independent joe magazine issue #13

Neighborhood ApproachClayton Turnbull Meets His New Challenge as BAC Co-Chair Head Onby Matt Ellis

also in this issue

Is Late Night the Right Time for Brewing Coffee? by Matt Ellis

April 2012 • Issue 13 We Communicate, We Educate, We Advocate!

Not-So-Dumb Blonde by Linda FormichelliWhat does Starbucks’ new Blonde Roast mean for Dunkin’ Donuts?

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2012 CFA Day ForumSpeakers and Program Announced

APRIL 2012 • INDEPENDENT JOE 3

by Matt Ellis2012 CFA Day ForumMatt Ellis

What Has the DDIFO Done for Me Lately?Mark Dubinsky

The Key to Becoming a Profit Improvement GuruPerry Ludy

DDIFO Directoryof Sponsors

Is Late Night the RIght Time for Brewing Coffee?Matt Ellis

Not-So-Dumb BlondeLinda Formichelli

Neighborhood ApproachMatt Ellis

Dunkin' Donuts FranchisesServe the MilitaryCheré Coen

Index ofAdvertisers

030507081113141827

The 2012 CFA Day Forum will be held July 25-27 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, MD. Once again CFA (the Coalition of Franchisee Associa-tions) will provide a dynamic forum for franchise owners, association leaders and others to share best practices; discuss pending legal and regulatory issues; and visit with lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

According to Misty Chally, deputy executive director of the CFA, health care reform remains an important topic of discussion for the franchisee community. “There is a lot of action on both sides of the aisle regarding health care reform and what ultimately happens is going to greatly impact franchise owners across the board.”

Another important topic of discussion will be the Universal Franchisee Bill of Rights, which was first unveiled at the 2011 CFA Day Forum. CK Patel, a member of the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) and co-Chairman of the CFA Fair Franchising subcommittee, told last year’s attend-ees why the landmark document is so critical to the future of franchising.

“This Universal Franchisee Bill of Rights is all about fairness in fran-chising. It has been developed by franchisees in multiple systems and industries to identify the basic terms of fairness that are missing in their franchise agreements and must be restored to ensure the success and growth of the franchise systems,” he said.

In the year since it was first unveiled, the Universal Franchisee Bill of Rights has received over 600 endorsements and ratifications. You can read the entire document and endorse it here: http://www.franchiseebillofrights.org/.

Over the last year, CFA has more than doubled its membership and now

represents 17 different franchisee as-sociations. CFA Chairman Keith Miller says this growth will allow the orga-nization to be an even stronger voice for all franchisees.

“I feel that much of this growth is due to the fact that this association is led by franchisees, on behalf of franchisees. Every board member has either been elected by their fellow

franchisees to serve on their brand's independent association board, or been hired by that franchisee elected board.”

Noted franchise attorney Robert Zarco, who will address the forum on franchise industry trends and re-cent case law impacting franchisees operating businesses during a down economy, says the organization has done a tremendous job of bringing together industry experts to talk on issues of relevance to all franchisees.

“Because it is not industry or sys-tem specific, you are exposed to a broader scope of franchising industry issues, concerns and trends,” said Zarco. “It is highly beneficial to every-one involved.”

Other featured speakers at this year’s CFA Day Forum include Federal Trade Commission Franchise Rule Coordinator Craig Tregillus and former United States Senator George Allen of Virginia, who is running for re-election against incumbent Demo-crat Jim Webb.

Also on the political docket, there will be a fundraiser for the CFA PAC featuring Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH). Ayotte is a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business

and Entrepreneurship and is working to defeat the controversial Employee Free Choice Act—also known as Card Check.

Robert Branca, a Dunkin’ Donuts fran-chise owner and vice chairman of the CFA, says the power of the collective voice of the association is a powerful force that lawmakers are starting to recognize.

“When we go to Capitol Hill, it’s not just me representing my Dunkin’ franchises,” said Branca. “Instead, we are received as representatives of the owners of tens of thousands of small businesses that employ over a million people. It never ceases to amaze me how power-ful that is and how well it is received by Congressional members with whom we meet.”

For more information about the 2012 CFA Day Forum, visit www.thecfainc.com.

4 INDEPENDENT JOE • APRIL 2012


DDIFO and You continued on page 20

What Has the DDIFODone for Me Lately?

From time to time, DDIFO members and Non-DDIFO members alike ask me two questions: “What is the DDIFO up to?” and “What has the DDIFO done for me lately?” I am pleased to report we have done and continue to do an amaz-ing amount of good for our members. Please allow me to elaborate:

The DDIFO offers our members top-notch legal advice and business re-search. Dunkin’ Donuts franchisees have almost $10 billion invested in the Dunkin’ Donuts brand. DDIFO members deserve the best legal counsel and business research to support Advisory Council members with the information they need to support the franchisee community.

The DDIFO is dedicated to an active and proactive Government Rela-tions program. We strive to have a strong voice in legislation that can enhance the value of your business. We are promoting Fair Franchising legislation in Massachusetts. This is important because Dunkin’ Brands is a Massachusetts company and if the law is changed in Massachusetts, it will impact all franchise agreements.

We are actively trying to change the tip-pooling law in Massachusetts. As you may know, under current law, supervisors are excluded from par-ticipation in tip pools. In the press, we recently published an opinion article that was carried in several Massachusetts weekly newspapers fully explaining the inequity and injustice of the current law, particu-larly as it relates to Dunkin’ Donuts employees. Very recently, Rhode Island also filed a tip-pooling bill. We are taking action to try to make sure that that the RI legislators do not fundamentally change the way tip-ping must be handled for our Rhode Island members.

We are an influential and active member of the Coalition of Franchi-

by Mark Dubinskysee Associations (CFA) in Washing-ton DC. This association promotes the Universal Franchisee Bill of Rights, a document seeking to even the playing field and regain the rights that have been stripped away by onerous and one-sided franchise agreements.

The DDIFO assisted the DCP with its “get out the vote” effort for the recent merger. The franchisees took action and voted to endorse the new National DCP.

DDIFO conducts regular regional and national meetings which feature relevant, thought-provoking speak-ers. We provide the opportunity for members to become better informed business owners and discuss issues that are central to the success of their businesses. And we do that in a safe, supportive environment.

April 2012 • Issue #13Independent Joe ® is published by DD Independent Franchise Owners, Inc.

Editors: Jim Coen, Matt EllisContributors: Cheré Coen, Mark Dubinsky, Linda Formichelli, Perry LudyAdvertising: Joan Gould • Graphic Design/Production: Susan Petersen

Direct all inquiries to:DDIFO, Inc. • 150 Depot Street • Bellingham, MA 02019

508-422-1160 • 800-732-2706 • [email protected] • www.ddifo.orgDD Independent Franchise Owners, Inc. is an

Association of Member Dunkin’ Donuts Franchise Owners.

INDEPENDENT JOE®, INDY JOE®, and DDIFO® are registered trademarks of DD Independent Franchise Owners, Inc.

