Dunkin'/Baskin-Robbins Acquired By Inspire Brands

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Dunkin'/Baskin-Robbins Acquired By Inspire Brands

Post by J-Man »

They will join Sonic, Arby's, and Buffalo Wild Wings under the Inspire Brands umbrella.
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Re: Dunkin'/Baskin-Robbins Acquired By Inspire Brands

Post by Brian Lutz »

Dunkin has no presence here, but I've seen quite a few Baskin Robbins locations in the area close in the past year or two, most of them before COVID hit. 31 flavors may have been impressive back when most other places might be lucky to have 8, but these days it seems like if people want "regular" ice cream they'll just go to the supermarket or grab soft serve from one fast food place or another, and if they want something fancier they'll most likely head for a place like Cold Stone, Sub Zero or one of the pay-by-the-ounce frozen yogurt places (Yogurtland, Menchie's, etc.)
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Re: Dunkin'/Baskin-Robbins Acquired By Inspire Brands

Post by Alpha8472 »

Dunkin's has failed in Northern California. They opened up several stores a few years ago and they have been failures. They began with huge crowds and then once people realized how terrible their donuts were, people never returned. Most of these Dunkin's locations in Northern California close early around 6 PM. They are mostly near death. Dunkin' is closing 800 stores by the end of the year. They may exit Northern California entirely as these restaurants have tarnished the Dunkin' brand in California.

Perhaps, some of these Dunkin's locations could be replaced by Sonic or some other more profitable brand.
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Re: Dunkin'/Baskin-Robbins Acquired By Inspire Brands

Post by jamcool »

Combining Dunkin with Arby’s would be interesting as it would put them in the Breakfast business
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Re: Dunkin'/Baskin-Robbins Acquired By Inspire Brands

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: October 30th, 2020, 11:45 pm Dunkin's has failed in Northern California. They opened up several stores a few years ago and they have been failures. They began with huge crowds and then once people realized how terrible their donuts were, people never returned. Most of these Dunkin's locations in Northern California close early around 6 PM. They are mostly near death. Dunkin' is closing 800 stores by the end of the year. They may exit Northern California entirely as these restaurants have tarnished the Dunkin' brand in California.

Perhaps, some of these Dunkin's locations could be replaced by Sonic or some other more profitable brand.
Same up here in Northern Nevada. The Dunkin locations came in with a huge bang, were operated horribly, continue to be operated horribly based on the recent reviews, and I see little reason for them to exist.

Arby's was in pretty rough shape when Inspire took it over. Inspire started to run some corporate owned Arby's (to prevent more and more locations from closing given how many had been closing) when previously Arby's was moving to a 100% franchise model which was clearly not working. I think that move really helped stabilize Arby's. The same probably needs to happen with Dunkin. Let's see how this plays out. I think this may be a positive.

Dunkin was clearly a very poorly run and mismanaged operation that was existing to extract franchise fees without much regard for the overall health of the brand or image of the brand based on how it has been run in CA/NV (horribly). The irony is Dunkin planned dozens of locations in CA/NV expansion and did not even come close to their projections. Had they actually gotten the many locations opened they were planning they would have taken in a lot more in franchise fees, than they are by having a handfull of poorly run locations with limited hours.

Not sure what to say about Baskin Robbins - when you can buy a pint of their ice cream at a grocery store on sale for $2.50 or so and then you go into their shop and a little 5 ounce scoop is about $2.69... I don't know.

Baskin Robbins would be best co-branded with other concepts and unable to stand alone but you do have all those franchisees making a go of it with freestanding Baskin Robbins shops.

Arby's in truck stops have breakfast. Fernley, NV and West Wendover, NV both have it. It is a pretty basic program.
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Re: Dunkin'/Baskin-Robbins Acquired By Inspire Brands

Post by pseudo3d »

A lot of Arby's ended up closing in the early 2010s in the Houston area, even locations that were less than a decade old. They have been adding some new locations in the last few years though, but almost all of them are second-generation (picking up old Carl's Jr. stores for instance).

