Independent Joe Magazine Issue #9 June 2011

Former Brand Employees Finding Franchise Success

All in A Day’s Work

Why WiFi? More Shops Offering Free Wireless Internet

Profit Building with PerryProfit Building with Perry

June 2011 • Issue 9 We Communicate, We Educate, We Advocate!

also in this issue

Boston Shop Gears up for Annual Marathon Madness

Untitled-1 1 5/12/2011 5:45:24 PM

Why WiFi?More and More Dunkin’ Donuts FranchiseOwners are Offering Free Wireless Internet to Their Customers

JUNE 2011 • INDEPENDENT JOE 3

You’ve got the great coffee, the snacks, the comfortable seating, even TVs. But your competitors are offering something that you may not be: Free wifi, or wire-less Internet connectivity.

Many café-goers stop at Starbucks and other cafés not only to get a cappuc-cino, but also to hop online to work, study, and play. If the choice is between a Dunkin’ Donuts without wifi and a competitor that does offer it, many people will opt for the wifi hotspot. “If you don’t offer it then you are by default forcing those dwellers to look elsewhere -- and so it becomes a value proposi-tion game of how much they are worth to you and whether you want them to experience your competitor,” says James Sinclair of OnSite Consult-ing, a restaurant consulting firm that handles many coffee stores for independent operators and chains.

Dunkin’ Brands encourages the use of wifi and the pricing for a system-wide discount is being worked out. They also recommend a data filtering service to prevent users of the connection from visit-ing inappropriate websites. In addi-tion, Dunkin’ Brands is considering wifi-boosting tactics such as a wifi marketing program for franchisees and a pre-designed landing page that will show Internet surfers spe-cial offers when they sign on. But for now, franchisees are offering wifi independently.

Dollar SenseMany franchisees who offer wifi are finding that cost is not an issue; connectivity costs about as much for a franchise as it does for a home user. Of course, that adds up quickly if a franchisee owns multiple stores. “You can end up spending $50 to $60 a month in some of the stores,” says Gary D’Alelio, who owns 24 franchises in and around Boston, most of which offer free wifi. “It’s coming down now, but some of the contracts that I have committed to were a little higher. But I think the

by Linda Formichelli

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Why WiFi?Linda Formichelli

Former Brand Employees Finding Franchise SuccessBrooke McDonough

When ProfitsAre ElectricPerry Ludy

DDIFO Directoryof Sponsors

All in A Day’s WorkMatt Ellis

Index ofAdvertisers

benefits outweigh the costs.”

Some owners are bundling wifi with other services that require a wireless connection. “If we want to have remote access for security cameras, we need to get a separate Internet connection,” says Ken Blum, who offers wifi at eight of his nine stores in the suburbs of Cleveland and Akron, OH. “I figured once I had that separate Internet con-nection, I might as well offer wifi.”

A New Type of CustomerFranchises that offer wifi attract scores of students. For example, D’Alelio has some stores in college areas around Boston, and students flock to the store

to access their study materials and surf to their colleges’ online links and tools. Sometimes groups of students come in to study together. And of course, all of those kids are buying food and drinks -- after all, who drinks more coffee to fuel late-night cram sessions than college students?

Businesspeople are another prime market for Dunkin’ Donuts stores that of-

fer wifi. “The perception is that we used to get all of the plumbers and electricians,” says D’Alelio. “Now we’re getting a mix of businesspeople who come in and will sit down and do their thing. We’re getting a lot of different people that are coming in that we didn’t get before. It’s nice.” The benefit? Steve Gabellieri, who owns four locations in Rhode Island, says that many businesspeople and salespeople are on expense accounts -- so they’re more likely to spend a little more money than the average customer.

A Place to MeetStores that offer wifi generate a sense of community as people come in not just to dine-and-go, but to congregate, chat, and work. “It gives people a second option for somewhere to be, whether they’re at home or they’re just bored and want to get out,” says D’Alelio. “Or they’ve been in the office for six hours. -- they want a change of scenery, but they still want to be productive.” D’Alelio also sees regu-lars who come in daily to check up on Facebook and e-mail.

WiFi continued on page 18

Plugged InOne thing to consider when offering free wifi is your electrical outlet situ-ation. “I tried to add a couple of out-lets in certain areas so that people can plug into a power source,” says Gary D’Alelio. “If they’re offering free wifi, [franchise owners] need to put in outlets every six or eight feet so that people can plug in their computers and not just be using the battery.” Blum adds, “Our new stores are getting a lot more out-lets. Our first two stores had very few outlets, so we get some feed-back on that. We’ve made changes to our design inside to add more convenient outlets.”