Any reproduction, in whole or in part, of the contents of this publication is prohibited without prior written consent of DD Independent Franchise Owners, Inc.

All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2012 • Printed in the U.S.A.

DDIFO has created and funded a Franchisee Equity Fund. The Board of Directors has supported bankroll-ing a substantial sum of money to be utilized whenever necessary to en-hance, defend and protect the equity you, our members, have worked so hard to create.

The DDIFO has established a Hall of Fame to recognize, honor, and celebrate the people that have dedi-cated their careers to building the Dunkin’ Donuts Brand. I am happy to report that we have established


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The Key to Becoming a Profit Improvement Guru


The Key toBecoming a Profit Improvement Guru

Perry Ludy continued on page 10

By the author of Profit Building:

Cutting Costs without Cutting People

Improving profits is one of the main objec-tives of business, yet in my 25 years as a senior-level executive, author and busi-ness consultant, I have observed that most managers do not truly understand how to move beyond the basics.And it’s no wonder. When you consider the challenges managers face including turn-over, overloaded menus and changes in direction from leadership, improving profit becomes harder to achieve. Successful franchise owners face the difficult task of developing and executing profit strategies to stay ahead of the competition. The Guru Report is a highly successful approach to resolving the profit improve-ment paradox. Prepared monthly, the Guru Report shows the ranking of your shops based on performance against 10 business-critical focus areas. Once your managers become familiar with it, the Guru Report will develop into an excellent tool for communication and performance improvement.The following is an example of the cat-egories used in a Guru Report based on a

42-store operation:A. Sales Growth Positive to Last

Year (20 points): Using your standard reports for tracking revenue performance over the previous year, list the percentage of sales growth. A store would receive 20 points for having any amount of positive sales growth for the month or period.

B. Attachments or Add-on Sales (5 points): Based on sales reports, calculate add-on sales to beverages. Sometimes guest check averages can be substituted in this category. In that case, 5 points are awarded if a particu-lar store has surpassed the company average in this category.

C. Excellence Evaluation/Store Scored Inspections (10 points): This is based on the ROR scores received during the report period. You can average the scores if two or more inspections were conducted. If the Brand conducted the ROR, that score would be used. Shops receive 10 points if they score 80% or better.

The Key to Becoming a Profit Improvement Guru

D. Labor Better than Plan (10 points): Use your labor reports to measure each shop’s performance against its labor plan and goals. If a store performs better than its plan it would be awarded 10-points. If the store performs worse than plan no points are awarded.

E. COGS Plus or Minus .3% of Target (10 points): Use your COGS or food cost reports to determine if a shop has performed within a plus or minus .3% of target. If so, award 10 points.

F. Offsite Revenue 4% of Net Sales (15 points): Track LSM or offsite sales to determine what percentage of your business was sold through catering, fundraising, school programs, etc. Establish a percentage goal. If that goal is met the shop is awarded 15 points.


Duro-Last Roofing525 Morley Drive, Saginaw, MI 48601Jim Schriber • [email protected] • www.duro-last.com

ViewPoint Sign and Awning35 Lyman Street, Northboro, MA 01532Bill Gavigan • [email protected] • www.viewpointsign.com

Business Broker Kensington Company & Affiliates185 Roslyn Road, Roslyn Heights, NY 11577David Stein • [email protected]: 516-626-2211 • M: 718-490-2218 • www.kensingtoncompany.com

Finance Business Financial Services3111 N. University Drive, Suite 800, Coral Springs, FL 33065Scott Kantor • [email protected] • www.businessfinancialservices.com

Capital One Bank499 Thornall Street, 11th Floor, Edison, NJ 08837George Ziminski •[email protected] • www.capitalone.com

Centrix Bank & Trust 1 Atwood Lane, Bedford, NH 03110 Deborah Blondin • [email protected] 603-589-4071 • www.centrixbank.com

Direct Capital Franchise Group155 Commerce Way, Portsmouth, NH 03823Robyn Gault • [email protected] • www.franchise.lendedge.com

Fidelity Bank465 Shrewsbury Street, Worcester, MA 01604Sally Buffum • [email protected] • www.fidelitybankonline.com

GE Capital, Franchise Finance 201 Merritt 7, 2nd Floor, Norwalk, CT 06851Ab Igram • [email protected] • www.gefranchisefinance.com

Joyal Capital Management Franchise Development50 Resnik Road, Plymouth, MA 02360Daniel Connelly • [email protected] • www.jcmfranchise.com

Merchant Cash & Capital450 Park Avenue South, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10016Seth Broman • [email protected] • www.merchantcashandcapital.com

Priority Capital174 Green Street, Melrose, MA 02176Brian Gallucci • [email protected] Ext 14 • www.prioritycapital.com

Susquehanna Commercial Finance2 Country View Road, Suite 300, Malvern, PA 19355Brian Colburn • [email protected] • www.susquehanna.com

Trust Capital Funding132 Adams Street, Suite 1, Newton, MA 02458Mark Wesalowski • [email protected] • www.trustcapitalfunding.com

AccountingAdrian A. Gaspar & Company, LLP, CPAs1035 Cambridge Street, Suite 14, Cambridge, MA 02141Robert Costello • [email protected] • www.gasparco.com

Bederson & Company LLP - CPAs and Consultants405 Northfield Avenue, West Orange, NJ 07052Steven Bortnick, CPA • [email protected] 973-736-3333 • www.bederson.com

Bedford Cost Segregation 60 State Street, Suite 700, Boston, MA 02109Bill Cusato • [email protected] • www.bedfordcostseg.com/who_we_serve/ddifo.asp

Cynthia A. Capobianco, CPA60 Quaker Lane, Suite 61, Warwick, RI 02886-0114Cynthia Capobianco • [email protected]

James P. Ventriglia, CPA, Inc.145 Phenix Avenue, 2nd Floor, Cranston, RI 02920 Jim Ventriglia • [email protected] • www.jpvcpa.com

Gray, Gray & Gray, CPA34 Southwest Park, Westwood, MA 02090Paul Gerry, CPA • [email protected] • www.gggcpas.com

Performance Business Solutions, LLC87 Lafayette Road, Suite 11, Hampton Falls, NH 03844Jeff Hiatt • [email protected] • www.revenuebanking.com

Rubiano & Company, CPA’s5 Austin Avenue, Suite 1, Greenville, RI 02828Daniel J. Rubiano, CPA • [email protected] • www.rubianocpa.com

Sansiveri, Kimball & Co., LLP55 Dorrance Street, Providence, RI 02903Joseph Mansour • [email protected] • www.sansiveri.com

Thomas Colitsas and Associates, CPA103 Carnegie Center, Suite 309, Princeton, NJ 08540Tom Colitsas • [email protected] • 609-452-0889“A Member of Franchise Pros”

Advertising Access Rewards1012 W Beardsley Place, Salt Lake City, UT 84119Doug Jentzsch • [email protected] • www.accesscashrewards.com