Dunkin' (Dunkin' Donuts) growth in Texas has been slow but steady, with very few closed stores (unlike Carl's Jr., which crashed and burned). The only time I've eaten in a "real" Dunkin' though, the service was probably one of the worst I've ever seen.

The only real winner under Inspire in Texas is Sonic, which has restaurants even in small towns (not quite the saturation Dairy Queen, or even McDonald's has, but it's still extremely common).
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Re: Dunkin'/Baskin-Robbins Acquired By Inspire Brands

Post by buckguy »

They've probably taken the wrong lesson from Krispy Kreme, which expanded too quickly and whose product wasn't very good. Yes, people will settle for corn syrup and cheap flour dipped in hot oil when there aren't a lot of alternatives but there's a limit to how much of that they'll consume. Dunkin' has done very well internationally since the 90s and I suspect that the overseas part of the business is the real attraction. Their coffee used to be good, compared to the competition and they still have fans, but they really haven't been able to expand on that. Even people who think Einstein's makes a good bagel are leery of getting one at Dunkin, but as long as they are trying to grow through new products they'll keep ignoring the old ones.

Baskin-Robbins has an analogous problem. They once were a leader and a premium brand, but they didn't keep up with the super premium, gelato and other competition. Now they have to deal with strong regionals that either have good basic products (e.g., Culvers) or much better premium products (e.g., Graeters). Again, the foreign franchises have been an important part of the business for decades and might actually be the real attraction here.
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Re: Dunkin'/Baskin-Robbins Acquired By Inspire Brands

Post by Super S »

storewanderer wrote: October 31st, 2020, 12:55 am

Same up here in Northern Nevada. The Dunkin locations came in with a huge bang, were operated horribly, continue to be operated horribly based on the recent reviews, and I see little reason for them to exist.

Arby's was in pretty rough shape when Inspire took it over. Inspire started to run some corporate owned Arby's (to prevent more and more locations from closing given how many had been closing) when previously Arby's was moving to a 100% franchise model which was clearly not working. I think that move really helped stabilize Arby's. The same probably needs to happen with Dunkin. Let's see how this plays out. I think this may be a positive.

Dunkin was clearly a very poorly run and mismanaged operation that was existing to extract franchise fees without much regard for the overall health of the brand or image of the brand based on how it has been run in CA/NV (horribly). The irony is Dunkin planned dozens of locations in CA/NV expansion and did not even come close to their projections. Had they actually gotten the many locations opened they were planning they would have taken in a lot more in franchise fees, than they are by having a handfull of poorly run locations with limited hours.

Not sure what to say about Baskin Robbins - when you can buy a pint of their ice cream at a grocery store on sale for $2.50 or so and then you go into their shop and a little 5 ounce scoop is about $2.69... I don't know.

Baskin Robbins would be best co-branded with other concepts and unable to stand alone but you do have all those franchisees making a go of it with freestanding Baskin Robbins shops.

Arby's in truck stops have breakfast. Fernley, NV and West Wendover, NV both have it. It is a pretty basic program.
Dunkin had a few locations scattered around the Portland area but these all closed quite some time ago. Not sure they even have a presence in the Pacific Northwest at all at this point.

Baskin-Robbins is inconsistent with pricing. This is part of their problem. I went to one not too long ago in the Portland area where a single scoop was close to $4.00. You can go to WinCo and buy a container of Tillamook or Umpqua ice cream which is local and much better quality for close to that price. Baskin-Robbins tends to be very stingy with their scoops too, they knock extra off the edges and put the scoop on top of a hollow empty cone which you can't eat because of the glue holding paper to the cone. As for the ice cream it doesn't really stand out and has more of a "manufactured" feel to it. I have noticed a few randomly closing and/or switching to different formats.

Arby's tried breakfast for a while around Vancouver/Portland around the late 90s or early 2000s and tried a partnership with T.J. Cinnamons, which they owned at the time. This did not last long...I remember Arby's breakfast being nothing special the few times I have had it.