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The allure of entrepreneurship is strong. Being your own boss and building a business that you can pass down to your family are ideas ingrained in the American Dream.

Add to that the historic success of Dunkin’ Donuts franchises and it makes sense that former executives from the corporate offices at Dunkin’ Brands would be drawn to franchise opportuni-ties.

While current employees at Dunkin’ Brands are prevented from having an ownership stake in a franchise, there are many who have left Canton to pursue ownership opportunities. And for those ex-executives, who understand the nuts and bolts of the business, owning a Dunkin’ Donuts franchise can be the optimum situation.

But, as some have discovered, having a corporate background doesn’t always guarantee success as a franchise own-er. Instead, it seems that a willingness to work hard, put the customer first, and have a core sense of fairness and trust-worthiness are what matters most.

Randy Plante, who now owns five stores in Waltham, Massachusetts, had a successful career in Dunkin’ Donuts corporate office. He worked in stores in Long Island, NY, which were corpo-rate owned, then in Watertown Mass., increasing sales in the businesses as he moved on. As Tech Advisor at Dunkin’ Brands he opened over 50 stores and changed over more than 20 from one owner to another.

In other words, Plante became a corpo-rate expert in opening stores, assisting franchise owners with start up, equip-ment purchasing, training, and organiz-ing logistical and operational strategies. So when he purchased his first Waltham store in 1988 from Bernie and Claude Dejivekian, he knew he was getting into a good thing.

“There was a lot of growth potential at the time,” said Plante. Working through-out New England and New York, Plante saw what he described as a huge cus-

Former Brand Employees Finding Franchise SuccessHard Work and Core Dunkin’ Values Are Key

by Brooke McDonough

Franchise Success continued on page 15

tomer base, “almost like a cult following” and he knew it was a great business to invest in.

What surprised him however, is the amount of work it took to run a store. “I thought I could do it all myself,” said Plante, who remembers making the do-nuts in the wee hours of the morning.

“I left my corporate job, with the compa-ny car and the perks and all of a sudden I’m working around the clock, harder than I’ve ever worked before.”

Ironically, as a corporate executive, Plante worked with actor Michael Vale, best known as Fred the Baker—the iconic Dunkin’ spokesman—as an advi-sor ensuring the product in television commercials looked authentic. As a fran-chise owner, Plante was the one getting up early when it was “time to make the donuts.”

But Plante, who had been working for Dunkin’ Donuts since he was 15, wash-ing floors and cleaning counters, is not a stranger to hard work. As he expanded

his network, the company changed quite a bit as well.

“It was a more physical demanding job those days,” said Plante. “Things are still challenging but in a different way.”

“The good thing about Dunkin’s is that it is always moving forward. The R&D is amazing and the company tries new ideas to stay current.” With that said, Plante still clings to the sound busi-ness strategies that he learned from the ground floor up.

In fact, he found that the early store experience as a crewmember gave him a sense of the importance of customer service, and working at Dunkin’ Donuts as a manager taught him the importance of developing good people and treating everyone fairly-- business ideas that are cornerstone of the business Bill Rosen-berg built.

“Rosenberg would come into the store on Main Street,” said Plante. “He always amazed me with his work ethic and simple philosophy about clean stores,


9 Stores Currently Under Contract


Why the team approach to profit building is well suited to Dunkin’ Donuts Franchises

When ProfitsAre Electric

Profits continued on page 16

When it comes to reducing cost in every line of the P&L statement, a team effort will always outperform the indi-vidual. Businesses that want to improve their bottom line on a continuous basis must have a constant focus on building profits. The Profit Building Team (PBT) requires the right chemistry and the proper mix of all functions within the organization, because effective cost reduction requires multiple skills and experiences; and functional experts have the depth of knowledge needed to get beneath the surface and ferret out opportunities for cost reduction. Most organizations miss the chance to reduce cost by not including team members from all disciplines within the business.

A cross-discipline approach cannot be emphasized enough when implement-ing a cost reduction strategy. You must include representatives from as many departments as possible to create a wide knowledge base. Each represen-tative brings his or her unique perspec-tive to the table, along with specialized knowledge and talents. Think about it. You are creating a team of experts with inside knowledge on how the business operates, immediate acquaintance with its past and present performance, and priceless instincts about what methods would work best. In addition, rather than in just one or two areas, you have a whole company from which to draw profit improvement ideas.