Back Office IKMS Group, Inc. PO Box 6221, Manchester, NH 03108Cliff Pratt • [email protected] • www.ikmsgroup.com

Building Absolut Contracting 4346 Route 27, Princeton, NJ 08540William Lako • [email protected] • 609-655-0800“A Member of Franchise Pros”

Directory of SponsorsPlease Visit The DDIFO Sponsor Directory online at: www.DDIFO.org


United Capital Business Lending215 Schilling Circle Suite 100, Hunt Valley, MD 21031Trey Grimm • [email protected] • www.unitedcapitalbusinesslending.com

Food Products CSM Bakery Products1901 Montreal Road, Suite 121, Tucker, GA 30084Marla Cushing • [email protected] • www.csmbakeryproducts.com

PepsiCo315 Norwood Park South, Norwood, MA 02062Bryan Gruttadauria • [email protected] • www.pepsico.com

Human Resources CareerBuilder.Com 400 Crown Colony Drive, Suite 301, Quincy, MA 02169Maureen O’Neill • [email protected] • www.careerbuilder.com

Diversified Solutions, Inc.412 Long Pond Road, Plymouth, MA 02360Chrishelle Gavoni • [email protected] • www.diversified-solutions.com/dsi_dd.html

Employers Reference Source1587 Hamilton Avenue, Waterbury, CT 06706Sandra Fabrizio • [email protected] • www.employersreference.com

Gecko Hospitality 1415 West 22nd Street, Tower Floor Oakbrook, IL 60523 Robert Krzak • [email protected] 630-390-1000 • www.geckohospitality.com

The PCI Group303 Molner Drive, Elmwood Park, NJ 07407Robert Boffa, Sr. • [email protected] ext. 223 • www.pcihr.com

Insurance The Hill Agency5 Washington Avenue, Endicott, NY 13760Rita Frailey • [email protected] • www.thehillagencyinc.org

KK Insurance Agency541 Broadway, Long Branch, NJ 07740Ashish Vadya • [email protected] • www.kkquote.com

Paris-Kirwan Insurance1040 University Avenue, Rochester, NY 14607John Mulcahy • [email protected] • www.paris-kirwan.com

RMS Insurance Brokerage, LLC575 Jericho Tpke, Suite 102, Jericho, NY 11753John Rojas • [email protected] • www.rmsrestaurants.com

Sinclair Insurance Group - Risk Management4 Tower Drive, Wallingford, CT 06492Matt Ottaviano • [email protected] • www.srfm.com

Directory of SponsorsStarkweather & Shepley Insurance Brokerage, Inc.60 Catamore Boulevard, East Providence, RI 02914Sabrina San Martino • [email protected] ext. 1121 • www.starkweathershepley.com

LegalLaw Office of Carmen D. Caruso, PC 77 West Wacker Drive, Suite 4800, Chicago, IL 60601Carmen D. Caruso • [email protected] • www.cdcaruso.com

Lisa & Sousa Attorneys at Law5 Benefit Street, Providence, RI 02904Carl Lisa, Sr. • [email protected] • www.lisasousa.com

Paris Ackerman & Schmierer LLP101 Eisenhower Parkway, Roseland, NJ 07068David Paris • [email protected] • 973-228-6667www.paslawfirm.com “A Member of Franchise Pros”

Zarco, Einhorn, Salkowski & Brito, PA100 SE 2nd Street, 27th Floor, Miami, FL 33131Robert Zarco, Esq. • [email protected] Salkowski, Esq. • [email protected] • www.zarcolaw.com

Operations Access to Money, Inc. 628 Route 10 - Suite 8, Whippany, NJ 07981Doug Falcone • [email protected] • www.accesstomoney.com

Belshaw Adamatic Bakery Group814 44th Street NW, Suite 103, Auburn, WA 98001Fran Kauth • [email protected] 206-718-3573 • www.belshaw-adamatic.com

Bunn-O-Matic Corporation 1400 Stevenson Drive, Springfield, IL 62703Todd Rouse • [email protected] • www.bunn.com

Cashmaster Cash Solutions2108 Trving Blvd., Dallas, TX 75207Jayson Dunston • [email protected] ext. 2 • www.cashmaster-us.com

Comcast Business Services500 South Gravers Road, Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462Comcast National Sales • [email protected] • www.business.comcast.com/internet/index.aspx

Delphi/Fast Track 2+2 Drive-Thru Timer3500 West Moore Avenue, Suite M, Santa Ana, CA 92704Mike Pierce • [email protected] • www.fasttracktimer.com

DTT Surveillance1755 North Main Street, Los Angeles, CA 90031Mira Diza • [email protected] ext. 1441 • www.dttusa.com

Ecolab8300 Capital Drive, Greensboro, NC 27409Arliene Bird • [email protected]/Businesses/

Sponsors continued on page 17Thank You to Our Sponsors!

Please Visit The DDIFO Sponsor Directory online at: www.DDIFO.org


Perry Ludy continued from page 7

G. Customer Service Score (10 points): Check GSS customer survey scores during the period. If a shop has better than the average score for the opera-tion, 10 points are awarded. Obviously you can establish an internal target or threshold a shop must meet in order to earn points.

H. Cash Management/Cash Over and Short (10 points): Use financial reports as the basis for establishing a goal for cash shortage. For example, the goal is $10.00 short or less for the period or $.33 cents per day. If a shop performs better than the goal it is awarded the points.

I. Manager Comps 1% or lower (5 points): The Loss Prevention Report

can help determine if a shop has per-formed less than the target. If so, award the points.

J. Voids 1% or lower (5 points): The Loss Prevention Report can help deter-mine if a particular shop has performed better than the goal. Award the points accordingly.

K. Bonus Category (5 points): Shops that have an employee on board who is trained and ready for a promotion to the GM or Manager level are awarded 5 bonus points. Promotion candidates must be interviewed and approved be-fore the bonus points can be awarded.

Obviously your Guru Report can take many shapes and sizes depending on your strategies and focus areas. The targets can be established and changed as the performance of your organization improves. Publish the report ranking each of your shops from highest to lowest total score as shown in the table on page 7. For example, if you have a 20-shop organiza-tion, rank each shop from 1-20. Require each shop to post the report and leave it up until it is replaced with the next report, and so on. When distributing the report, include an executive overview written by a manager who is one or two levels above the store manager which summarizes the results and recognizes both the top and bottom performers.Perhaps the most important aspect of the Guru Report concept is the executive

Perry Ludy is a senior executive, business consultant, and author of business books. He is president of LudyCo International. Contact Perry at [email protected].

overview. This is an excellent opportunity to recognize the five to ten top performing stores. Highlighting these top performers and their scores encourages consistent top performance. Similarly, singling out bottom performers can motivate them to raise their level of performance in the next period. Additionally, the Guru Report can be used in performance appraisals since it represents a cross-section of a restaurant manager’s duties. And, the report can be used as a basis for merit increases, or conversely, as documentation of poor performance.The Guru Report is a simple and effective way to keep your organization continu-ously focused on key business drivers. Ranking your shops on a monthly basis in critical areas of performance and posting it for all employees to see will energize your organization. As a result, your profit per-formance will improve and you will have earned guru status.


