream as well as a wide variety of delicious treats (Brand Power, 2013).
Founder Irv Robbins is especially noted for stating, “We sell fun, not ice cream” and the company’s website
describes Baskin Robbins as defines as “America’s Favorite Neighborhood Ice Cream Shop.” Baskin Robbins is
perhaps the largest chain of ice cream department shops in the world that serves premium ice cream, beverages, and
specialty frozen desserts. In fact, in 2008, Baskin-Robbins became the first ice cream chain in the nation to give both
Soft Serve ice cream and hand scooped ice cream. Baskin-Robbins serves over 300 million customers in the world
every year.
Baskin Robbins was especially famed for introducing its special concept of “31 Flavors” in 1953, which
was created based on a different flavor for every day of the month. Other specialties that have made Baskin Robbins
include their use of cheesecake and apple pie, which are traditional ingredients as well as their unique flavor ribbon
technique. Baskin Robbins has almost achieved 100 percent brand awareness based on the fact that the company has
numerous repeat customers (Brand Power, 2013). For instance the company offers its well-known offers their 31Cent Scoop Night once annually.
Just as the other Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc.’s franchise, Baskin Robbins has also received commendable
industry recognition. The company has been ranked by various research consultants and pollsters on customer
satisfaction as the No. 1 ice cream franchise worldwide. Baskin Robbins has also been ranked as the leading chain in
hard scooped ice cream globally. The Entrepreneur magazine named Baskin Robbins as the top ice cream and frozen
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dessert franchise in the United States in 2014. The company has gone ahead to win Silver Addy award for its
excellence in advertising. In addition to its products’ sales, Corporate Social Responsibility is critical for Baskin
Robbins, and as its website states, the company strives to do what is “right for our consumers, franchisees,
employees and the communities we serve.”
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References
Brand Power. (2013). Brand Power. Retrieved December 11, 2014, from
http://www.dunkinfranchising.com/franchisee/en
Dunkin’ Brands. (2014). Dunkin Brands: About Us. Retrieved December 11, 2014, from
http://news.dunkinbrands.com/About/About-Us-6e.aspx
Pride, W., Hughes, R., & Kapoor, J. (2014). Inside Business. In Foundations of Business. Cengage Learning.