Monday, January 9, 2012

Hope Springs Eternal: Dunkin' Donuts to Double the Number of U.S. Locations


Sadly, this is what passes for good economic news these days, as reported by CNN Money:
America is about to run on twice as much Dunkin'.

Dunkin' Donuts plans to double its locations in the United States over the next 20 years, the company announced Wednesday.

The coffee and doughnut chain currently operates nearly 7,000 stores nationwide. Each new store adds an average of 20 to 25 new employees, both full and part-time a Dunkin spokeswoman said.
Hold on, let me take of my shoes and socks for a minute so I can do the math. Hmmm…by my calculation that means that assuming Dunkin’s expansion plans are carried through to fruition over the next two decades, the company will be creating 140,000-175,000 jobs, or about 7,000 to 8,500 jobs per year on average. Mostly minimum wage jobs, by the way, which barely leave the employees with enough earnings to buy the company’s crappy donuts.

Wowwee…break out the Champagne, ‘cause happy days are here again…not!

So how can Dunkin' afford these major expansion plans, anyway?
The announcement came as Dunkin' also said it has finished streamlining its supply chain, consolidating four existing regional suppliers under one entity, National DCP. The company said the move will cut costs.
Hmmm…how do you suppose the streamlining of Dunkin’s regional suppliers is going to accomplish such huge cost savings? The article doesn’t say so, because the business reporter stenographer didn’t ask the question, but I’ll bet layoffs at those other companies were a factor. So at least some of the jobs supposedly being created are likely just being transferred from one aspect of the business to another, which diminishes even the relatively meager overall job creation aspect of this announcement.

Then you also have to ask the question whether adding 7,000 more junk food outlets in a nation which already has an obesity epidemic is really all that beneficial. Dunkin' doesn’t have to pay the medical bills of people who destroy their health in part by consuming their products every day. That cost falls upon the rest of us, one way or another. Funny how the states managed to sue the tobacco industry to recoup increased health care costs from smoking, but the suggestion never gets made that the same action might be appropriate to undertake against other merchants of death like Dunkin' Donuts.

I hate to be such a party pooper, but if this is what passes for good economic news in America these days, it just demonstrates even more that we are in deep, deep trouble.


Bonus: We are soon to become a whole nation of Fred the Bakers

4 comments:

  1. Seems only yesterday when Krispy Kreme was trying to expand like crazy.

    https://www.google.com/search?q=krispy+kreme+expanded+too+quickly

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  2. @voiceinyourhead - yep, THAT company sure crashed and burned quickly.

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  3. a little bit more on our friends at dunkin'...

    dunkin' brands went public in july '11, but three hedge funds still control a majority interest in the company. two of them are quite well known: bain capital (mitt romney, can you believe?) and the infamous carlyle group.

    dunkin' is notorious for suing its franchisees, and for selling too many of them in populated areas...which forces the franchisees to compete with each other. the competition, of course, brings in more customers overall and more money to the corporate coffers, but at the expense of the individual franchise holders' bottom lines. whatever they squeeze out of their franchisees in the course of their multitude of lawsuits against them probably helps pad corporate profits, too (or you can be sure they wouldn't be doing it). if these allegations are true, it's not surprising to hear they're planning expansion.

    do a google search on dunkin's ownership and business practices and see for yourself.

    or...maybe this is all part of mitt's plan to restore the american economy and nation to greatness...

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  4. Well, your prediction about the merger became reality when the National entity gutted the Mid-Atlantic supply chain facility, taking all the administrative jobs up to Bellingham, MA, leaving bare bones operations. The same with the Mid-West facility in Mokena, IL. All done in one fell swoop on April 16th.So many jobs lost and families affected with no true cost savings since they are now advertising for these same positions up there.

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