Is Late Night the RightTime for Brewing Coffee?Franchisees Disagree on Benefits of 24 Hour Operations

by Matt Ellis

Late Night Brew continued on page 22

If you ask Mo Khalid, who owns a network of 12 Dunkin’ Donuts shops in Essex County, New Jersey – in-cluding five in the city of Newark—staying open 24 hours is vital to his business. He doesn’t look at whether the revenue covers the cost of stay-ing open between midnight and 4am: sometimes it doesn’t. But, for Khalid, staying open round-the-clock protects his property from vandals, gives his staff a head start preparing for the morning rush and gives him a com-petitive edge in his market.

“My stores sell a lot of sandwiches in the morning and a lot of stuff needs to be prepped for morning shifts – rolls, bagels, croissants. If you’re not open at night you have to pay someone to come in and do it. It makes sense from a business perspec-tive to stay open,” he said.

Of course, many franchise owners will tell you that Khalid’s situation is unique to shops located in busy, urban areas. Newark, for example, has over 600 police officers on staff, with approximately 200 working the third shift. If just 20 stopped in to one of Khalid’s stores for a late-night cup of coffee, he would come close to covering his labor costs for the night.

“In many suburban towns, stay-ing open 24 hours may make no sense because street traffic and activity drop to zero,” said Ronald C. Curhan, Professor Emeritus at the Boston Uni-versity School of Management. “Where it can make sense is in areas where people are passing through like along busy highways, or where people can use the location as a destination.”

According to University of Maryland Sociology Professor Harriet Presser who wrote the book, Working in

a 24/7 Economy: Challenges for American Families, “one out of five employed Americans work most of their hours outside the range of 8am to 4pm, or have a regularly rotat-ing schedule that includes overnight hours.”

“A central factor is the remarkable growth of the service economy – par-ticularly in the food, recreation, travel and medical care industries,” writes Presser. “Consumers are clamoring for continuously available services as well. We see these trends in the newly common phrase 24/7.”

Ten years ago, less than one percent of all McDonald’s restaurants were open around the clock; today it’s nearly 40 percent. Perhaps feeling the competition for late-night coffee and snack dollars, Dunkin’ Brands

Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer John Costello recently told the Wall Street Journal, “I think we really have moved to a clockless day. People are working longer hours, in many cases multiple jobs, and more time-starved than ever before and they want the flexibility to have a full variety of products that aren’t limited by time of day.”

According to the Journal approxi-mately one third of Dunkin’ Donuts stores are now open 24 hours; that’s double what it was 10 years ago. But, according to a number of franchise

owners we talked to, only in certain circumstances is there enough busi-ness to justify staying open between the hours of midnight and 4am.

This 24 hour Dunkin’ shop in Waukegan, IL is close to a local hospital and police station. Its owner says the shop generates enough cash overnight to justify staying open.


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Starbucks recently introduced their Blonde Roast, a lighter roast for those coffee drinkers who don’t like the original roast’s intense -- some would say burned -- flavor.

Dunkin’ Donuts has always had a lighter roast -- so what does Star-bucks’ foray into the light mean for the company? Independent Joe posed this and other questions to Matthew Swenson, director of the coffee consulting company Swenso-nian Coffee Professionals and Lead Instructor for the Specialty Coffee Association of America, and Andrew Hetzel, owner of Cafemakers, LLC, which assists with the assessment, creation, improvement, and expan-sion of coffee businesses and coffee brands worldwide.

IJ: What does the new Blonde Roast say about consumer preferences?

MS: Through their own studies, Star-bucks Consumer Research found that 54 million coffee drinkers in the U.S. prefer a lighter roast coffee. While the Starbucks brand was built on darker and more intense roasts, they have turned away a large per-centage of the coffee drinking com-munity whose tastes lie in the lighter blends.

AH: Consumers are beginning to appreciate the flavor of better quality coffee, which is often homogenized by darker roasts -- and incidentally, [darker roasts are] also a convenient way to hide defects in inferior coffee.

Over the past five or six years there’s been a very strong trend towards lighter roasted coffees, which I think

Not-So-Dumb BlondeWhat does Starbucks’ new Blonde Roast mean for Dunkin’ Donuts?by Linda Formichelli

is directly connected to better quality coffees finding their way into not just the North American market, but lots of other places around the world.

Lighter roasts allow roasters to really highlight the peak characteristics in coffees, which historically have been roasted quite a bit darker because it tends to homogenize those coffees and hide any imperfections. As we get better and better coffee, there’s less of a reason to hide them.

This may -- though I have no data to support -- also point to consumers moving away from heavier, jumbo milk drinks where the carbon in dark-er roasts is used to give consumers a perception of coffee flavor through the dense dairy.

IJ: Who introduced those higher-quality coffees to the U.S. market in the first place?

AH: There are very popular micro roasters in markets [like Los Angeles and New York] that use higher quality coffees as their strategic advantage because they’re just not available to large-scale café chains. There’s only so much of it there. Now, because more consumers are going more local and focusing on smaller lots of higher quality coffees, they’ve been educated to taste some of those dif-ferent flavors that are in the coffee.

Coffee is one of the world’s largest commodities. Until recently there re-ally hasn’t been much of an empha-sis on treating it as a specialty food product. It’s been looked at more like ore or oil or cotton, something that all looks pretty much the same, but

really the opportunity for producers to make more money is to increase the quality to a higher level.

IJ: So how has Starbucks done so well, based on that dark roast that less than half of people prefer?

MS: Brand loyalty. They have an in-credibly strong brand, and even their dark roasted coffee is better coffee than most people are exposed to on a regular basis. Therefore people are kind of looking at it with blinders on, thinking that’s the best. And Star-bucks tells them it’s the best, and be-cause their brand is incredibly strong, that’s what people are following.

IJ: Are there other reasons besides consumer preferences that Starbucks may have introduced this lighter roast?

AH: Starbucks has historically relied on heavy, low-acid -- sometimes musty -- Indonesian coffees, mostly Sumatra, for their signature flavor profile. Indonesian coffees are prized for their earthy, syrupy, chocolaty characteristics that are often best developed with darker roasts.

Unfortunately, last year was particu-larly bad for buyers of Indonesian coffees -- in short, low yields, politi-cal problems, and a skyrocketing ‘c’ commodity market sent Indonesian prices through the roof faster and at rates higher than other origins.

