A franchise is a company that uses the mother company’s name to operate in another region or part of the world. The mother company is known as the franchisor, and the franchise’s partner or individual is called the franchisee. One must pay a start-up fee and an annual licensing fee to have a franchise. Dunkin Donuts, also known as Dunkin, is a mother company with a franchise in various parts of the world. Dunkin is an American multinational coffee and Doughnuts Company and a quick-service outlet offering quality and on-demand services. This business is among the top global franchisors, with over 3,000 franchises in 60 countries (Cavusgil et al., 2019). The paper focuses on the Company’s business approach, expansion patterns, and significant support the Company provides to its staff. In addition, the essay also considers the Company’s recruitment criteria alongside its exercise of an expatriate program.
Business models show companies how to cater to their clients by offering them a reasonable price and still profit in their stores. One must know their target customer, what they want, and how to benefit from delivering to their client. If one looks at Dunkin’s business model, one will find that the business has a very effective operating model that goes very well with the business model. After converting from a donut-first to a coffee-first model, it has managed its low cost and has consistent quality service in its restaurants. The company also chooses a site of high quality for its processes. Its ability to manage its low-cost and high-quality site selection process positively results in alignment operations and business models. It also ensures that its supply chain is consistent. This model has been a success because of Dunkin’s concentration in the Northeast.
Dunkin has been able to sell its products to the Northeast, which usually needs minimal menu options (Sevtsuk, 2020). The Northeast always appreciates the Dunkin brand for giving quality products quickly, efficiently, and reasonably priced. Dunkin has been able to keep up a better franchise network that has enabled it to maintain certifying growth profitability and brand recognition as it changes its business model from foods to beverages. Dunkin has made it a habit to concentrate on consumer feedback to maintain its overall business, making it possible for them to run its day-to-day activities without distractions.
After shifting to beverages, the Company has been able to lift the consumption of coffee. It has responded well to the change and has learned new methods of attracting customers and using coffee to drive food sales. Having known that customers are interested in cost, time, and quality, Dunkin has ensured their employees concentrate on first consistent service. Dunkin’s franchise model enables it to run a more profitable business. This makes it stand out from its peer who uses direct management. Its level of innovation makes it possible to practice a high-efficiency level.
Dunkin has been able to expand and has different branches internationally. For example, in Australia, Dunkin had signed a significant franchise with M$D restaurant development GmbH. They expect that the agreement will lead to the opening of 25 restaurants (Tompkins, 2021). Some of the products provided by Australia Dunkin donuts are hot and cold coffee, muffins, coolatta frozen drinks, wraps, sandwiches, and donuts. Dunkin has also opened some restaurants in 33 more countries. It also owns stores in the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Denmark and plans to start a new branch in Finland.
Dunkin has an experienced team that helps to bring about franchise opportunities. This expertise takes the employees through ongoing product training. Dunkin has taught its employees to focus on fast, consistent service and consider the drive-in concept amongst its locations. Dunkin also has a foundation known as Joy in Childhood Foundation, giving food to venerable children and families (Hussain et al., 2020). It also provides sponsorship to those who need it most and mainly concentrates on these three areas; hunger relief, children’s health, and safety.
Dunkin franchise hires employees from all over the US as the host State. It provides educational benefits and critical career skills to all its employees. Dunkin franchise has come up with different steps to help their franchisee take in new employees. It has launched its first campaign where it will hire new employees. This campaign aims to educate interested candidates on the importance of becoming an employee at Dunkin’s restaurants and teach them the flexible work schedule and competitive pay. Even though the franchise is not said to have any requirements as to how many employees should be citizens of the host country, it is not a surprise that its franchisees hire local individuals. This information proves the fact that Dunkin utilizes an expatriate program.
The Company’s franchise has experts who offer necessary advice on running the restaurants by giving essential guidelines that must be followed. Having been founded by Rosenberg, the Dunkin franchise later opened different shops. These shops are owned all over Africa and other continents. For instance, an experienced business entrepreneur will take over Dunkin donuts in Bangladesh. The director opts to hire people from internal sources to avoid business risk.
In conclusion, Dunkin successfully determines an operating strategy that enables the management of a network of stores. It has kept its consistency in offering quality products to its customers, thus growing many consumers. Its tight control over the supply chain, ensuring consistency, and ensuring that all food is available using minimal inventory has also made it stand out. To add on, Dunkin has run its shifts smoothly due to its capital-light investment model, where they use the initial investment.
References
Cavusgil, S. T., Knight, G., & Riesenberger, J. (2019). International business: The new realities (5th ed.). Pearson Education.
Hussain, D., Grünhagen, M., Panda, S., & Hossain, M. I. (2020). Franchising in South Asia: Past, present, and future developments. Journal of Marketing Channels, 26(4), 227-249.
Sevtsuk, A. (2020). Location, location, location: How retailers gravitate to homes, workplaces, and pedestrians. In Street Commerce (pp. 119-143). University of Pennsylvania Press.
Tompkins, D. L. (2021). Dunkin’ brands: Still a sweet treat? SAGE Publications: SAGE Business Cases Originals.