Finalists Compete to Create Dunkin’s New Donut

Dunkin’ Donuts is searching for a new sweet treat.

Watch the Video from WHDH TV

Twelve bakers stepped up Thursday hoping to bring Dunkin’ Donuts a recipe for success.

One concoction, the “Graham Slam” has marshmallow filling topped with graham crackers.

“Vote for me. I hope all goes well and I hope they like it,” said Nevri Dauti.

The creator of the “chocolate monkey”, a bananas foster style goodie with milk chocolate shavings, is hoping for a win.

“I have everyone voting for me, friends, family, people at school,” said Michelle Ventura

The “Oo-La-La – the Tour de France” is packed with hazelnut filling?

“My inspiration came from a trip to France that I took after graduating from college,” said Lindsay.

These are just a few of 12 finalists in the national “Create Dunkin’s Next Donut” contest.

These master donut-makers beat out 130,000 others in the first of its kind competition, and Thursday was judgment day.

“Every donut is great, we all love donuts. It’s going to be very difficult to pick,” said Frances Allen, of Dunkin Donuts.

Local favorite, Michelle Ventura, is a Boston Latin junior. Her dad, who loves bananas foster, was the inspiration for the chocolate monkey and she’s never baked anything in her 17 years…

“I had no idea that any of this was going to happen. I’m really excited about this contest. It’s going great so far,” Ventura said.

All 12 donuts were tasted Thursday. The winner will be announced in the next week and the donut will be available at Dunkin’ Donuts across the country.

WHDH TV

Dunkin Donut Franchise Owner: Landlord OK to Opt Out

The businessman who has proposed opening a Dunkin’ Donuts store in downtown Camden said he has let the landlord out of their agreement so the space can be rented by other parties.

Michael Ouimet of Connecticut said Thursday that he has not made a decision whether to drop the plans and may wait until the June 23 town referendum that calls for a 180-day moratorium on formula franchise stores, retroactive to before the application was filed for the doughnut shop.

But he said he told the property owners that if they find another tenant they may rent it to them.

The 5 Elm St. building is owned by Chet and Tasha Mazakas of Active Investments LLC.

Ouimet was in Camden this week and said he has met with an attorney to determine his next course of action. He said he had invested $10,000 thus far in obtaining permits and preparing for starting the business.

The original plan was to open the Dunkin’ Donuts in late summer or early fall at 5 Elm St. Since then, a group of citizens has organized to block the project, saying a formula franchise store would seriously damage Camden’s brand of having independent, unique stores — a brand the citizens say attracts tourists.

The moratorium referendum is scheduled for Tuesday, June 23 with polls open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the Washington Street conference room at the town office. Absentee ballots became available May 22 at the town office and may be picked up during its regular business hours.

The moratorium would allow the town time to develop zoning ordinances to regulate or ban formula franchise restaurants.

The Select Board will hold a formal public hearing Monday, June 1 at 7 p.m. at the Camden Opera House auditorium.

This meeting will be broadcast on Channel 22.

The Camden Planning Board will hold an informational meeting Wednesday, June 17 at 6 p.m. at the same location.

Town Planner Jeffrey Nims said the Planning Board will ask those in attendance specific questions about what they want in a formula franchise ordinance. Attendees will be asked where the ordinance should apply, the downtown or the entire town; what types of businesses it should apply to; whether there should be a minimum separation between such businesses; and other questions.

The proposed moratorium would cover an area that begins at the north end at one property beyond Tannery Lane. To the south the boundary would be at one property beyond Village Variety on that side of Elm Street and as far as Rite Aid on the other side of the street.

The Select Board can approve another 180-day extension when the initial moratorium is set to expire if the work on revising ordinances is not complete.

The exact wording of the referendum is: “Shall the town adopt a moratorium pursuant to 30-A M.R.S.A. Section 4356 for a period of 180 days on the issuance of any permits, retroactive to April 10, 2009, that would allow a formula business to open within the Downtown Business District (Zone B-1)? For the purposes of this moratorium, a formula business is defined as one which is required by contractual or other arrangement to maintain one or more of the following items: standardized (‘formula’) array of services and/or merchandise, trademark, logo, service mark, symbol, decor, architecture, layout, uniform, or similar standardized features and which causes it to be substantially identical to more than twenty other businesses regardless of ownership or location.”