Profiteering Indonesian exporters took advantage of these conditions, booking more business than they could handle and, politely put, using

Blonde Coffee continued on page 24


It takes only eight minutes to get from the offices of the Waldwin Group in Boston to Logan Airport. When he was scouting for buildings to house his growing Dunkin’ Donuts franchise business and his central kitchen, Clayton Turnbull wanted a spot that would not only ac-commodate trips to his eight loca-tions at Logan Airport, but also to his 10 other shops which are located in Bos-ton’s inner city neighborhoods.These neigh-borhoods have always been a focal point for Clayton Waldwin Turnbull. When he was nine, he migrated here with his family from Jamaica. He grew up in the city, attended college at the University of Massachusetts Bos-ton campus—three miles from the Waldwin Group’s offices—and built his businesses here. He and his family have never moved outside the city limits. Boston is known as a city of neighborhoods and Clayton feels comfortable in all of them.Before the mid 1990s Dunkin’ Donuts was not a ubiquitous sight in Boston’s inner city neighborhoods. At the time, Clayton knew Dunkin’ Donuts was an extremely popular brand in Boston. The commercial cleaning company he started in college had contracts servicing City Hall and all garages and offices owned by the Massachu-setts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). In both places, Dunkin’ cups were everywhere.“I knew people in my neighborhood drank Dunkin’ Donuts coffee but they couldn’t buy it in the neighborhood.

They were going outside to get it, on the way to work or school or shop-ping,” Clayton remembers. “So I knew if we brought Dunkin’ Donuts into the neighborhood, folks would embrace it and we could make a run for it.”

Going it aloneClayton sold his stake in the cleaning company to his partner and started to put together his bid to open a Dunkin’ Donuts in Boston’s Mattapan neigh-borhood; the year was 1992.“This was right when Boston had its highest crime rate ever,” says Clay-ton. “It was my familiarity with the neighborhoods that allowed me to overcome what others were afraid of.”

Clayton says Dunkin’ Brands was already interested in establishing a footprint in these neighborhoods but hadn’t found the right partner—until then. “No one wanted to take on the challenge,” he says.Indeed, Clayton’s mettle was tested almost immediately when an arsonist torched his shop only six weeks after it opened. But, he persevered—re-building and reopening the shop in less than a year.“At that time, rank and file franchisees didn’t want to open stores in danger-

ous neighborhoods. But, Clayton was someone who saw the opportunity and knew how to get it done,” ac-cording to Steve Gabellieri, a Rhode Island franchise owner who was a vice president with Dunkin’ Brands when Clayton was getting started. Gabellieri says Clayton was good for Dunkin’ at the time. “He saw the op-portunity and had the willingness and the guts to do it.”

Neighborhood ApproachClayton Turnbull Meets His New Challenge as BAC Co-Chair Head On

by Matt Ellis

Clayton Turnbull opened his first Dunkin' Donuts shop in 1992. Today he operates 18 shops in Boston's inner city and at Logan International Airport.

Clayton Turnbull continued on next page


As the newly elected Co-Chair of the Brand Advisory Council, Clayton says he feels the responsibility of repre-senting all Dunkin’ Donuts franchise owners. “I’ve been told by a lot of franchisees from other parts of the country how much they rely on BAC leadership to make sure they can take care of their family’s future. That is a lot of weight on my shoulders.”

“He captures attention because of how he communicates,” says Scott Campbell, a Brand Advisory Council member who co-chairs the Steering Committee, the Restaurant Excel-lence Subcommittee and the Channel Subcommittee. “Franchisees have different perspectives—we’re not all aligned 100 percent and he has ability to capture the essence of an issue and bring it to the forefront so it brings everyone along on the journey, and that’s key.”Unlike many Dunkin’ franchise own-ers in and around Boston, Clayton had no early experience working the counter or baking donuts. None of his

family members were in the business. “I came into Dunkin’ cold. I didn’t have any connections. I wasn’t part of the local network of franchisees. I had a focus on surviving the business and didn’t pay attention to the social aspect and the relationships. I was focused on day to day.”Clayton says at the time he didn’t realize how going it alone was prob-

ably not the strongest approach but, without the connections, he used his “business sense to make things hap-pen.”“He had it a lot differently from me and other people. “I was around it my whole life,” says Gabellieri. “The only support he got was from the brand as he transitioned from Dunkin’ Donuts University into his store.”Public PartnershipsAscension to franchisee leadership was not on Clayton’s mind in those early days of business development.

Six weeks after opening in Mattapan Square, this shop

was set afire. At the time Boston's crime rate was at

an all-time high.

After getting the first two neighbor-hood shops up and running, Clayton had a new challenge: opening a Dunkin’ Donuts in Boston’s newest MBTA station called Ruggles Sta-tion, which serves subway riders between the inner city neighborhoods and Boston’s commercial center. In this process, he also became better acquainted with leaders from Bos-ton’s business and civic communi-

ties. Even before getting started as a franchise owner, Clayton had devel-oped a strong relationship with a city councilman named Thomas Menino who would go on to be elected Mayor of Boston and promote an agenda to improve and empower Boston’s neighborhoods.Train stations were not like stand-alone stores on busy neighborhood blocks, but Clayton saw this as a great opportunity to sell a quality product that people wanted and be a part of their daily routine. The lessons he learned serving commuters would prove valuable when the Waldwin

Clayton Turnbull continued from page 14

Clayton Turnbull continued on page 26


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United States Army Major Mike White served as a test pilot for 34 years. When it came time to retire from the military the last thing he wanted was a job that took him far from his Atlanta home. “I didn’t want to leave home again,” White said.He started researching local fran-chises but narrowed down his search when his father-in-law reminded him of an important fact.“I was visiting Dunkin’ Donuts literally every day in Fayetteville,” White said. He also purchases coffee and bagels after church at a Dunkin’ Donuts store in Peachtree City, he added. “I truly believe you have to believe in what you sell,” White insisted. “I was already a customer.”Commander Peter Turner—a US Navy pilot—was getting his master’s degree at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, when he was first introduced to the Dunkin’ Donuts brand. “I saw officers walking in with Dunkin’ Donuts’ coffee every day,” Turner recalled. “I knew it had to be good.”When it was Turner’s time to retire, he contemplated owning a fast food or fast casual franchise. One fast food concept he considered only of-fered existing stores due to his lack of restaurant experience, he said. Then he remembered the popularity of Dunkin’ Donuts in Rhode Island.“They were expanding into 17 states at that time, and most in the South, and my wife and I really like North Carolina,” Turner explained. “The problem with existing business-es is the lack of upside with profits,” Turner further added, “but there is, of course, less risk. That is the reason I went with Dunkin'.”White opened his first store in 2002, then four more. He is planning on

opening three more in the Atlanta area and he and a partner are dis-cussing plans for 30 stores in the near future, with White as director of operations.

Turner left the Navy in 2007 and opened a Dunkin’ Donuts in 2008 in north Raleigh. Since then, he has opened six more stores. He’s devel-oping five more locations for a total of 12 Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants in Raleigh.

Opportunities for veteransDunkin’ Donuts offers military vet-erans a discount on their franchis-ing fee, in addition to training and support. White found the company “very responsive” and the application process quick.

Dunkin' Donuts FranchisesServe the Military by Cheré Coen

Military veterans Mike White (top) and Peter Turner (lower right), owners of numerous Dunkin’ Donuts stores, offer the following advice for veterans considering a Dunkin’ Donuts franchise:• Do the homework. “Talk to at least three franchisees,

spend time in stores,” Turner suggested. Find a men-tor to guide you through the process.

