How One of Dunkin’s Biggest Franchisees Is Getting Even Bigger
The East Coast coffee giant Dunkin' celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2025, and one of its biggest franchisees said it couldn't be more bullish on the brand for the years to come.
Quality Brand Group closed 2025 with 182 Dunkin' locations, along with its five Buffalo Wild Wings Go units, with sales totaling $208 million. That's an increase from where it finished in 2024, when QBG's sales were $186.6 million from 176 Dunkin' stores. The group is No. 84 on the Franchise Times Restaurant 200, up from No. 93.
CEO Ann Johnson said the universality of Dunkin' continues making it a good choice with which to scale.
"It's approachable for many different ages and economic groups," Johnson said. "It has the value play, the family play and the catering play. We appeal to individuals getting their a.m. coffee, or their afternoon refresher while making sure it stays relevant in the media and national conversation."
Quality Brand Group's history with Dunkin' goes back to 2008, but it wasn't until 2018 when the company ramped up its development. That year, Quality Brand Group had roughly 30 locations, before a mix of acquisitions and the building of 47 more Dunkin' units brought it to 183 today. Of those, 15 are dual spots with Baskin-Robbins.
The company operates locations in five states, but the vast majority, 91, are in Arizona. That dominant footprint was made possible in recent years with the acquisition of 22 locations, as the group became the sole Dunkin' franchisee in the Phoenix area. With Buffalo Wild Wings Go, meanwhile, Johnson said the group honed in on the Dallas-Fort Worth market for that brand's takeout spinoff.
While the efforts to grow its unit count are part of a multi-year push dating back to 2018, when it brought in investment group Blue Marlin Partners, it wasn't until recently that it implemented a more coherent operational strategy. Johnson and Chief Operations Officer Patrick Droesch were hired in 2024, and set out to better align the group's restaurants.
"Our first thing was we made the decision that we're going to operate as one brand, in one way, and build an operational playbook that everyone will use," Droesch said. "We made it easier, simpler and had everyone level-set. We set clear expectations for the team and added a lot of infrastructure to measure that. We constantly communicate and do a lot more training than we did in the past."
Part of the process has been the introduction of a key performance indicator scorecard used by all the stores in the system. Droesch said Dunkin' also introduced more auditing tools, which leadership can work with management to leverage.
"The manager can self-audit, and then we can come in the backside and find where possible gaps are," Droesch said. "I think one thing we've done well is increase transparency. We share our strategy with our leaders in the field very openly on a consistent basis. There's a lot of feedback going both ways. We have quarterly business plans for each of our markets. It's a three-way partnership between the general manager, district manager and our leadership."
Johnson said the work is to ensure the group can reach its goal of scaling to a nationwide footprint. The company, based in Connecticut, is on its way to doing so, and with acquisitions in Florida and Nevada, its presence extends nearly coast-to-coast.
"We want to make sure we have systems and processes in place, and that we're also developing our people," Johnson said. "So, 2025 was development of our people and alignment of strategy. We've come from this homegrown group to a go on a quest to be a great company, and we believe that we're going to do that through our people."
"The experience that we create for our team members is ultimately the experience that we create for our guests, and that turns into the good financial results for us and our partners at Dunkin'," Droesch said.
Their endeavor has been effective, as Johnson said across its locations, turnover over the last two years has fallen 45 percent, going from over the industry average to under. Johnson said it comes down to recruiting, developing and retaining strong employees.
As Quality Brand Group works internally to keep improving its team and operational efficiency, Johnson said more acquisitions are on the way. But the organization is careful in its selection process.
"We want the right markets where we can operate," Johnson said. "We really like the business-friendly markets. We're also confident with Dunkin' and the capabilities that exist in the drive-thru beverage space. We also appreciate the fact that there's a lot of white space in the emerging markets for the brand. It's easy for us to grow, because there's a thirst and hunger at all ages for coffee, refreshers, energy drinks and the donuts."
Quality Brand Group has development agreements in four of the five territories it operates in, and Johnson said the company is also pushing to remodel existing locations. She added Inspire Brands, the parent company of Dunkin' and Buffalo Wild Wings, has been a strong partner open to what its franchisees are looking for.
"We're very nimble with the brand and going back to them and saying, 'We've got some creative marketing ideas or
different approaches that we want to look at,' and having those brand partners come back and say, 'We're going to let you test it at an individual store in your market,'" Johnson said. "They say, 'Let's perfect it, make it trainable, scalable and repeatable.' We've also been fortunate enough to have some seats on the advisory committees with the brands, learning what works and what doesn't."