Village Soup

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Camden, ME Issues Permits for Dunkin’ Donuts

Time to make the Donuts? Camden: Not in my backyard

St. Pete Dunkin’ Donuts Goes Green

Some customers who grab coffee and donut probably don’t even notice, but there’s something different about a Dunkin’ Donuts in St. Petersburg.

At first glance, the store on the corner of 4th Street and 76th Avenue North looks like many others. But if you ask Nancy Roberts, she’ll tell you they have a favorite color.

“We do green in our store because our store is green,” Roberts said.

They have cups made from recycled paper, bins to recycle them again and even green customers.

“I buy recycled materials, everything I use goes to the recycle bin,” Nicole Yarber said. “I try to make sure to buy stuff with recycled material in it.”

But what they do with used coffee grounds and filters is what people talk about most—they’re put in a dumpster and eaten by 80,000 worms.

“I’ve actually had people come into the restaurant and ask me to grind coffee so they could feed the worms and see what it’s all about,” Robert Aziz said.

The worms eat the grounds, then the excrement is used as fertilizer. But the worms don’t eat donuts, so what’s left over goes to food banks.

Then there’s the building itself.

“The building is made out of a system called ICF block, a foam form system which is filled with concrete,” said Dan Lavender, construction manager for Dunkin’ Donuts Florida.

That’s a big energy saver.

“Well we estimate that our air conditioning bill is reduced by 40 percent by using this system,” Lavender said.

You can’t find a Dunkin’ Donuts like this one anywhere else in the world– of the 7,900 stores, it’s the only green one.

My Fox Tampa Bay

Blinding Arbitration “Card Checks” Hidden Danger

From Wall Street Opinion Journal:  A union compromise on card check deserves a much closer look.

Big Labor’s top legislative priority, “card check,” might be stalled in the Senate, but that doesn’t mean the unions are rolling over. While talk of compromise is in the air, we hope business leaders and Senators stay alert.

To wit, the problem with the Employee Free Choice Act isn’t merely the provision that would allow unions to organize a work site after collecting the signatures of a majority of workers. This has gathered most of the publicity because it would make it easier for unions to intimidate workers to endorse the union without a secret ballot. Equally as damaging, however, is a separate provision known as “binding arbitration.” The more accurate term would be federal wage setting.

Under current labor law, unions and employers are obliged to bargain in good faith over labor contracts, a process that is often contentious but usually works. Employers have an incentive to offer fair terms, or risk a strike. Union officials have an incentive to keep their demands within reason, lest management conclude a strike is preferable and workers lose their livelihoods.

Binding arbitration under card check would turn these incentives upside down. The bill says that if management and a newly created union can’t agree to a first contract within 90 days, either side can demand that the dispute go a federal arbitrator, who would have the power to impose a contract on both sides. Knowing that contracts are destined for arbitration, both sides would have every incentive to make maximum demands. Unions in particular will be inclined to ask for the moon, knowing they will do well even if an arbitrator merely splits the difference.

At least when the Detroit auto makers signed too-rich contracts, they did it of their free will. Under binding arbitration, the process would land with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, an agency whose director is appointed by the President. This would typically mean the appointment of a government arbitrator, who naturally would be subject to political, er, incentives. This would put a government employee, with no real stake in a company’s future, in charge of divining the perfect wage and work rules for that company.

“It may not be blatant, it may not be overt . . . but the political outlook of that arbitrator will matter. And that someone will be empowered by the government,” says Paul Kersey, director of labor policy as the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. What the bill doesn’t explain is what happens when the government imposes a contract that a company can’t afford. Ask for a bailout?

Binding arbitration has its uses in dispute resolution, though it’s best suited to resolve arguments over existing contracts — that is, in tort law. Its track record in labor negotiations is less impressive. Michigan has used binding arbitration for 40 years with police officers and firefighters, and by statute a Michigan arbitration case should finish in under two months. In reality, fewer than one out of four cases are resolved within 300 days. Local governments must delay decisions, as they wait to see if they will be hit with huge back-pay awards.