• Get exclusive territory, competing against other con-cepts but not another Dunkin’ Donuts, White said. Look for new territories opening up, especially west of the Mississippi where Dunkin’ Donuts is expand-ing.

• Use a pension as an annuity, advised Turner. “Most franchisors have fairly high asset requirements which at first may seem insurmountable,” he said. “For example, they might require cash assets of $750,000 to open four stores. Vets can meet that gate by treating a current pension or one that starts at age 62 as an annuity. The cash value of an E-7 retirement varies, but can easily be valued at $900,000. Voila. That E-7 just qualified despite not having deep pock-ets.”

• “Love the product. It’s difficult to sell a product you don’t enjoy yourself,” White said.

Military continued on next page


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Before he made his decision, how-ever, he approached an existing Dunkin’ Donuts store and offered to work there for free, much to the surprise of the owner. At first, White baked from 11pm to 3am for weeks while continuing to work as a test pilot with the Federal Avia-tion Adminis-tration. Then he moved to the store’s counter and customer service. When it came time to open his own Dunkin’ Donuts franchise, White felt confident he made the right move and knew what to do. Still, he worked every day from 4am to midnight for weeks at his first store, losing 26 pounds in the process, something his friends found ironic for a donut shop owner. “I was 52 at the time,” he explained. “I’m now 62. That was my last hur-rah. There was not an option to fail.”White advises other veterans to do their homework before opening a franchise. “Go get a job in a Dunkin’ Donuts and try it,” he said. “Get a look on the inside. You have to believe in what you sell. If you don’t like coffee, don’t get in the coffee business.”Finding a mentor for training, sup-port and avoiding costly mistakes is Turner’s advice to veterans hoping to enter the business.“You learn a ton and I would recom-mend finding a mentor to help you along as you develop your first few stores,” Turner said. “Everything is easier the second or third time and there’s no reason to make the same mistake your mentor did previously.”Turner believes franchises are a good fit for veterans because financ-ing is based on a proven business plan.“A franchise greatly facilitates financ-es,” Turner explained. “If you open your own (restaurant), banks laugh. If you open a proven Dunkin’ Donuts brand, offers come in.”

“Restaurants are the number one selling business in the world,” White said. “You’re getting an established concept (with Dunkin’ Donuts).”Buying into a Dunkin' Donuts fran-chise, veterans will receive more

than 60 years of Dunkin' Donuts history, a

well-known product and an established marketing plan, White said. In ad-dition, veterans are

good candidates for

franchises because they are mature, disciplined, train easily and like to follow pre-set procedures. “My whole life was like that so it’s an easy transition,” White said.“It’s leadership and management,” Turner concluded. “Most veterans have a proven track record of that. Service personnel have leadership and management skills that exceed what they need to run a restaurant or a network of them.”

Military continued from page 18


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a Hall of Fame Committee and are actively working on our new election class of 2012 that will be inducted at our DDIFO Annual Meeting in Sep-tember 2012.

We fully embrace the words of Dunkin’ Donuts Founder, Bill Rosen-berg, “In order to have a healthy franchise System, you have to have a healthy franchisor and healthy franchisees.” To that end, DDIFO serves as a watchdog monitoring those issues affecting the franchisee community, the franchisor and its private equity owners. We carefully monitor operational and legal devel-opments within other franchise and QSR systems, which may impact DDIFO members. And, when neces-sary, we act appropriately to protect our members.

We provide up-to-date, relevant content on www.ddifo.org and in our Independent Joe magazine. We are also active in social media such as Twitter.

We continue to expand our DDIFO sponsor program. Increased spon-sor revenue provides capital that can be added to our Franchisee Equity Fund.

It’s a fact that DDIFO membership has nearly doubled in the last three years. Today we are stronger and more vibrant than ever before in our history. Impor-tantly, the more we grow, the more value we can provide our members. We are constantly looking for new and better ways to serve our members and welcome your input in the process.

Recently, a longstanding DDIFO mem-ber asked me, “Mark, things are pretty good right now between the franchisor and the franchisees. Do we really need the DDIFO now?”

DDIFO and You continued from page 5

My answer: “Absolutely YES!” It wasn’t so long ago when the franchisor was not nearly as “peaceful” as it is today. Don’t forget, under previous leadership, this brand was the most litigious of all QSR brands, filing hundreds of lawsuits against its franchisees.

While the brand’s new management team has worked hard to improve rela-tions, Dunkin’ is now a publicly-traded company—albeit still under the control of the same private equity trio. In my opinion, the worst thing DDIFO can do is let this period of peace lull us into a false sense of security that things will always remain this peaceful. No! DDIFO has to remain vibrant, relevant and ready to take action if the tide turned and the antagonistic, litigious attitude in Canton ever reverted back to the dreaded “Dark Days.”

One thing which has changed is the key provision in the Franchise Agreement which said, “Obey all laws.” DDIFO

DDIFO and You continued on next page

DDIFO has to remain vibrant, relevant and ready to take action!


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DDIFO and You continued from page 20

had considerable influence in fixing that overly broad-reaching clause in the Franchise Agreement. We have devoted considerable legal, financial and human capital to help improve the agreement to increase the fairness to franchisees. While not perfect, the new Franchise Agreement is certainly better and DDIFO is committed to ensuring all future agreements protect the interests of Dunkin’ franchisees.

Perhaps the most important point that I would like to leave you with is this: The DDIFO is the one organization in the Dunkin’ Donuts system that is all about its members. While we seek to work with the franchisor (as appropri-ate) and we support and work with your elected Advisory Council representa-tives, we remain keenly aware that neither of those entities is exclusively centered on the issues most impor-tant to franchisees. The DDIFO is not financially supported by the franchisor; we manage our own finances. The Franchisor does not create the agendas

for our meetings; we manage our own meeting agendas. That is why we are INDEPENDENT and always seek to act in the enlightened, long-term best interests of our members.

While I personally appreciate the dedi-cation of the franchisee representatives who serve on the Advisory Council, let’s please never forget, the Advisory Council was never designed to be ex-clusively about franchisees. In my 20+ years as a franchisee, I learned that the Advisory Council adheres closely to the agenda of the franchisor (which financially supports it).

Please allow me to conclude this article with a request: If you are satisfied with the direction in which your DDIFO is heading please tell your non-member franchisee friends that they should and join and support us. If you are not happy with our direction, please, by all means, let us know. Come to our meet-ings, call or email us, and tell us what we need to do better.

We look forward to working with and serving our members to create an even more successful independent fran-chisee association. We know well the monumental sacrifices you have made and continue to make to achieve suc-cess in your business. We get it - we know it’s all about you, your family, your business and your equity. Who else besides DDIFO could say that?

Mark Dubinsky is President of Methuen CPL and a member of the DDIFO Board of Directors. A former franchise owner and CEO of The Dubinsky Group, Mark served as Treasurer and President of DDIFO as well as on the Board of the Northeast DCP and the franchisee advisory council. Mark is an Executive Coach working with CEOs and business owners. You can contact him at, [email protected].