Small cost reductions in one or two areas will have little effect, but small reductions in every area of the business can translate into substantial savings.

A key point to remember is that manag-ers have a tendency to “put the blind-ers on” as they go about their daily duties. Absorbed in their own world,

By the author of Profit Building:

Cutting Costs without Cutting People

they become oblivious to the activities of other areas of the business that may affect their own productivity. Following their daily routine, they may also fail to consider changes within their area that could increase efficiency or cut waste. Just as it is easier to recognize someone else’s faults than acknowl-edge one’s own, a team member from a different part of the business may be quick to notice when someone else has become blind to a problem that exists right under his or her nose. PBT mem-

bers quickly become blind-spot experts. This, coupled with their complementary skills and out-of-the-box thinking, leads to a team that is innovative, creative, and covers the possibilities for cost reduction in every major part of the business. This sort of team interaction is fundamental to the success of the Profit Building Process.

Recently, I had the opportunity to watch the Profit Building Process in action. It started as a typical discussion about cost cutting where the restaurant own-ers exchanged their thoughts about labor scheduling, food cost control and marketing costs when someone from Human Resources, attending the monthly financial review for the first time, simply asked “Have you looked for ways to reduce your utility costs?” Of course what followed was the opera-tor’s comment that they had already ad-dressed that area by making sure that restroom lights are turned off when not in use and the thermostats are always set to one temperature. The HR person responded by saying, “Those are good

steps, but what I was referring to was looking at ways to either cut the cost of each kilowatt hour and or reduce the number of kilowatts used monthly.” He had just opened a new avenue for cost reduction with a simple question. It turned out that the spouse of the HR representative worked for a utility consulting firm specializing in helping businesses reduce their electric and natural gas costs by partnering with util-ity suppliers. Those conversations led to identifying another organization that

had just introduced a breakthrough device for commercial refrigeration and both eventual strategies led to a pilot project which is currently track-ing towards a 25% reduction in utility costs.

This situation would have not happened if the HR person had not been invited to the cost reduction meeting, thus making the point to assemble a team with cross-discipline, complementary and cross-sectional skills to look at cost control. When you do this your team will come up with new avenues to explore for cost reduction and profit improve-ment.

Profit Building Tips1. As a result of deregulation in the gas and electric markets, consultants are able to work with businesses to reduce their electric and natural gas costs. Check the status of your state, but some of the deregulated states include Illinois, Indiana, New York, New Jersey, Michigan and Texas. In these states, consultants partner with the utility sup-pliers and provide your business with reduced rates per kilowatt hour and locked in rates on an annual basis. The consultants do not charge your busi-

Effective cost reductionrequires multiple skillsand experiences


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Adrian A. Gaspar & Company, LLPRobert Costello1035 Cambridge Street, Suite 14Cambridge, MA 02141(617) [email protected]

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Bedford Cost Segregation Bill Cusato60 State Street – Suite 700Boston, MA 02109978-263-5055 [email protected]/ who_we_serve/ddifo.asp

Belshaw Adamatic Bakery GroupFran Kauth814 44th Street NW Suite 103Auburn, WA [email protected] www.belshaw-adamatic.com

Bunn-O-Matic Corporation Frank McAdam1400 Stevenson DriveSpringfield, IL [email protected]

CareerBuilder.Com Erica Basso400 Crown Colony Drive, Suite 301Quincy, MA 02169781-453-3581erica.basso@careerbuilder.comwww.careerbuilder.com

Caruso Kaplan LLC Carmen D. Caruso77 West Wacker Drive, Suite 4800Chicago, IL [email protected]

Caturano & CompanyJennifer Grossetti80 City SquareBoston, MA [email protected]

Comcast Business ServicesJamie Gersten500 South Gravers RoadPlymouth Meeting, PA [email protected]://business.comcast.com/internet/index.aspx

Direct Capital Franchise GroupRobyn Gault155 Commerce WayPortsmouth, NH 03823(603) [email protected]/apply/dunkinbrands

Diversified Solutions, Inc.Chrishelle Gavoni412 Long Pond RoadPlymouth, MA 02360508-746-6995jkerchgavoni@comcast.netwww.diversified-solutions.com/dsi_dd.html