The binding arbitration rule would also strip workers of valuable rights. They would no longer be able to vote on a contract that their unions negotiated with management and submitted back for rank-and-file approval. This will make union leaders less accountable.

Arbitration would also make the difficult job of getting rid of a union harder. Federal law limits the time periods when workers can petition to decertify a union. For new unions, workers can petition if the union has gone a year without securing a contract. Under arbitration, workers could only boot their union at the end of the government-imposed contract. So the bill also provides a form of job protection — for unions, not workers.

The Senate’s newest Democrat, Arlen Specter, has stated his opposition to ditching the secret ballot, but is now said to be working on a “compromise” with Iowa’s Tom Harkin to “reform” labor laws. Some Democrats have stepped back from the “secret ballot” provision, but think they might be able to get away with new arbitration rules. They should understand that both are unacceptable job killers.

Wall Street Opinion Journal

Dunkin’ Donuts gears up for Donut Day!

By Chris Reidy, Boston Globe staff

Sinker buff alert: Mark down June 5 as a red letter day on your calendar because that’s when Dunkin’ Donuts plans to celebrate National Doughnut Day with a giveaway of sorts.

For folks unacquainted with the movable feasts of the culinary calendar, National Doughnut Day falls on June 5 this year, and on that blessed day, Dunkin’ Donuts, the Canton-based coffee-and-baked-goods chain, said that participating stores nationwide “will give every customer a free donut of their choice, with the purchase of any beverage, limit one per customer.”

And that’s not all. The chain has been conducting its first-ever “Create Dunkin’s Next Donut” contest. From nearly 130,000 donut submissions, 12 finalists have been chosen, and on National Doughnut Day, Dunkin’ plans to announce the $12,000 grand prize winner.

Foodies may want to go easy at the eats table in the middle part of next week. As careful readers of this space may recall, Friendly Ice Cream Corp., the Wilbraham company that operates the Friendly’s chain of more than 500 family restaurants, plans to hold a Free Ice Cream Day from noon to 5:00 p.m on Saturday, June 6.

So there you have it. Doughnuts on Friday. Ice cream on Saturday. For the undisciplined gourmet, excessive avoirdupois may run rampant in early June.

Boston Globe

Identifying the Best Candidates in a Sea of Applicants

by Shawn Boyer, CEO of SnagAJob.com, DDIFO Associate Member and America’s largest hourly job Web site.

While the upside to a down economy might be the increasing size and quality of your applicant pool, identifying the best candidates – especially among hourly workers – can be an overwhelming task.

Human resources departments across the country already are spread thin, after layoffs of their own.   For those who remain, taking on additional workloads leaves little time to sift through each application, let alone interview job candidates.

And time is of the essence.  After all, the general lifespan of an hourly application is about 30 days.  Beyond that, the application is likely “stale,” meaning that the candidate may have found a position, changed physical location or may have out-of-date contact information.  That’s why it’s so important for hiring managers to keep their pipeline stocked, even when it seems like so many qualified people are looking for employment.

To combat an ever-increasing number of applications, HR professionals and hiring managers need to consider how to quickly identify the best candidates for the job.  Every employer should include filtering practices in their overall hourly recruitment strategy, ways to “weed out” candidates who do not meet the mark.

Many struggle with the decision to hire someone over or under qualified for the position if the perfect candidate has not emerged. On one hand, the over qualified applicant may bring valuable skills and expertise to the team, but he or she may soon walk away for a higher-level position somewhere else.  On the other, taking on someone with a major learning curve could require extra training time and slow the rest of the staff down.  In the end, you want the best candidate for the job, which is why it’s so important to refine your criteria.

To screen for the right candidates during the application process, you must ask the right questions that pertain to your unique business, a step that will require a bit of work on the front end.  You’ll want to develop a combination of assessment questions that are either specific enough to identify the qualities you are looking for in a candidate and broad enough to offer you a range of applicants.  Done the right way, you’ll also weed out candidates who simply are not a good fit.

The basic questions:

• What experience level does someone need for a given position? (Some healthcare openings may require a certificate or training to be qualified for the job.)

