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Dunkin' Donuts franchises hope to cream political opponents with new PAC

Blue Mass. Group alerts us that the owners of Dunkin' Donuts franchises in Massachusetts have started a political action committee, with the Godawful acronym DDFO MassPac (what, HolePac and SaturatedFatPac were taken?):

Supporting DDFO MassPAC ensures that we can help elect candidates who support free enterprise, expand Dunkin’ Donuts Franchise Owners allies and supporters on Beacon Hill by building relationships with pro-business candidates, enhance the visibility of Dunkin' Donuts Franchise Owners on Beacon Hill, promote awareness of Dunkin’ Donuts Franchise Owners, and educate the legislature about the critical role of small businesses in our state economy.

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educate the legislature about the critical role of small businesses in our state economy.

D&D buys goods made by out of state companies (only one location actually bakes their own goods) so they're not supporting local businesses. Did I mention that they're lawsuit-happy, suing the hell out of their franchises? "Dunkin' Donuts has come under fire from some of its franchisees for allegedly strong-arming them out of a business at large financial losses- in order to free up space for larger franchise operations (ie, owners who have multiple stores and employ hundreds of people, and thus have lots of capital for new store openings.) Not "small business."

All the workers are minimum-wage or close to it, and in menial, dead-end jobs. So they're not "supporting" local residents.

Franchise and licensing fees for the D&D brand probably go to an out-of-state (or out of country) "IP holding" company- most of the big companies you see do this to get out of taxes; they pay a "licensing fee" for the brand logos/names to a company HQ'd in some tax shelter country. That fee just happens to always be exactly the year's profits.

Take a look at these owners: http://www.dunkinbrands.com/aboutUs/parent_company...

Yeah, really supporting the local economy. Lining Mitt's pockets is more like it.

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No? You don't say!

I agree that this is nothing but a pantsload by DD to sucker their franchisees into helping the mothership's corporate interests at the expense of their own interests AND dollars with no risk to DD.

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... I will eat nary a Dunkin doughhut. I was disgusted.

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So why would it not be prudent for these same franchisees to want to band together in a PAC? They are small potatos compared to the giant mothership of billionaire funds that own them. THey don't have the kind of dough alone to make any difference for themselves. They are independent of each other despite holding a license for the same logo from the investment banker owners.

In America, isn't this how people protect themselves with process? Or is ranting on the "good internets" the only thing that they should do?

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Um, ALL of the Dunkin Donuts shops in Massachusetts are franchised. 100%. Not a single one is owned by the franchisor. They are all small businesses, many of whom provide far above minimum wage jobs to their employees.

The owners of the franchisor, BTW, are largely located in BOSTON. Last I heard, it was the capital of Massachusetts. 2 of the 3 owners are Bain Capital and THomas H. Lee Partners. BTW--again, they have ZERO to do with the local shop owners banding together to form a PAC to protect themselves.

Dunkin Shops buy ALL of their suppplies from a coop located in Bellingham. Again, last I heard that was in massachusetts. No, they don't grow coffee there. Some things need to come from elsewhere, but they are shipped to this UNION facility. Thiose are UNION jobs. You can disparge the union, but be sure not to give them your address if you don't like giant rat costumed people in your yard.

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let's not forget that the third owner is the Carlyle Group. Remember them? War profiteers and associates of both the Bush and Bin Laden families. I was unaware of that little fact, but now that I know that I'll be purchasing my fried starches from Honeydew, Kane's and Linda's Donuts. Besides the Dunkin's of today is far from the Dunkin's of my youth, I mean "plain stick" instead of "cruller"?

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Again, another misses the forest for the trees.

It is the local shop owners, not the Carlysle Group, Bain or Tommy Lee involved here. Not a single mega fund investment bank as an interest in this PAC. That was clear to anyone who could read the entire article without needing to run to companies that abuse their illegal and underpaid employess like HoneyDew and the rest.

Go ahead, check with the union. Dunkin is Local 25 of the Teamsters. Country Club bankers they ain't.

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to miss a good chance at conservative-bashing? Pay attention, it's not about the facts. ("when neither the facts nor the law is on your side, pound on the table".) Next time you're at a DD, ask the (probably foreign-born)owner how he likes getting up at 2 AM. Yeah, real plutocrats they are.

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Funny and true, except for the part about a DD shop owner necessarily being conservative. Even if they are foreign born and emigrated to the US years ago, they worked their tails off to build a business to support their families. They donate continuously and generously to their communities. I've lost count of the road races, expanded library hours, Boys & Girls Clubs, police athletic leagues, little leagues, fire dept fundraisers, veterans and hmeless shelters and food banks that they've sponsored.

That's pretty progressive.

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