DTT SurveillanceMira Diza1755 North Main StreetLos Angeles, CA [email protected]

Duro-Last Roofing Jim Schriber 525 Morley DriveSaginaw, MI [email protected]

EcolabArliene Bird27 Oak StreetWayne, NJ [email protected]/Businesses/

Fast Track 2+2 Drive-Thru TimerMike Pierce3500 West Moore Ave. Ste. MSanta Ana, CA [email protected]

FireKing Security GroupRick Uren101 Security ParkwayNew Albany, IN [email protected]

GE Capital, Franchise Finance Ab Igram201 Merritt 7, 2nd FloorNorwalk, CT [email protected]

Glacial Energy Eric Nickulas24 Route 6ASandwich, MA 02563Local: 508-833-3500 [email protected] www.glacialsales.com/dunkindonuts

Hirshon Associates, H & H Properties and FranchisesStephen Hirshon or Andrew Hirshon425 Broadhollow RoadMelville, NY 11747Email- [email protected]“A Member of Franchise Pros”

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Kensington Company & AffiliatesDavid Stein185 Roslyn RoadRoslyn Heights, NY 11577516-626-2211 office718-490-2218 [email protected]

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Macdonald Restaurant Repair ServiceMark & Debi MacdonaldPO Box 61/ 83 Pond St Norfolk, MA 02056508-384-9361debi@macdonaldcompany.comwww.macdonaldcompany.com

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New England Drive-Thru CommunicationsAngela Bechard12 Wildwood RoadAuburn, NH [email protected]

New England Repair ServiceJerry Brown100 Charles StreetMalden, MA 02148781-873-1536jerry.brown@necoffeeco.comwww.NERepairService.com

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Partyka IsuzuCraig Judge200 Skiff StreetHamden, CT [email protected]

Payless Shoe SourceLarry Dunning3231 SE 6th AvenueTopeka, KS [email protected]

PepsiCoBryan Gruttadauria315 Norwood Park SouthNorwood, MA [email protected]

Performance Business Solutions, LLCJeff Hiatt87 Lafayette Road - Suite 11Hampton Falls, NH [email protected]

R.F. TechnologiesGary Gerst542 South Prairie StreetBethalto, IL 62010618-377-4063 ext. [email protected] www.rftechno.com

Royston, LLCBonnie PadgettOne Pickroy RoadJasper, GA 30143770-735-3456 ext. [email protected]

Rubiano & Company, CPA’sDaniel J. Rubiano, CPA5 Austin Avenue, Suite 1Greenville, RI [email protected]

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Directory of SponsorsHME Drive-Thru Timer SystemsBrady Campbell14110 Stowe DrivePoway, CA 92064858-535-6034fax: (858) [email protected]

HS Brands InternationalMichael Mershimer500 Myles Standish BlvdTaunton, MA [email protected]

IKMS Group Inc. Cliff PrattPO Box 6221Manchester, NH [email protected]

iTech DigitalNatalie Himmel4287 W. 96th StreetIndianapolis, IN 46268317-704-0440 ext. [email protected]

James P. Ventriglia, CPA, Inc.Jim Ventriglia145 Phenix Avenue, 2nd FloorCranston, RI 02920 [email protected]

Jarrett Services ATM, Inc. Eric Johnston1315 Stelton Road Piscataway, NJ [email protected]

Jera ConceptsWynne Barrett17 Fruit StreetHopkinton, MA [email protected]

Joyal Capital Management Franchise DevelopmentDaniel Connelly50 Resnik RoadPlymouth, MA [email protected]


If there’s one thing George Alepedis has learned after more than 40 years of Boston Marathons it’s don’t run out of ice. Years ago he remembers, his store at 715 Boylston St. in Boston’s Copley Square—for 18 years the system’s top sales performer—ran out of ice on a warm Marathon Monday when tens of thousands of people cram this section of the city’s Back Bay to see the world’s best marathon runners cross the finish line. In those days George had bags of ice delivered from a nearby ven-dor. Now, he has three ice machines capable of pumping out 2600 pounds of ice a day. The workhorses have outside compressors so the downstairs baking area doesn’t overheat. George and his team have learned to an-ticipate anything on the third Monday in April.