• Are there industry-specific concerns to address?  (For example, a pizza restaurant or catering company may need to find drivers – folks that must come to the job with reliable transportation, a clean driving record and their own car insurance.  And a home healthcare company may need to find candidates who have demonstrated true compassion for others in prior positions.)

•What kind of applicant is needed for the culture/atmosphere you foster?  (For instance,  a retail salesperson will need an outgoing personality to deal with customer inquiries.)

•From a logistical standpoint, do you need to consider a candidate’s availability to work a certain shift?   (If you are in need of an overnight stocker, it is obviously important that the applicant have nights available.)

More sophisticated options may include questions about what the candidate wants from the job?  (Are they a realistic about expectations? Will they leave too quickly for what you need?)

Some job sites can be helpful in screening applicants ahead of time, allowing you to interview only the best candidates.  At my hourly job Web site SnagAJob.com, we usually offer our clients a 60-day pilot program to test filtering questions and adjust as necessary.  For example, if a manager is getting too many applications, we may add one or more filtering questions so that applications that do not provide the desired answers will not be sent to the client, therefore reducing applicant overflow.  And if applications are too few, we will strip away questions to broaden the field.  (Of course, we always allow hiring managers to view all applications that have been collected, even if some originally had been filtered).

Simple steps like coming up with the right mix of questions will save your company time and money in the long run.  Filtering will dramatically reduce fruitless interviews with ill-suited applicants and allow you to focus on what’s most important: running the business.

Shawn Boyer, CEO of SnagAJob.com, America’s largest hourly job Web site, has helped hourly employers find qualified candidates since 2000 within the retail, restaurant, hospitality and service industries, among others.

New Vehicle Tax Breaks For Business Owners

With Chrysler set to close nearly 800 dealerships by June 9 and auto sales in a slump, many small business owners are tempted by fire-sale prices offered by dealers seeking to offload inventory. A number of tax provisions may help make a new car or truck more affordable. Some are deducted in figuring your taxable income, while others are credits against your tax bill.

If your business buys the vehicle, you may be able to take a chunk of the cost as a deduction against current income. Generally, when a business buys a depreciable asset it must write the cost off over the useful life, which for vehicles is five years. However, a larger portion of a vehicle’s cost may be eligible for immediate deduction under Section 179 of the tax code and bonus depreciation rules included in stimulus and job creation legislation.

If the vehicle is outfitted specifically for business – as a delivery vehicle or to carry tools, for example – and is not suitable as a passenger vehicle, the entire cost may qualify for the Section 179 deduction, up to $250,000 for tax year 2009. For passenger vehicles, the depreciation deduction (including a 50 percent first-year bonus enacted as part of 2008 and 2009 economic stimulus packages) is limited to $10,960 for cars and $11,060 for vans and trucks.

If the vehicle is used for business less than full-time, the deduction is determined by multiplying the limitation amount by the percentage the automobile is used for business.

Read more at NuWire Investor

BIGresearch: Coffee Wars, Starbucks Still #1, McDonald’s #2 and Rising, Dunkin’ Donuts #3

McDonald’s is waging an all-out assault on the coffee industry, and they seem to be gaining ground in the battle of the baristas. Although Starbucks is still #1 (9.2% of consumers frequent the coffee house most often for their java fix), McDonald’s has consistently grown since May of 2007, according to an analysis of BIGresearch’s May 2009 Consumer Intentions & Actions (CIA) Survey. With the roll out of a multiplatform ad campaign estimated at more than $100 million, the Golden Arches will likely continue to build momentum.

Which Fast Food Restaurant or Coffee Shop do you purchase COFFEE at most
often?
               May    Aug    Nov    Feb    May    Aug    Nov    Feb    May
               2007   2007   2007   2008   2008   2008   2008   2009   2009
Starbucks      9.8%   9.5%   9.8%   11.2%  9.8%   9.6%   8.9%   9.6%   9.2%
Dunkin' Donuts 4.8%   4.8%   4.4%   5.1%   4.9%   4.7%   4.6%   5.0%   4.1%
McDonald's     3.3%   3.7%   4.7%   4.9%   4.0%   4.1%   4.6%   4.9%   5.4%

Source: BIGresearch, CIA-Trends
BIGresearch is a consumer intelligence firm providing analysis of behavior in areas
of products and services, retail, financial services, automotive and media.

