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Bret Thorn
Dunkin’ Donuts continues to move forward with its goal to double its number of units in the United States with the signing of multiple deals in Texas.
Parent company Dunkin’ Brands Inc. said it signed three franchise groups to develop a total of 25 restaurants in San Antonio and Houston over the next six years:
• 521 Interests Ltd, led by David Greenberg and Stephen David, has agreed to develop 16 restaurants in Houston between 2013 and 2018.
• Rick Molina and Guy Ellison committed to developing five restaurants in San Antonio between 2012 and 2016.
• Kishore Samtani has signed an agreement to open four restaurants in a different section of San Antonio between 2013 and 2016.
“We believe these new franchisees will cultivate lasting customer relationships and become an integral part of the San Antonio and Houston communities,” Gran Benson, vice president of development for Dunkin’ Brands, said in a statement.
Those deals fall on the heels of a limited partnership agreement announced last month with the Jerry Jones family, which owns the Dallas Cowboys, and former Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman to open at least 50 Dunkin’ Donut restaurants in the Dallas/Fort Worth area over the next five years.
Dunkin’ Donuts also is the official coffee of the football team and already has a limited presence in both Dallas and Houston.
New Houston franchisee Stephen David, a principal in 521 Industries, is a former chief operating officer of casual-dining chain Buffalo Wild Wings and vice president of the operating company for limited-service chicken chain Kenny Rogers Roasters. He’s currently president and chief executive of Aloha Restaurant Group, which operates casual dining sports restaurants in Houston and Austin.
“We’re obviously very excited about the opportunity,” he said, adding that he’s currently scouting for sites and plans to hire someone to handle daily operations.
David said his business partner, David Greenberg, in 2010 had secured rights to open Dunkin’ Donuts in nontraditional locations in Houston but didn’t end up developing them. Then, in 2011, the two men started pursuing a broader territory.
“We got a terrific territory — downtown, midtown and one of the largest medical centers in the world,” David said. He also noted that although the development deal is for 16 locations over seven years, he thinks that the territory will be able to support as much as three times that amount over time.
Kishore Samtani, one of the new franchisees for San Antonio, also owns several liquor stores and hotels in north central San Antonio, where his Dunkin’ Donuts units will be located. He said that although he is not required to open his first unit until 2013, he hopes to open his first one this fall.
“We’re getting close to finalizing on a couple of locations,” Samtani said, adding that he plans to expand beyond his current four-restaurant agreement. “We’d like to grow farther with Dunkin’. I lived on the East Coast for a number of years, and Dunkin’ was a place that I frequented quite a bit. It’s always been a brand that’s interested me, and it’s been absent from our market for awhile.”
Dunkin’ Brands officials have previously stated that their expansion strategy includes signing on multiple franchises in adjacent territories within a single market, as they have done with the San Antonio franchisees, in order to accelerate market penetration.
Canton, Mass.-based Dunkin’ Brands franchised 7,015 units in the united states as of the end of the last quarter, ended December 31, 2011. The company will announce its latest quarterly results on Thursday.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected].
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