Marathon Day is the busiest day of the year at the Copley Square store –one of three the Alepedis’ family owns; the other two are less than a mile away at the Back Bay train station. According to Dunkin; Brands, that store is in the top 15 percent of sales through-out the entire Dunkin’ system, but on Marathon Day it jumps into the top one percent. Planning for Marathon Monday begins in March, preparing schedules, checking the equipment, watching the weather and doubling up on their DCP orders.

“It takes a lot of practice because we are getting supplies for three stores and all of them get busier that weekend. We have to be careful because we don’t have that much storage space,” said George Simopoulos, director of the three stores.

Business starts to pick up over the preceding weekend when runners and tourists arrive in Boston for the Mara-thon. Foot traffic is up all weekend and peaks on Sunday when the Boston

All in A Day’s WorkBoston Shop Gears Up for Annual Marathon Madness

by Matt Ellis

Athletic Association sponsors a 5k race. In fact, since the BAA started the Sun-day 5k three years ago, it’s made that the busiest Sunday of the year for the Copley store. Customers line up from 8 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon, but Simopoulos says it’s just a warm-up for the main event.

“On a normal day we serve around 1100 customers. On Marathon Day it’s over 1500,” said Simopoulos. “We sell more of everything.”

For comparison’s sake: for a typi-cal Monday, the Copley Square store orders 30 dozen donuts; for Marathon Day they order 90 dozen. This year, donut sales were up 60 percent; break-fast sandwiches were up 100 percent; bagels were up 120 percent; bottled drinks were up 150 percent. Because the weather was mild, sales of hot coffee were up 70 percent. Still the ice makers were running—cubes stacked to the tops of the three machines ready for any potential run on iced coffee. When assignments are handed out for Marathon Day, one employee is on standby to man the ice machine—as-suming the role of ice-scooper for as long as it takes.

“So much of what gets ordered de-pends on the weather,” said Simopou-los. “It’s hard to predict. We have to be

ready for anything.” That can be frus-trating, especially when the meteorolo-gists are wrong and the forecast turns out to be nothing like the real weather. Plus, weather can change quickly so, after a cool morning when people want hot coffee and hot chocolate, a warm afternoon finds people ordering cold drinks to stay cool.

Another thing Alepedis and his team have learned is that people’s eating habits are a bit different on Marathon

Day. “People are in-spired to eat healthy that day, I guess,” said Simopoulos.

The most popular food items tend to be bran muffins, low-fat blueberry muffins, multi-grain bagels and whole wheat ba-gels. Understanding people’s propensity to watch what they eat while they watch runners finish an exhausting race has helped them refine their DCP orders over the years. Still, there are always those who want a jelly-filled or glazed

treat while they watch the race.

“Donuts are still popular for the kids. The parents come in with them and they may get a bagel or sandwich for themselves but they get the kids a donut or two,” said Alepedis.

And it’s not just the kids. Kent, a twenty-something from Portland, Oregon, who was waiting for his wife to finish the race, said he couldn’t resist the Dunkin’ Boston Kreme donut. “There aren’t too many Dunkin’s where I live so I wanted to try the Boston Kreme. I don’t have to eat healthy today,” said Kent, who admitted at home he typically drinks coffee from that Seattle-based coffee chain.

Walk up and down Boylston St. and you will see people carrying Dunkin’

(L-R) Store manager Abdel Soltany,owner George Alepedis and George Simopoulos, director of the three stores.


Marathon continued on page 13

Marathon from previous pageDonuts coffee cups and bags. Charlie from Louisiana was enjoying a large hot regular coffee. He doesn’t get to drink Dunkin’ Donuts coffee much. “We don’t have these back home but, up here they’re like chicken joints—one on every corner.”

Tom, a former marathoner from Califor-nia, was hanging out early at the shop biding his time until his daughter would cross the finish line. “I’m excited to see her,” he said while waiting for a bagel and cream cheese.

The doors to the 1,000 square foot shop are constantly opening and closing; the line for food and drinks is also constant but moves steadily. Yuri, a Boston firefighter working the Marathon, is a regular customer at this shop but, unlike his colleagues, he doesn’t drink coffee. “I like the food,” he said.

To accommodate the steady steam of customers for 8 or more hours, the store doubles its staff. Behind the counter there is more than the average bobbing and weaving of servers moving from the registers, to the hot coffee, to the donut and muffin trays, to the iced coffee and

back to the register. Simopoulos says the staff has worked out hand signals to help them communicate when things get really busy and the store gets really loud.