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Late Night Brew continued from page 11

“I have not been able to grow my overnight sales in years. They’ve actually been declining,” said Tom Mascia, a franchise owner with 36 stores in Somerset County and Ber-gen County, New Jersey. Mascia says he keeps 12 stores open all night in areas where there is a need, but has closed seven stores near manufactur-ing facilities that cancelled their third shifts. “We went from having 100 cus-tomers overnight to maybe having 40. It’s not like you’re doing something wrong and you just need to improve service. With those jobs gone, you just can’t grow sales.”

“The only stores I keep open over-night are the ones that have traffic and night life or are located near the university,” said Karim Khoja, a franchise owner with 31 stores in Chicago. Khoja says 60 percent of his stores are open all night. But, in the cases where stores did not have enough business to justify staying open, Khoja says he sought the per-mission of his Operations Manager to close.

“He [the OM] told me it was okay to close if it didn’t make financial sense,” said Khoja.

But, as McDonald’s and other QSRs tout the benefits of all night opera-tions—McDonald’s sys the hours of midnight to 5am are the fastest grow-ing time segment in its U.S. busi-ness—some franchise owners are concerned Dunkin’s pressure to dem-onstrate quarter-to-quarter earnings growth will create an expectation that all stores should be open all night.

“Our research and feedback from franchisees indicates we’re seeing very strong growth in the evening hours,” Costello told the Journal, though he declined to break out spe-cific sales trend information.

“There has to be criteria for which stores should be open and that has to be determined by sales,” said one franchise owner who wished to re-main anonymous. “There should not be a blanket rule; it makes sense in some places but not others.”

Franchise attorney Robert Zarco

echoes that sentiment. Recently he represented a Burger King franchisee who disputed the company’s asser-tion that he had to extend his hours of operation from midnight to 2am.

“The franchisor has to be cognizant that not every business concept – no matter how great – is well suited for extended hours of operation in a given market or location,” said Zarco. “When franchisor has to require you

it’s because there isn’t an appropriate business case made for the situa-tion.”

In this case, Zarco was able to argue that the provision governing hours of operation was not clearly set forth in the franchise agreement. In his opinion, the franchisor was trying to generate greater top-line gross rev-enue and was not concerned that the franchise owner was spending $100 to generate $40 in sales.

“When that store is open in the middle of the night, the franchisor is

in bed, making money at no risk. The risk is all borne by the franchisee,” he said.

Sales and top line revenue are critical metrics for Dunkin’ Brands now that it is a publicly traded company. But, for some franchisees, when sales total just $50 between midnight and 4am, it doesn’t make good business sense to pay two employees $8 per hour to work the drive-thru. And, it’s

even worse, if those employees are working overtime to cover the night shift because, as one franchise owner put it, “You can’t get enough people to do these shifts.”

According to Professor Curhan at Boston University, franchise owners need to closely examine the marginal costs of staying open all night versus closing for four or six hours. Specifi-cally, he says, a franchisee should look at whether insurance costs increase if the store is closed at night, or if the store would be more vulner-able to property vandalism or whether staff needs to be on site to bake muf-fins and bagels in time for the morn-ing rush and would also be able to serve customers as they trickle in.

“I think we really have moved to a clockless day.” DBI Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer John Costello.

Late Night Brew continued on next page


Late Night Brew continued from page 22

“Someone has to look at this and find the true marginal cost and the true contribution gain and then analyze the revenue against the cost. You have to compare apples to apples.”

Khoja, for example, says one of his stores is closed from 11pm to 4am but he schedules an employee to come in at 3am to begin baking and ready the store for opening. He admits even though that person is on-site, there is not enough customer traffic at that hour to justify bringing him in earlier or adding another em-ployee so the store can remain open.

Yet, for Mo Khalid in Newark, it is a different story.

“I’m a big fan of staying open 24 hours. We have people counting on us to be open all night when they are working. It’s not right to expect them to go somewhere else during the night when they want something to eat or drink.”

According to Khalid, because the New York market has so many stores in densely populated, high-traffic areas, those stores should stay open all night. “I think 80 percent of the stores in this market should be open 24 hours,” he said.

Because overnight business is so dependent on the traffic flow near a location and the concentration of all-night stores in the area, franchise

Ronald C. Curhan, Professor Emeritus

at the Boston University School

of Management, says shops like

this one on a busy state highway are good candidates

for a 24 hour operation.

“A lot of owners have it in their lease that they can’t stay open after 11 or midnight so that it doesn’t even come up for discussion with the Brand,” according to one unnamed franchise owner. “And that’s good because, if you’re on the edge now, those

overnight costs could bankrupt you.

owners believe strongly that Dunkin’ Brands should decide on a case by case basis which stores should keep overnight hours. But, sometimes the determination is a foregone conclu-sion based on the terms of a fran-chise owner’s lease.

A franchisee should look at whether insurance costs increase if the store is closed at night.


Blonde Coffee continued from page 13

bait and switch tactics to dupe buyers worldwide -- even the big guys -- into paying for unusable coffee or default-ing on contracts that would never be delivered. I estimate that Starbucks was hit particularly hard by these conditions and is looking to reduce reliance on the origin.

Some combination of the two proba-bly inspired purchases of coffees bet-ter consumed at lighter roast degrees and the new light roast campaign. I suspect that production drove the introduction of the product and not entirely demand as marketers spin.

IJ: It’s easy to have a consistent flavor with dark roasts since many of the more delicate flavors are roasted out. How does Starbucks keep a con-sistent flavor with the Blonde Roast,

since lighter roasts tend to have different flavors depending on where they come from?

MS: It’s something that they’ve taken very seriously over the last couple of years, and they’ve found the proper sources and the right channels to get a consistent blend. It’s a very modest and conservative blend, also. You can definitely taste a lot of Central America in there, where there’s a much bigger supply. So you can kind of give and take a little bit with the taste and have a pretty similar profile.

IJ: Dunkin' Donuts has always had a lighter roast. Do you think the Starbucks Blonde Roast poses any competition the company?

AH: There’s a lot of marketing clash that goes on between Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts, but from the per-spective of someone in the industry, it’s pretty well known that Dunkin’ Donuts uses better coffee.

MS: I don’t think it’s going to affect Dunkin’ Donuts sales in the least. [Dunkin’ and Starbucks] are incred-ibly brand-driven, and have loyal customer bases. So I really don’t think that this new offering is going to convert someone from a Dunkin’ customer to a Starbucks customer.

IJ: Does the Starbucks Blonde Roast validate Dunkin’ Donuts’ original lighter roast?

MS: I think it might do that, because it actually tastes like coffee, and not so much like the carbonized sugars within the bean like the darker roasts.

IJ: What can Dunkin’ Donuts do to capitalize on the fact that they’ve always had a roast that more con-sumers prefer?