McDonald’s Takes On Starbucks in Europe

Jenny Wiggins in London for Financial Times writes that McDonald’s is aiming to overtake Starbucks as Europe’s biggest coffee chain, with plans to open several hundred McCafé stores selling pastries and cappuccinos this year.

While Starbucks – which has 1,300 stores in Europe – has been scaling back on its European expansion, McDonald’s has ambitious growth plans for its branded cafes on the continent.
The fast food chain wants to expand its chain of McCafés, which operate within or next to regular McDonald’s restaurants, to 1,200 in Europe by the end of the year.

McDonald’s has yet to open any McCafés in the UK, where about half of Starbucks’ European stores are based.

“We can become the biggest seller of coffee in Europe,” Jerome Tafani, chief financial officer for McDonald’s Europe, said.

He added that McCafés were attracting new customers by creating a “cosy” atmosphere at the group’s restaurants and targeting people looking for breakfast on their way to work.

The chains emerged in Australia in the early 1990s and were introduced to Europe in Ireland in 2002. Nearly half of Germany’s 1,200 McDonald’s restaurants today have McCafés, while some 20 per cent of restaurants in Russia and Italy have them. The chain is opening them in France and Austria.

McDonald’s has installed coffee machines from high-end manufacturers in its McCafés in an effort to win over sceptics. It is selling different blends of coffee supplied by Kraft in each market to suit local tastes.

Cappuccinos are priced at €2 to €2.50 ($2.80 to $3.50) per cup.

The growth of the McCafé chain adds to a resurgence of fortunes at McDonald’s, which has seen sales for its core hamburgers and fries rise on the back of renewed demand from cash-poor consumers in the recession.

McDonald’s has launched an advertising campaign in the US promoting its cappuccinos and lattes in its restaurants and drive-throughs.

The group claimed its strategy of opening McCafés in existing restaurants in Europe – at a cost of €60,000 to €85,000 per café – allowed it to recoup its investment more quickly than Starbucks, helping it break into difficult markets such as Italy.

“Our business case is not the same as Starbucks,” Mr Tafani said.

Financial Times

Restaurants Cross the Line as they Seek Higher Sales

Bruce Horovitz reports in USA Today that the recession is jolting the restaurant industry to concoct who’d-a-thunk-it products that are redefining what even the industry’s biggest brands stand for.

Never mind that KFC’s (YUM) middle name is “fried,” as in Kentucky Fried Chicken. Its biggest campaign of 2009 is to sell what it calls unfried (i.e. grilled) chicken.

Pizza Hut, whose first name is pizza, is pushing pasta like there’s no tomorrow. Home delivered, no less.

McDonald’s, (MCD) the world’s biggest fast-food chain, is in the midst of rolling out a line of designer coffees — even as Starbucks (SBUX) is peddling value meals.

It gets crazier. Domino’s (DPZ) is delivering subs and pasta-stuffed bread bowls. Boston Market, the rotisserie chicken king, is pitching crispy chicken. Arby’s (WEN), the anti-burger chain, is hyping Roast Burgers. Cheesecake Factory (CAKE), known for its gigantic servings, is offering “small” meals. Even Morton’s, (MRT) the pricey prime steakhouse, has $5 burgers at the bar.
“This is a defining moment for the industry,” says Hudson Riehle, research chief at the National Restaurant Association. “The financial crisis has brought with it a redefining of boundaries.”

The fallout looks — or tastes — surreal. Many of the food innovations appear to be the opposite of some chains’ founding principles, and carefully honed brand image. Could sushi at Taco Bell(YUM) be next?

The driver is how the recession is eating into the heart of the $566 billion restaurant industry, which has seen 10 consecutive months of same-store sales declines and 19 consecutive months of falling store traffic.

“The industry has never faced a period of stress like this,” says Alan Hickok, a veteran restaurant industry consultant. “There’s never been anything this deep.”

As a result, the big chains are spinning out new products about as fast as any time in the industry’s history. “There are innovations, and there are spinovations,” says Russell Weiner, marketing chief at Domino’s. “When you’re trying to grow a category, you need to bring in innovations.”