By and large, the workers know the drill. Many have been here for 10 years or longer. While Simopoulos and his store manager lend a hand behind the coun-ter, Alepedis perches himself on a stool near the back of the store to watch the traffic flow and help the managers make adjustments. His keen eye, honed after 40 Marathon Mondays, tells him when the barrier dividing the line of customers from those receiving their orders needs to be moved. Even a few feet one way or the other can affect the inevitable bottleneck that occurs at the regis-ters. He can immediately recognize a customer looking for the rest room (they don’t have a public rest room) and he can tell by the ebb and flow of custom-ers when it’s time to give crew members their breaks so they can be fresh and ready for the rush that peaks between 11am and 4pm.

“There’s real excitement in the store all day,” said Simopoulos. “The employees get an adrenaline rush and that keeps them going. Everyone’s in a good mood and that makes it fun for all of us.”

Maybe the biggest challenge is deal-

Marathon Day crowds start forming early outside George Alepedis’ Dunkin’ store. The Copley Square shop serves 1500 customers on race day.

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ing with customers who are not Dunkin’ regulars and may not know the lingo Bostonians use to order their favorite drink.

“Around here a ‘regular coffee’ is served with cream and sugar. But in the South, regular means black coffee. So we have to make sure when a customer says, ‘I want a medium regular’ we know what they really want,” said Alepedis.

Something else George and his team have learned over the years is that good customer service mat-ters every day of the year—even when many of the custom-ers are out-of-town-ers they may never see again.

“We have plenty of regulars who come in on Marathon Day and they expect the same kind of treatment they get every other day,” said Alepedis. “We are al-ways focused on customer satisfaction.”

It would be easy for George Alepedis to let his managers and employees run it alone on Marathon Day; after all, he has done it every year since 1969. But, sit-ting with George, enjoying a hot coffee (he still can’t believe people pay to drink “cold coffee”) you get the sense there is no place he would rather be than in the middle of the hubbub, watching the faces of the tourists and the regulars; the cops and the firemen; the counter staff and the managers; and all others who make a visit (or two) to this Dunkin’ shop a part of their Marathon Day.

“It’s a lot of fun. We’re working but we feel like we’re involved in the race and if you pay attention, you can hear the people outside cheering.”

Like many early franchisees in the Dunkin’ Donuts system, George Alepedis came to America in search of a new life and new opportunity. He was 27 years old when he left his job as a firefighter in Lesvos, Greece—not yet married and not yet sure what he wanted to do for his life’s work.

“After arriving in Boston I got a job at the old Palace of Sweets candy store in Malden Square,” said Alepedis, referring to a location about 8 miles from Copley Square where he has three shops within one square mile.

The store was a popular destina-tion in Malden offering hand-dipped chocolates and home made ice cream. Alepedis remembers making 700 gallons of ice cream a week—in 72 flavors. Just four years after coming to America, Alepedis bought a restaurant and candy store in the neighboring city of Everett. Mellon’s Candy had been owned by his uncle but in 1960, it became Alepedis’ first business.

After five years, Alepedis learned to make donuts from a friend who was working for Dunkin’ Donuts and in 1965 he sold Mellon’s to become the manager of the Dunkin’ store in the Porter Square section of Cambridge. His experience as a candy and ice cream maker came in handy but he quickly learned that donuts were a different beast. He admits now he was an excellent donut maker back then and others came to the Porter Square shop to learn his technique.

These were early days for Dunkin’. The chain was growing but most stores were still owned by the Rosenberg family. In 1969, Bill Rosenberg sold the Copley Square store to George Alepe-dis—and the rest was history.

At the time, the store had a horseshoe counter and served cof-fee in cups and saucers. Take out business was tiny; people sat and drank coffee, read newspapers and talked with friends. In those days 2/3 of the store’s 1,000 square feet were designated for sitting; they had two dishwashers to keep up with the volume of dirty cups, saucers and spoons.

Today it’s a much different story. The counter came out in the 1980’s; the store was one of the first within the Dunkin’ system to eliminate saucers and begin serving coffee in mugs and in 1989 went entirely to disposable cups.

Looking back on his 46 years in Dunkin’ Donuts—Alepedis smiles. He’s built a solid business to provide for his family and he loves coming to work. “It was hard in the old days, working all night making donuts and sleeping on the flour bags in the basement,” said Alepedis. His recollections of the early days sound like those of other long-time Dunkin’ franchise owners.