Arby's seemed to be stagnant in the area for a while and a few locations ended up closing, but they have been moving to remodel many locations and have opened a handful of new ones. I could see a potential partnership of Baskin-Robbins and Arby's at some locations....this could have potential in areas where Dairy Queen has a weak presence. Dunkin...not so much unless Arby's had a nationwide breakfast menu, and even then it would be questionable if the donuts were not made on site.
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Re: Dunkin'/Baskin-Robbins Acquired By Inspire Brands

Post by storewanderer »

Super S wrote: October 31st, 2020, 7:14 am
Dunkin had a few locations scattered around the Portland area but these all closed quite some time ago. Not sure they even have a presence in the Pacific Northwest at all at this point.

Baskin-Robbins is inconsistent with pricing. This is part of their problem. I went to one not too long ago in the Portland area where a single scoop was close to $4.00. You can go to WinCo and buy a container of Tillamook or Umpqua ice cream which is local and much better quality for close to that price. Baskin-Robbins tends to be very stingy with their scoops too, they knock extra off the edges and put the scoop on top of a hollow empty cone which you can't eat because of the glue holding paper to the cone. As for the ice cream it doesn't really stand out and has more of a "manufactured" feel to it. I have noticed a few randomly closing and/or switching to different formats.

Arby's tried breakfast for a while around Vancouver/Portland around the late 90s or early 2000s and tried a partnership with T.J. Cinnamons, which they owned at the time. This did not last long...I remember Arby's breakfast being nothing special the few times I have had it.

Arby's seemed to be stagnant in the area for a while and a few locations ended up closing, but they have been moving to remodel many locations and have opened a handful of new ones. I could see a potential partnership of Baskin-Robbins and Arby's at some locations....this could have potential in areas where Dairy Queen has a weak presence. Dunkin...not so much unless Arby's had a nationwide breakfast menu, and even then it would be questionable if the donuts were not made on site.
[/quote]

I remember when I was younger getting hollow scoops at Baskin Robbins more than once. They used to do a $1 Scoop Night (I think it was Tuesday or something) then it turned into $1 Kid Scoop which seemed to be about the same size anyway, then eventually it went away entirely. They had some good flavors but the grocery store has even more good flavors, especially stores with a large mix of ice creams and brands available which translates into hundreds of flavor choices at the grocery store; at this point is just about every large modern store.

Sherms's Food 4 Less in Medford has a counter with Umpqua by the scoop in many flavors, cash only, and they do big scoops and charge around $1 or maybe a bit more. I think selling ice cream by the scoop is a challenge to profit from with the labor, cup, and spoon involved.

Arby's in Portland (and Seattle- but not in between after Lacey) was corporate owned 10 years ago then they sold that block off to a franchisee. I was surprised but that franchisee has actually done okay with those locations it seems and done some remodels more recently. Before that, that franchisee was down to one Arbys (he had more before) in NorCal and his locations were in really rough shape, clearly not performing well at all, and why he was down to only one Arbys (he has other concepts too). Picking up corporate locations with an okay operating structure was evidently a good transaction.
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Re: Dunkin'/Baskin-Robbins Acquired By Inspire Brands

Post by Super S »

storewanderer wrote: October 31st, 2020, 10:47 am
Arby's in Portland (and Seattle- but not in between after Lacey) was corporate owned 10 years ago then they sold that block off to a franchisee. I was surprised but that franchisee has actually done okay with those locations it seems and done some remodels more recently. Before that, that franchisee was down to one Arbys (he had more before) in NorCal and his locations were in really rough shape, clearly not performing well at all, and why he was down to only one Arbys (he has other concepts too). Picking up corporate locations with an okay operating structure was evidently a good transaction.
Some in this group were really dated, including several that were former Arctic Circle locations that still had outside access restrooms. Moving the restrooms inside has been part of the remodels, although the placement of these, as well as drink machines (which were previously behind the counter), is weird in a few instances as they have been crammed into an existing footprint. Some of those seem like they are at a point where a rebuild would have been justified.
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