AH: I see the opportunity as being one to develop a market, not neces-sarily to respond to the market. So, really you just have to get in there and do it -- build it and they will

Blonde Coffee continued on page 25

Matthew Swenson:As a trainer and consultant for a na-tional chain, Matthew has been in-strumental in developing, authoring, and executing one of the most com-prehensive corporate coffee training programs in the industry. With the ex-perience of opening coffee shops and cafes in 15+ states, Matthew has trained hundreds of new baristas on the art, appreciation and techniques associated with phenomenal coffee. His barista certification from the International Acad-emy of Specialty Coffee (IASC) as well as being certified as a Lead Instructor and Cupping Judge for the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) has led Matthew to regularly volunteer at the Annual SCAA conferences to instruct classes on espresso. As a licensed ‘Q grader’ from the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI), and as a former roaster, he has extensive experience in the art and science of coffee cupping. Matthew started Swensonian Coffee Professionals after realizing that so many people are jumping into the coffee industry without a proper understanding of the product they are selling or how the business works. The company was started on the princi-pal of helping new or aspiring coffee shops get off the ground with a full and proper understanding of the industry prior to opening their doors.


come. Emphasize coffee sales over the other products, which Dunkin’ has always been very good at doing. The consumers will then familiarize themselves with the flavor profile that Dunkin' is of-fering and find others less prefera-ble. It’s going to be very difficult for those consumers to go to a lower quality or a different taste.

IJ: How do you think all this is go-ing to play out -- big changes in the marketplace or business as usual?

MS: To be honest, I think it’s busi-ness as usual. Four to six weeks ago there was a lot of buzz about the Blonde Roast, because it had just been released, but in recent weeks I haven’t seen too much about it. So I think it’s one of these things that’s going to fizzle down and, like you said, be business as usual.

Andrew Hetzel:Andrew Hetzel is the founder of CafeMak-ers, a specialty coffee roasting and agri-culture consultancy based on the Island of Hawaii. At CafeMakers, Hetzel provides strategic guidance, facilities design, green coffee buying and quality assurance ser-vices worldwide, with a focus on emerg-ing consumer markets in Russia, India, Asia and the Middle East.

Andrew is a coffee Q Grader licensed by the CQI and board member of World Coffee Events Ltd., which oversees the work’s preeminent coffee competitions in 60 countries including the World Barista Championship and World Brewers Cup.

In recent years, he has judged numerous competitive events, includ-ing national-level championships in the USA, India, Russia, Sweden, Singapore, U.A.E. and Brazil, where he participated as a member that country’s Cup of Excellence Jury.

Andrew has been quoted in press coverage by international busi-ness and consumer media and was profiled by the James Beard Foundation for his work as a coffee taster and buyer.

Blonde Coffee continued from page 20


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Group took its most challenging step yet—to Logan Airport.We knew normal was overIn 2000, travelers at Boston’s inter-national airport could only purchase a Dunkin’ Donuts coffee in one of the five terminals, Terminal A. According to Gabellieri, the airport was a challenging place to do business and its rents made it difficult to make money. The Terminal A franchise was not suc-ceeding and Clayton had the opportuni-ty to step in and turn it around. He was up for the challenge and was confident about his chances. But, he never an-ticipated how events beyond his control would impact his business.“When I visited the shop at Logan, I saw a lot of opportunities that attracted me.It wasn’t being run properly and I saw the upside,” he recalls. “Going to Logan was part of my plan to diversify my economic footprint.” Both Dunkin’ Brands and the Mas-sachusetts Port Authority (Massport)

believed eventually Dunkin’ franchises could be placed in every terminal. They saw the potential and were waiting to see how Clayton would do at Terminal A.Everything changed on the morn-ing of September 11, 2001. After the disastrous events that defined that day, airline travel was halted in the United States for three days. Airports were closed, travelers were stuck and airport businesses were shut down. Clayton’s rebounding franchise became one of many moving parts that ground to a halt that fall. “We closed for two days. We knew nor-mal was over and we were waiting to hear what Massport’s plans would be.” Clayton remembers that by September 12, the losses started mounting. “At Logan you find out quickly if you’re win-ning or losing and in this scenario the red ink was piling up.”The post 9/11 period was one of transi-tion for the Waldwin Group. Not long after the terrorist attacks, Massport

closed Terminal A for renovation. Again his franchise was shuttered. But by that time, Clayton was opening five other Dunkin’s at the airport. He had learned how to make the numbers work. Per-haps his most proud accomplishment at Logan Airport was not inside the terminals but, rather, at a gas station along the airport’s ring road where they installed a drive-thru.“It may be the only fast food drive-thru on any airport in the country,” says Clayton. “We worked on the concept for four years before it happened. We had to convince everyone that this would work.”The Gulf Station-Dunkin’ combo at Lo-gan has become well known to airport regulars who roll through there on their way to the terminals to pick up a pas-senger, or on the way out of the airport once they’ve retrieved their car and luggage. Like many of his other suc-cesses, the airport drive-thru validated Clayton’s vision.


Clayton Turnbull continued on next page


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A measured approachScott Campbell says Clayton has always had strong leadership skills. “He confronts issues, he doesn’t deflect them. He stands his ground even if it’s not popular.” These traits served Clay-ton early in his Dunkin’ Donuts career when he was building the Waldwin Group into a successful business, and they are front and center in his new role as BAC co-Chair.“He has been effective in organizing the co-chairs of different committees to be sure we are on the same page. He has empowered the group to think indepen-dently and come up with agendas and priorities. He’s been able to bring that together so we operate from the same template. He’s very measured in the way he approaches the agenda.”Clayton will tell you it is the same ap-proach he learned to use with politi-cians and community leaders. “Advocating for people isn’t something new to me. These are franchisees—business people with their money on the line,” he says. “I think franchisees trust my leadership, that whatever I represent will be done as objectively as possible on their behalf.”Clayton credits Dunkin’ Donuts man-agement with the company’s strength in the market, positioning it, “in the upper tier of the best franchise systems in the U.S.” “To concede that we just need the cof-fee and donuts and everything else will happen is a fallacy. Any company in America that’s successful—look at the leadership,” he says.He specifically credits Dunkin’ Brands Chief, Nigel Travis, as well as fran-chisee leaders on the BAC, regional advisory councils and district councils for company’s current market strength. He wants to keep that ball rolling.“Franchisees who asked me if I would consider running did so not because of my individual accomplishments, but so we could keep progress moving forward. I feel honored to be thought of and to be elected,” he says. “I want to continue doing what’s working at the BAC, which is to improve the busi-

ness model between the brand, the franchisees and the world; continue to strengthen the relationship with franchisees and franchisor; and con-tinue to have marksmanship with our consumer providing them what they want at the right place and right time. These are three large, challenging buckets.”

It may sound like a grand challenge but Clayton sees it differently. “Life is simple. Keep it simple.”It’s the reason why he moved his or-ganization eight minutes from Logan Airport. It’s why he’s never strayed far from the neighborhoods where he feels the most comfortable.


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