Marathon continued from page 11

George Alepedis bought the Copley Square Dunkin’ store from Bill Rosenberg in 1969.

Healthy offerings like whole grain bagels are big sellers on Marathon Day but kids still enjoy a traditional donut.


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fresh product, and most of all putting the customer first.”

Tony Pellizzi, who worked for Dunkin’ Brands for 23 years before joining his son Anthony Jr. as a franchise owner in New York, said that there is a huge difference between being a franchise owner and working in the corporate of-fice “You never get to really understand the challenges and the intricacies of running a business. You think you know, but you don’t,” he said.

Pellizzi said that as a corporate execu-tive he put together plenty of profit-ability analysis reports, but until he was actually running a store, he didn’t realize how in depth that analysis has to be.

“If you’re short on cash for a month as an owner, you might not be able to pay your electric bill.” You’re more removed in the corporate world, he explained. “The challenge of controlling your costs is easier said than done.”

Dave Place, former director of retail operations at Dunkin’ Brands, said that at the corporate level you’re the advisor and consultant. “As a franchise owner you handle the day-to-day issues that make a business. It takes a significant amount of work to make that look easy for the customers.”

Place and Plante have combined their efforts to expand and develop the net-work of stores.

“This still is and always will be a penny pinching business. There’s a lot of pres-sure with food costs rising, and day-to-day management that makes this a challenging business to say the least,” said Place.

Pellizzi says that former employees buying franchises is a good thing. “They know the business and you keep people in the family. But it takes a willingness to learn. You have to know that you’re not going to know everything and be ready to learn on the job.”

Even if you apply everything you were taught to make a successful store, you can still fail. According to Pellizzi, entrepreneurs, have to be able to react to change, to be flexible, and to adapt policies on the fly. “The training is not always aligned with reality.”

Still, Pellizzi and Plante agree, with all of the hard work, being a franchise owner has paid off. “You have to like the busi-

ness, said Pellizzi. To know that nothing is beneath you and that you’re going to have to work hard and be challenged everyday.”

Steve Gabellieri, a franchise owner in Rhode Island, is another example of

that. In fact, although he worked in the corporate office for 39 years, entre-preneurship may just well run in his blood. Gabellieri was a vice president of operations when he left the corporate world. In that role he worked closely with franchise owners.

The Gabellieri legacy goes way back in the Dunkin’ history. His father, Ralph, one of the original Dunkin’ Donuts employees, helped build the business from the start. So, Gabellieri, who also started as a crewmember when he was in high school, learned lessons about making employees feel respected, giving customers what they want, and being disciplined in management and cost controls. “Those three things,” said Gabellieri, “are the key to a franchise’s success. “It may all sound like com-mon sense but having the discipline to consistently execute and deliver on the promise is the difficult part.”

Gabellieri was pleased to discover that the advice he offered franchise owners when he was at Dunkin’ Brands actually worked when he applied those ideas to his own stores. Fundamentals, such as establishing a professional and positive work environment for employees and making the guests feel welcome are par-amount to the success of any business.

“The ideas have worked better than I thought they would,” he said. “It’s gratify-ing to see how well you can do by doing the right things.”

Jim Cain, a franchise owner in New York, worked with Gabellieri when Steve

was at the corporate office and has worked with him on a number of boards. Cain said that he is not surprised by Ga-bellieri’s success as a franchise owner.

“First of all, he is a true operator be-cause he grew up in the business and

understands it completely.” But there’s more to it than that. Cain said that Gabellieri’s strong character, work ethic, and integrity make the differ-ence.

Generally speaking, said Cain, not all-corporate people are cut out for entrepreneur-ship. “The reason why guys like Gabellieri and Plante are successful is that it’s in their backgrounds—they started from the bottom and are basi-

cally really hard workers.”

“It’s a tough transition unless you have it ingrained from somewhere in the past,” he said.

That knowledge of the business worked for Gabellieri both ways said Cain, who pointed out that as a liaison to the fran-chisees in the corporate world Gabel-lieri understood what the owners went though—that made him a better corpo-rate employee as well. “He understood our challenges.”

Dave Place also started his long career at Dunkin’s making and finishing donuts after school in a Dunkin’ Donuts in Wilmington, Massachusetts. A job that he thinks gave him the leg up when he applied to the corporate office after graduating from college. “I think they saw the value in the fact that I knew about the business.”

