But Stan Gordon is opening a Dunkin’ Donuts shop on Gateway Boulevard this fall where he hopes people will not run, but linger awhile and conduct some business.

Toward that end, this shop will include a conference room.

Already, Starbucks and Panera Bread have elevated to a fine art the invitation to hang out in a comfy chair with coffee, pastry and a laptop. And some McDonald’s locations, like the one on Yamato Road and Congress Avenue, have installed big-screen televisions for the apparently desirable coffee-drinking loiterer.

But the idea that a group could rent a conference room for business or a birthday party is taking the coffee-lounge idea one step further.

Gordon’s new-concept coffee shop appears to be the first of its kind in Palm Beach County.

The coffee-shop conference room is already available in at least three Dunkin’ stores in Broward County – in Pompano Beach, Hollywood and Davie.

Read More: Palm Beach Post

This issue was published in December 2011.

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DTT Screen Shot

DTT Surveillance, a DDIFO Sponsor  and a provider of surveillance technology, managed services and loss prevention solutions for the restaurant industry, added more than 1,300 subscribers in the McDonald’s restaurant chain in 2011.

Rick Crady, McDonald’s owner/operator, said the DTT SmartAudit system unveiled fraudulent activity at the register when it was first installed.

“The amount of money we saved easily paid for our system and quickly convinced us to install DTT at all our stores. We soon caught theft at other stores and found that employees had stolen quite a large sum of money – much more than enough to pay for the systems,” Crady said.

DTT, which was founded in 1999, has installed more than 27,000 systems at various restaurants.

“Our long term partnership with the McDonald’s enterprise reinforces DTT’s marketplace value for hospitality locations. By focusing on those critical inspection areas for restaurant operations, we answer vital questions related to who, how, when and what occurs on a daily basis with video validation,” added Thomas Moran, EVP, DTT.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, DTT also provides Digital Video Surveillance solutions to brands such as Subway, Dairy Queen, Burger King, D unkin’ Brands, Taco Bell, KFC, Auntie Anne’s, Potbelly Sandwich Works and Pinkberry.

QSR Web

Arun Mandi, left, of Voorhees, talks with Robert Baldwin, of Somers Point, general manager of the new Somers Point Dunkin’ Donuts on the former Sonic site. Mandi has 24 stores in the area and is renovating them and moving them to choice locations with drive-throughs. Photo by Danny Drake

Kevin Post of The Press of Atlantic City reports that Dunkin’ Donuts franchise owner Arun Mandi was on the threshold of what many people consider a dream career in computer engineering.

But instead, Mandi decided to work in quick-service restaurants, better known as fast food to consumers.

“I started working in Dunkin’ Donuts when I was going to school for my master’s in computer engineering, part time to fund my tuition for college,” Mandi said. “After I graduated with my master’s degree, I decided engineering was not for me.”

So he returned to working as a Dunkin’ Donuts crew member to learn the business.

“A lot of my friends went to work for companies such as Texas Instruments and American Airlines, and they said, ‘Are you crazy? What are you doing working for $6 an hour?’” Mandi said. “I got laughed at, but I did what I felt like I wanted to do.”

Nearly two decades later, the decision is looking pretty good.

Mandi, 45, is the donut king of Atlantic County, with 24 Dunkin’ Donuts stores either in the county or elsewhere in South Jersey.

And he’s far from done.

Read More at: The Press of Atlantic City

The incident triggered “a full-blown hazmat response” at the eatery on Hoosick Street, which remained closed all of Sunday, according to Assistant Chief Steve Willson of the Brunswick Fire Department No. 1. Firefighters from his company, as well as Troy and Hoosick Valley, responded to the 8:50 a.m. call. Employees in the restaurant said a white powder emerged when they cracked open a roll of pennies, prompting feelings of nausea.

Willson said the employees were completely decontaminated — their clothes were removed and they took special showers at the scene — before they were taken to St. Mary’s and Samaritan hospitals for evaluation. None were admitted, Willson said. The powder was taken to a State Police lab for testing, and the restaurant remains closed pending the result. Willson said they originally came from a local bank, which rolled them on behalf of an elderly customer.

