Cain Management operates 51 Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants. Jim Cain Sr. (center) and his sons, Shaun (left) and Jim Jr. opened their latest shop on Main Avenue in Norwalk in November 2013.
Family business Risk is a common theme in the history of the Cain family business. In 1974, Jim Cain, just 21 years old, purchased a share in his first Dunkin’ Donuts on Smith Hill in Providence—in the shadow of the Rhode Island State House. He had worked for years to save the money and had prepared for his new venture by training in one of the stores co-owned by early Dunkin’ pioneers Manny Andrade and John Henderson. “I learned at the beginning that success in this business is based on a culture of hard work,” Cain remembers. Business was good and in 1976, with two years’ ownership experience under his belt, a newly married Cain and his wife, Mary, decided to sell their share of the Providence store and take over an existing store 130 miles away on Main Street in Norwalk, Connecticut. “It was a chance to start a life and a family together. Yes, it was a big risk,” says Cain, who credits Mary as “a central partner in those early years.”
were looking at spending least one million dollars in capital improvement.” It would be a long road back, but Cain and his family were not prepared to turn the page on this opportunity. The Rockaways would rebound, they believed, and, when it did, visitors and residents would return to pre-storm levels. Cain took a close look at the properties. “I told him I would buy them for the price we agreed upon before the storm hit and take on the financial burden of rebuilding the stores.” That was the end of October, 2012. Three months later, Cain closed on the stores. “We took a big risk,” he admits.
Over the next dozen years, Cain increased his holdings to six stores. His two sons, Jim junior and Shaun, eventually moved into the business. Today Cain Management, Inc. (CMI) owns and operates 53 Dunkin’ Donuts locations in Connecticut and New York, with Jim Jr. operating the Connecticut stores and Shaun the New York stores. Cain recalls the conversation about expansion the family had in 2006. “There wasn’t much opportunity to expand in Connecticut,” Cain remembers. “We knew that in order to grow, we had to move into a new area.” Dunkin’ Brands was holding the keys for five stores in Queens and the Cains made the deal. “Queens was risky. We thought it would be just like Connecticut, but it wasn’t,” says Cain. “We learned almost everything about doing business in New York is different—only the brand and products are the same.”
INDEPENDENT JOE
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