Place echoes the sentiments of Plante and Gabellieri and said that customer service is a key to the business. For one reason or another, he said, you don’t always see that. “You always have to maximize your customer’s satisfaction. Once you lose a customer it’s impos-sible to get that back.”

Place, who worked his way up to a director’s position at Dunkin’ Brands was drawn to the idea of running his own business so much so that he left the corporation twice to run franchises. The idea of entrepreneurship won over. “I had worked in the businesses since I was a kid. I know first hand that it’s a great business, and there’s still a lot of potential.”

Franchise Success from page 5

Franchise owners Dave Place and Randy Plante left Dunkin’ Brands to become franchise owners. The pair own a number of stores.


Profits continued from page 7

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The second device works to reduce the fan speed when the refrigerator compressor is in the off cycle, reducing the heat generated by the fan inside the refrigerated space. This device helps reduce the energy cost by 20% as used by each compressor. Additionally,

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WiFi continued on next page

Those businesspeople the wifi is attract-ing hold meetings at Dunkin’ Donuts too. “If they operate out of their homes, they may not be comfortable bringing someone there to meet, so they’ll say ‘Meet me at the local Dunkin’ Donuts,’ explains Ga-bellieri. “Then they bring their laptops and you can see them make a sales presentation. So now it becomes a place to meet and instead of getting the one person that has the laptop, you’re getting two customers.”

Personal SpaceIf a franchisee is not offering free wifi, it’s often because there are few or no seats in their store. For example, Blum doesn’t have wifi at his one store that has limited seating. And while three of Gabellieri’s stores have wireless, the fourth one does have it but doesn’t advertise it. “Without seats, it really doesn’t make sense to have it,” Gabellieri says. “We actually do have it in the store

and I use it when I go there, but it’s not really there for the customers.”

Stores with plenty of parking may seem like better candidates for offering wire-less than locations with

few spaces or street parking, but Gabel-lieri doesn’t see it as an issue. “It’s not like you’re going get 10 people at once with their laptops who want to connect,” he says. “It’s kind of spread out through the day.”

Have a SeatOne big concern for most restaurants and cafés that offer wifi is that customers will stake out a table and sit there all day, ordering noth-ing but a two-dollar coffee and taking up space that could be used by paying customers. “It needs to be understood that by offer-ing free wifi your REVpash [revenue per available seat hour] plummets and by default the seats occupied by those technically loitering become loss leaders,” says Sinclair. “For coffee shops that are looking to remain busy, be a focal point of a community, and create a strong atmosphere, offering it is a must -- just strike out

WiFi continued from page 3

It’s not just customers who benefit from wifi in stores. Owner Steve Gabellieri looks on as his General Manager Greg Tetrault uses the wireless internet connection to complete a Restaurant Operations Review. Gabellieri says if franchisees are weighing the cost of installing wifi, they should consider the additional time-saving benefits.

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WiFi continued from page 18

a portion of those seats when looking at the KPI [key performance indicator] for turnover.”

Most Dunkin’ Donut franchises avoid this issue as most of their business is takeout and the busiest period is early in the morning when commuters pop in for their morning coffee, while laptop users tend to come in later in the day. “We have that morning rush where people are trying to get somewhere,” says D’Alelio. “Later in the day, you see the people coming in and settling down, whether they’re on lunch break or they’ve left their office early and they’re still getting a few things done at Dunkin’. It works.”

And even if laptop users are taking up seats all day, Sinclair says that this helps lend a store a busy feel that at-tracts other customers.

The Bottom LineAll the franchise owners we talked to recommended that other owners go for it and join the wifi camp. “If you’ve got a store with seating capacity and you’ve already got a separate connection for your cameras, I think it makes all the sense in the world to do it because the incremental cost is small,” says Blum. “It’s definitely not all things to all people, and I think most franchises know their business, but certainly our experience has been a positive one.”

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Servicing coffee, espresso & specialty beverage equipment

100 Charles Street • Malden, MA 02148P 781.873.1536 | F 781.324.5675

www.NERepairService.com

IS A DIVISION OF

Dedicated to providing the best service possible. Our highly trained & qualified technicians are authorized to repairall major coffee and brewing equipment manufacturers/suppliers.

Offering service throughout New England. 24 hours a day / 7 days a week.

Visit us atBooth D5

Independent Joe Magazine Issue #9 June 2011

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