Today’s Agreement Benefits Tomorrow’s Generations
by Matt Ellis
The DCP deal keeps Dunkin’ Donuts in the family. From the beginning, Dunkin’ Donuts has always been a family business. Longtime franchise owners remember the sense of family Bill Rosenberg brought to the early days of Dunkin’ Donuts. As the company grew, franchise owners developed close, lasting relationships— like family. Now, families run networks of stores and second and third generation operators are taking over. “Family is part of the core of Dunkin’ Donuts,” is how one long-time franchise owner puts it. So when franchise owners voted to ratify the merger agreement for the DCP system—creating the National DCP (NDCP)—they weren’t just voting to improve their supply chain; they were voting to improve the business for the next generations of franchisees. “My son will bring this business to a new level, way past what I did in 24 years,” said Barkat Gillani a Chicago-area franchise owner and Vice-Chair of the NDCP. Fayyaz Gillani is working toward the completion of his MBA at Loyola University Chicago while he’s working in the family Dunkin’ Donuts business. Chris Prazeres worked in the family business while growing up in Rhode Island. Today, he has assumed day to day operations from his father, Joe. And recently Chris had the unique opportunity to help guide the creation of the NDCP knowing full well he was doing something to insure his children could benefit even more than he did. “This agreement will be in play long after my kids are in this business,” said Prazeres, who was a member of both the National and Northeast DCP boards through the end of 2011. “It totally sets up the next generation and that was one of the principles that guided us through this,” said Rhode Island franchise owner and former National DCP Board Member John Justo.”Longevity was very important in this.”
A Seat at the Table Throughout the process that created the blueprint for a new, national, Distributor Commitment Program, which was first envisioned by Rosenberg in the early 1970s, franchise owners saw the opportunity to truly change
Dwar Patel with his father Dipak who serves on the NDCP Board of Directors.
the dynamic between themselves and Dunkin’ Brands. One vitally important piece of the Relationship Agreement
at the core of the new NDCP is the unique ability of the franchisee-owned cooperative to participate in new product development. According to Jason Williams, an attorney with Frost Brown Todd, who represented the co-op in the creation of the NDCP agreement, “We were never in the room when those decisions were being made.” But, now with the new agreement, the NDCP expands from distribution into procurement through which, Williams says, “the potential savings are astronomical.” “Now, we have a seat at the table, early inclusion. The NDCP is involved in the development of new products and can find multiple vendors to secure the best price. We didn’t have that ability before. That is what this agreement gives us,” said Dipak Patel, who was co-Chair of the National DCP Board from 2008-2011 and still serves on the NDCP Board of Directors. Deal continued on page 18
Independent Joe ® is published by DD Independent Franchise Owners, Inc. Editors: Jim Coen, Matt Ellis Contributors: Cheré Coen, Linda Formichelli, Betsy Lawson, Perry Ludy, Susan Minichiello Advertising: 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 • info@ddifo.org • www.ddifo.org DD 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. Cover photos: Kenny Bordes ©2007 Liz Dunham; SB ‘83 Production Stills – ©Spring Break ‘83 (Kenny Bordes and John Goodman) FEBRUARY 2012 • INDEPENDENT JOE
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