Opening Dunkin Donuts Franchises in Midwest

Launching Five New Dunkin’ Donuts Locations in the Midwest
Introduction
In 1948, William Rosenberg launched his original doughnut shop known as the "Open Kettle" in Quincy, Massachusetts (Poole, 2017). In 1950, after watching his hungry customers “dunk” their doughnuts in a cup of coffee, Rosenberg rechristened the name of the shop to “Dunkin’ Donuts,” and the rest, as they say, is history. The popularity of the first Dunkin’ Donuts shop convinced Rosenberg that his business model was viable elsewhere and he sold the first franchise in 1955 and in 1960, he helped found the International Franchising Association (Poole, 2017). Since that time, Dunkin’ Donuts (hereinafter alternatively “the company”) has transformed into a multinational corporation in 1970 when it opened its first location in Japan and in 2000, the 50th anniversary year of the company’s founding, Dunkin’ Donuts had more than 5,000 locations worldwide (Poole, 2017) and the company continues to lead the industry in innovative products and marketing methods (McGinn, 2009). In 2011, the parent company of Dunkin’ Donuts, Dunkin Brands, was acquired by Bain Capital, The Carlyle Group and Thomas H. Lee Partners and now trades under the very appropriate NASDAQ stock symbol DNKN (Poole, 2017).
The company’s success to date can be attributed in large part to the informed and progressive manner in which it approaches its franchising operations, an outcome that is due to Dunkin’ Donuts’ lengthy experiences with this organizational design and the comprehensive job analyses of the positions that are required to staff franchise locations. In my capacity as the new district manager, this business report describes the job design strategy that will be used to staff five new franchise locations for the company in the Midwestern United States over the next 2 years, followed by a description of the company’s organizational design and supporting rationale, and the recruiting and selection strategies that will be used. Finally, a description of the training and performance appraisals that will be used in the new franchise locations is followed by a summary of the research and important findings concerning how to maximize the opportunities for success for these five new franchise locations in the conclusion.
Job Design
Job analysis:
Because the five new locations will be opened in stages over the course of the next 2 years, the initial locations can draw on existing job descriptions for the positions required to operate a Dunkin’ Donuts franchise as discussed below.
Job description:
The company maintains a centralized human resource platform within its main Web site that provides standard job descriptions for each of the positions required to operate a conventional franchise which are set forth in Table 1 below.
Table 1
Job descriptions and starting salaries for franchise manager, crew members and cashier
Position
Job description
Manager
A Dunkin’ Donuts manager carries responsibility for all aspects of store operations. Key areas of responsibility include labor management, daily operations, and customer care. Labor management duties include hiring and training associates, creating work schedules, delegating work, and evaluating employee performance. To regulate daily operations, managers file paperwork, analyze weekly sales numbers, order supplies, and perform opening or closing duties. Customer care duties include greeting customers, providing prompt and helpful services, and handling customer complaints in a professional manager. Managers must ensure employees provide except customer care, as well (Manager job description, 2018).
Crew member
Dunkin’ Donuts crew members perform a multitude of tasks. Crew members may perform food production duties or serve customers at the cash register. Dunkin’ Donuts crew members must also ensure operations excellence by adhering to the systems and standards of the store. Some operations duties include maintaining clean and organized workstation and ensuring a clean guest area. Crew members work in a team environment and must possess the ability to communicate effectively with managers and coworkers. Experienced crew members may also need to train or support training of new-hire crew members. Dunkin’ Donuts regularly hires crew member job hopefuls with guest focus, passion for results, and problem solving abilities (Crew member job description, 2018).
Cashier
Cashier primary responsibilities include operating cash registers, greeting customers, taking food and drink orders, and completing transactions. Dunkin' Donuts cashiers also regularly clean work stations, brew and grind coffee, restock cups and food items, and assist bakers (Cashier job description, 2018).
Job specification
The job analysis and descriptions set forth in Table 1 above were selected since they conform to the company’s franchising guidelines. Depending on the respective sales volumes for the newly opened franchises, however, an additional position, assistant district manager, may be needed at some point during the 2-year implementation period. The job description for this position would include all of the responsibilities for a franchise manager together with specific duties as assigned by the district manager from time to time.
Organizational Design
The company’s organization design has been shaped by the founder’s original mission "to make and serve the freshest, most delicious coffee and donuts quickly and courteously in modern, well-merchandised stores" (as cited in Poole, 2017, p. 7). Therefore, the organizational design that will be used for the five new locations will also be franchises that are guided by this proven business mission.
Recruiting and Selection
The new franchises will follow the company’s recruiting and selection guidelines for franchise operations by using the Dunkin’ Donuts online recruiting tool at https://local.job-applications.com/ as well as strategically placed advertisements in local newspapers (Yang, 2012) and other online human resources recruiting services such as monster.com (Brock & Buckley, 2013).
Training and Performance Appraisals
The training for managers, crew members and cashier positions will be completed on-the-job. Likewise, in the event an assistant district manager position is needed due to the volume of sales of the newly opened franchises, this position will also use on-the-job training. The performance appraisals for each of these positions will be completed using the standard Dunkin’ Donuts employee performance review form as shown at Appendix A following the review schedule established by the franchising guidelines.
In addition, all employees will be provided with ongoing honest and timely feedback concerning their performance as well as expectations for performance to identify opportunities for improvement and appropriate incentives. Finally, all employees, including franchise managers, will be required to verify receipt of this feedback and performance appraisals as evidenced by their signature and their manager’s signature on the performance review form. In the case of franchise managers, the district manager will provide the performance review and sign off on their performance review forms.
Conclusion
The next 2 years will undoubtedly prove to be challenging and rewarding as the envisioned five new franchise locations are opened and operated in accordance with the founder’s original mission. Although there are no guarantees of success for these franchising ventures, the past 70 years or so have clearly demonstrated that in fact, “America runs on donuts” in general and Dunkin’ Donuts in particular. The company’s proven job design, description and specification strategies together with a mature recruiting and selection process will facilitate the implementation of these new franchises as well as their operations. Finally, thank you for this opportunity to grow with this American franchise institution.


