Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc. was an American restaurant holding company which ran three chains of fast-food restaurants:

Dunkin' Donuts Dunkin' Donuts LLC, also known as Dunkin' and by the initials DD, is an American multinational coffee and doughnut company, as well as a quick service restaurant. It was founded by William Rosenberg, Bill Rosenberg (1916–2002) in Quincy, Mas ...

, Mister Donut, and

Baskin-Robbins Baskin-Robbins is an American multinational chain of ice cream and cake speciality shops owned by Inspire Brands. Based in Canton, Massachusetts, Baskin-Robbins was founded in 1945 by Burt Baskin (1913–1967) and Irv Robbins (1917–2008) in ...

. It was headquartered in

Canton, Massachusetts Canton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,370 at the 2020 census. Canton is part of Greater Boston, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of downtown Boston. History The area that would becom ...

History

Allied-Lyons

In 1973, British food company J. Lyons and Co. purchased

from

United Brands Chiquita Brands International Sàrl (), formerly known as Chiquita Brands International Inc. and United Fruit Co., is a Swiss-domiciled American producer and distributor of bananas and other produce. The company operates under a number of s ...

. J. Lyons and Co. then merged with Allied Breweries, becoming Allied-Lyons in 1978. In 1990, Allied-Lyons acquired

and Mister Donut.

Allied Quick Service Restaurants

In 1994, Allied-Lyons merged with Pedro Domecq S.A., becoming

Allied Domecq Allied Domecq PLC was an international company, headquartered in Bristol, United Kingdom, that operated spirits, wine, and quick service restaurant businesses. It was once a FTSE 100 Index constituent but has been acquired by Pernod Ricard. Th ...

. The restaurant operations were merged under a subsidiary named Allied Domecq Quick Service Restaurants. In 1997,

Togo's Togo's Eateries, LLC is an American chain of fast casual sandwich restaurants owned by Southfield Mezzanine Capital who purchased the company in March 2019. Togo's is headquartered in San Jose, California. Togo's is a franchise-based busin ...

was acquired by Allied Domecq.

Dunkin' Brands

In 2004, Allied Domecq Quick Service Restaurants was renamed "Dunkin' Brands, Inc.". On December 12, 2005,

Pernod Ricard Pernod Ricard () is a French company best known for its anise-flavoured pastis apéritifs Pernod Anise and Ricard Pastis (often referred to simply as ''Pernod'' or '' Ricard''). The world’s second-largest wine and spirits seller, it also pr ...

, which had just taken control of

, announced the sale of Dunkin' Brands to a consortium of

private equity firms A private equity firm is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of startup or operating companies through a variety of loosely affiliated investment strategies including lev ...

consisting of

Bain Capital Bain Capital is an American private investment firm based in Boston. It specializes in private equity, venture capital, credit, public equity, impact investing, life sciences, and real estate. Bain Capital invests across a range of industry sec ...

The Carlyle Group The Carlyle Group is a multinational private equity, alternative asset management and financial services corporation based in the United States with $376 billion of assets under management. It specializes in private equity, real assets, and ...

and Thomas H. Lee Partners for $2.425 billion in cash. Dunkin' Brands, Inc. was renamed "Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc." after the transaction. On November 30, 2007, Dunkin' Brands sold Togo's to Mainsail Partners, a San Francisco-based private equity firm, in partnership with Tony Gioia, a former president of Baskin-Robbins. In July 2011, Dunkin' Brands completed its

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...

and became listed on the

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

Global Select Market (NASDAQ-GS large cap) under the symbol "DNKN". In August 2012, Dunkin' Brands became completely independent of the private equity firms. In October 2017, Dunkin' Brands announced the company would be investing $100 million in United States locations of Dunkin’ Donuts’. The company also said they are considering a name change to the shortened Dunkin'. The name change is being tested in a California location and a new store in

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a coastal U.S. city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county and a part of Metropolitan Boston as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 101,636, making ...

. On July 30, 2020 the organization announced it would permanently close 800 of its donut and coffee shops by the end of the year due to a sales slump caused by the coronavirus pandemic, primarily locations inside convenience stores, namely Speedway. Dunkin' Brands reported in October 2020 that negotiations were being held with the private equity-backed company

Inspire Brands Inspire Brands, Inc. is an American holding company and the owner and franchisor of the Arby's, Buffalo Wild Wings, Sonic Drive-In, Jimmy John's, Rusty Taco, Mister Donut, Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins restaurant chains. Inspire operates ...

for Inspire to acquire the company. The potential deal includes Dunkin' Brands private stocks would be sold at $106.50 a share, a 20 percent premium over the closing prices reported on the 23rd of October, implying that the company is being evaluated at around $8.8 billion. A statement released by Dunkin' claimed that "there is no certainty that any agreement will be reached" as well that no further comments will be released until an agreed upon transaction is found. Shares of the Dunkin' Brand have reportedly risen 33% in 2020 because of the possible Inspire Brands' deal. On October 30, 2020, Dunkin' Brands announced that it was to be acquired by Inspire Brands in a transaction valued at $11.3 billion including the assumption of Dunkin' Brands debt. The deal closed on December 15, 2020.

Subsidiaries

* Dunkin' * Mister Donut

References

External links

Official website
(archived, 25 Apr 2020) {{authority control Food and drink companies of the United States Fast-food chains of the United States Holding companies of the United States Restaurant groups in the United States Companies based in Norfolk County, Massachusetts Canton, Massachusetts Holding companies established in 2004 American companies established in 2004 2011 initial public offerings Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq 2020 mergers and acquisitions Inspire Brands American companies disestablished in 2020