Innovations beyond a chain’s usual fare can build sales by helping to quash the “veto vote,” the person in a group who can stop or divert a fast-food run because they don’t want a burger or chicken or pizza. If all three items and more are on the same menu, it can thwart the trip-killer.

This is even more important in tough times, when consumers who eat out take on a “one-size-fits-all” mentality — wanting to go to just one place to satisfy the entire family’s needs, says Christopher Muller, director of the Center for Multi-Unit Restaurant Management at University of Central Florida.

Recession-hammered chains have been trying just about everything to lure folks in the door. Gobs of publicity have been given to some for slashing prices to $5 (as Friday’s did to sandwiches and salads in May) or even giving away food (as Denny’s (DENN) and KFC have done).

But this is a more fundamental change taking place deep inside the restaurant industry’s R&D departments. This product mill isn’t necessarily about buffing restaurants’ brand images. They are just desperately trying to give folks what they want.

“Everyone is looking in everyone else’s backyard to see if they can find any green grass,” says Dennis Lombardi, an industry consultant at WD Partners. While there are some signs that the restaurant world’s troubles are bottoming, Lombardi says, “This is the worst I’ve seen in the 35 years I’ve been in the industry.”

Menus change with the times

But the new menu items also are about more than bad times. They are also about changing times. Consumer tastes, particularly for better-for-you foods, have evolved in recent years.

No one’s more aware of that than KFC. So, last month, the fried chicken chain began undoing the image it’s spent years building. It rolled out grilled chicken.

New ads urge consumers to “unthink what you thought about KFC. Taste the unfried side of KFC.”

KFC has held nothing back in convincing consumers that fried is yesterday’s news. “It’s one of the biggest new product rollouts in the history of our company,” President Roger Eaton says.

Perhaps it went too big. In a bid to get consumers to try the new chicken, it got Oprah to announce a deal on her TV show for freebie consumer meals. But KFC wasn’t prepared for the enormous response. Stores ran out of supply — angering millions of customers.

The chain attempted to make good on its giveaway gone awry with downloadable coupons from its website. But in the end, many customers left empty-handed — and angry. “We didn’t project the level of interest that occurred,” Eaton says.

But Eaton insists it was worth all the bad press that KFC got over the fowl-up. “There’s no one in America right now who doesn’t know we’re selling grilled chicken,” he says.

What’s changing at the chains

Other restaurant chains trying to break out of their usual boxes:

•McDonald’s is selling designer coffee. It’s some stretch from cheap burgers. But the fast-food giant is adjusting to evolving consumer tastes with the rollout this month of McCafe specialty coffee bars in many McDonald’s, says Wade Thoma, vice president of U.S. menu management.

Now that espresso-based coffees have achieved “critical mass” with consumers, he says, “It’s something we should be offering at McDonald’s.” That’s just the beginning of the chain’s beverage plans. It’s also testing frappes and smoothies. “We’re focused on beverages,” he says.

Meanwhile, the burger giant has become a chicken giant. Since adding chicken to its menu four years ago, Thoma notes, “We sell almost as much chicken as beef.”

•Pizza Hut is selling pasta. One year after adding pasta to its delivery menu, pasta has become a $500 million business at Pizza Hut, says Brian Niccol, marketing chief. It’s on the way to becoming a $1 billion business, he says.

Pasta has been one of Pizza Hut’s most successful new products, right up there with Stuffed Crust pizza, he says. It now accounts for slightly under 20% of it sales. While it has siphoned off some pizza sales, it has added to sales early in the week and on Sunday nights, he says.

Instead of insisting that “we’re only in the pizza business,” Niccol says, Pizza Hut is now asking consumers what they want the chain to sell, and when.

•Domino’s is selling subs. The world’s largest home-delivery pizza chain last summer started rolling out a line of sub sandwiches. Thanks to that new sub line, marketing chief Weiner says, Domino’s posted a slight same-store sales boost in the first quarter.

“The trick is to grow in a place that consumers accept,” Weiner says.

Last month, Domino’s rolled out five pasta-stuffed bread bowls. Consumers accept that, he says, because the bread bowls are made from the same dough as the pizza.

Read more at USA Today

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