References
Brock, M: & Buckely, M. R. (2013, June). Human resource functioning in an information society: Practical suggestions and future implications. Public Personnel Management, 42(2), 272-275.
Cashier job description. (2018). Dunkin’ Donuts. Retrieved from https://www.job-applications.com/dunkin-donuts-cashier/.
Crew member job description. (2018). Dunkin’ Donuts. Retrieved from https://www.job-applications.com/dunkin-donuts-crew-member/
Manager job description. (2018). Dunkin’ Donuts. Retrieved from https://www.job-applications.com/dunkin-donuts-manager/
McGinn, D. (2009, September 29). Oh, sweet revenge: Dunkin' Donuts faces two high-end rivals: Krispy Kreme and Starbucks. It's doing just fine. A case study. Newsweek, 34.
Poole, S. (2017, Spring). 1978 Dunkin' Donuts certificate. Financial History, 121, 7.
Yang, N. (2012, July). Partners in print: How newspaper and retailers form successful relationships. Editor & Publisher, 145(7), 30-33.


Appendix A
Proforma copy of Dunkin’ Donuts Employee Performance Review
Source: http://www.dunkindonutsocala.com/files/72913727.doc

Dunkin Donuts
Employee Performance Review

Employee Information

Name

Employee ID


Job Title

Date


Department

Manager


Review Period

to




Ratings


1 = Poor
2 = Fair
3 = Satisfactory
4 = Good
5 = Excellent

Job Knowledge
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Comments


Work Quality
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Comments


Attendance/Punctuality
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Comments


Initiative
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Comments


Communication/Listening Skills
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Comments


Dependability
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Comments


Overall Rating (average the rating numbers above)




Evaluation

Additional Comments


Goals
(as agreed upon by employee and manager)




Verification of Review

By signing this form, you confirm that you have discussed this review in detail with your supervisor. Signing this form does not necessarily indicate that you agree with this evaluation.

Employee Signature

Date


Manager Signature

Date