Coffee Franchises

The Dunkin' Donuts franchise has been around since 1955.  Currently, in the United States alone there are over 4800 Dunkin' Donuts locations, as well as 1700 locations in foreign countries.  But with the dominance of Starbucks, and the overall saturation of the coffee market, is investing in a Dunkin' Donuts worth it?  We'll discuss that in this article.

A typical Dunkin' Donuts franchise costs the investor an initial franchise fee of $80,000 or more.  The total investors should be expected to be no less than $180,000, and could exceed $1 million, depending upon whether you're purchasing a new restaurant or a resale.  The annual revenue of Dunkin' Donuts in 2004 was $4.1 billion, and the average revenue per store was $850,000.

The Dunkin' Donuts franchise offers a strong opportunity for those who have a background in fast food chain management, and are interested in the restaurant industry.  Of course, you must possess more than just an interest -- you also have to have a significant amount of capital to invest.

Dunkin' Donuts recommends that any applicant for their franchise should have, at the very least, five years of experience in management, specifically in a business environment related to the food service industry.

To really be considered as a potential franchisee, you need to have a net worth of at least $1.5 million, and $750,000 in liquid assets.  In addition, you will have to undergo an English-language proficiency assessment, before you can be approved for the franchise.

Oftentimes, the strict requirements deter the potential franchise investor, and they move on.  However, because of the strict guidelines, Dunkin' Donuts is able to run a strong and successful business model year after year.  This should be taken into consideration, because typically Dunkin' Donuts is only able to be managed by high-quality individuals.

If you compare that to some other coffee franchises that are available, you see that is a very real competitive advantage in the marketplace.  Some franchises will license their name out to anybody who is able to borrow enough money for investment -- regardless of their experience.  What happens is the branding for the company is poor, which will cost all franchises sales.

So should you invest in a Dunkin' Donuts franchise?  Well, the question is not so much if you showed, but if you qualify to.  If so, you should heavily consider it, if you're interested in getting into the coffee business.

Coffee Franchises |