Dunkin' Brands, the parent company of Dunkin' and Baskin-Robbins, exceeded expectations in its most recent earnings report with delivery sales doubling.
Dave Hoffmann, Dunkin' Brands CEO, told Cheddar on Friday, that before the coronavirus outbreak, the company was heading towards its best quarter since 2013 already, but once the pandemic began it focused on adapting.
"We really worked on streamlining the operations for our franchisees to make the restaurants as flexible as possible with limited hours, limited menu. We called our limited menu Essentials," Hoffman said.
Luckily, 90 percent of the chain's transactions were some form of takeout prior to the crisis, according to the CEO, so it wasn't hard for them to pivot entirely in that direction.
"Our fleet of restaurants, 70 percent are drive-thrus, we've added 1,000 curbside locations to those non-drive thru sites as well. Our delivery footprint has nearly doubled during this, from 2,000 stores to 4,000," he said. "Our loyalty program has continued to increase. About one out of every five transactions is from a loyalty member."
Dunkin' Brands is 100 percent operated by franchisees and has almost 90 percent of its business open amid the pandemic. Hoffman said the company supported franchisees early on by making sure their liquidity was protected and took safety precautions at all locations so that workers feel protected.
"We got into this very early. We put our reputation aside and we talked about, you know nobody is going to remember an overreaction, but people will definitely remember an underreaction," he said.
Life after the pandemic is still unpredictable for most people, including business owners. The CEO said Dunkin' is taking it one day at a time and will continue to follow the guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The New York Times and President Donald Trump are fighting again. The news outlet said Wednesday it won't be deterred by Trump's “false and inflammatory language” from writing about the 79-year-old president's health. The Times has done a handful of stories on that topic recently, including an opinion column that said Trump is “starting to give President Joe Biden vibes.” In a Truth Social post, Trump said it might be treasonous for outlets like the Times to do “FAKE” reports about his health and "we should do something about it.” The Republican president already has a pending lawsuit against the newspaper for its past reports on his finances.
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Disney's changes to a program for disabled visitors are facing challenges in federal court and through a shareholder proposal. The Disability Access Service program, which allows disabled visitors to skip long lines, was overhauled last year. Disney now mostly limits the program to those with developmental disabilities like autism who have difficulty waiting in lines. The changes have sparked criticism from some disability advocates. A shareholder proposal submitted by disability advocates calls for an independent review of Disney's disability policies. Disney plans to block this proposal, claiming it's misleading. It's the latest struggle by Disney to accommodate disabled visitors while stopping past abuses by some theme park guests.
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