Read more: Times Union

Members voted 263-159 in favor of the bill; more than two dozen Democrats voted for it.

The bill, H.R. 527, would also require a review of past rules, and give small companies more authority to fight rules they say are too burdensome.

The legislation is the latest of several proposals that Republicans have advanced in the name of trying to create a more hospitable environment for job creation. House Small Business Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.) said the bill would remove several loopholes that federal agencies have used to avoid complying with the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), which was meant to ensure federal rules are mindful of small companies.

Democrats argued that Republicans are effectively trying to regulate the regulators to the point that they would not be able to work.

“What it does is require agencies to engage in so much analysis and so much new procedures that it basically befuddles the agencies to bring forth any rules in the future,” said Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.). “It is elimination by burdensome regulation, and while it doesn’t say they’re eliminating rules, that’s the effect of it.

“The cumulative effect of this and other changes in H.R. 527 will be to undermine the ability of agencies to effectively regulate consumer health and product safety, environmental protection, workplace safety, and financial services industry’s misconduct, among other critical concerns,” Cohen added.

But Republicans rejected this, and said the bill would only require agencies to do more to ensure small companies can comply with their rules.

“Opponents will argue that the bill stops agencies from issuing regulations,” Graves said. “However, the reality is that H.R. 527 will force agencies to consider how their actions affect small businesses and other small entities.

“More importantly, if the effects are significant, agencies, not small entities, will have to develop less burdensome and costly alternatives,” he added.

With House passage, the bill goes to the Senate, which is not expected to consider the legislation.

This issue was published in September 2011.

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That’s when it will lose the main patents on K-Cups, the coffee pods that helped make Green Mountain the largest player in the $1 billion-plus U.S. single-serve coffee market.

Once the patents expire, competitors can make their own version of K-cups and threaten the prospects of a company already battling criticism from hedge fund manager David Einhorn that its market-share gains have peaked. Einhorn, president of Greenlight Capital Inc., declined to comment for this story and won’t say if his firm is shorting the stock.

“New entrants into private label could hurt their volume,” said Bea Chiem, a San Francisco-based analyst at Standard & Poor’s, who gives the company a B+ credit rating, four levels below investment grade. When the patents run out, it could also “open up the door for other branded competitors to step in,” she said.

The Waterbury, Vermont-based company fell 39 percent on Nov. 10, the day after reporting fourth-quarter sales that trailed analysts’ estimates, erasing about $4 billion in market value. The shares have since clawed back 26 percent, falling 1.2 percent to $51.69 yesterday. Green Mountain has advanced 57 percent this year, compared with a 3.3 percent slide in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

Green Mountain got into the single-serve coffee business in 2002 when it paid $14.4 million for 41 percent of Keurig Inc., a maker of coffee brewing machines. Four years later it bought the rest of Keurig, selling the brewers at a reasonable price and making money on the K-Cups — which only worked with Keurig machines — much the same way Procter & Gamble Co. does with razor blades. Sales have since increased an average of 65 percent a year.

Read more at: BusinessWeek

“United Capital is committed to working closely with Dunkin’ Donuts^® franchisees to provide financing for new store development, acquisitions, remodels and debt refinancing,” saysTrey Grimm, vice president and business development officer for United Capital. “We’re proud to play a part in the growth of the Dunkin’ brand.”

United Capital Business Lending, which in late 2010 acquired the small business lending operations of Butler Capital, is a subsidiary of BankUnited (NYSE: BKU), the largest bank in Florida with over $12 billion in assets. United Capital Business Lending now brings the experience of Butler Capital together with the financial strength of BankUnited.

In addition to Dunkin’ Donuts^®, the United Capital team has financed franchisees for Subway^®, Burger King^®, Wendy’s^®, Denny’s^®, Jiffy Lube^® , Five Guys^® Burgers and Fries and Jimmy John’s^® Gourmet Sandwiches among others.

For information about financing for franchise acquisition, new unit development, remodeling or refinancing, call United Capital at 866-218-4793 or visit the company’s website at www.unitedcapitalbusinesslending.com.

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