Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue IV, 2016 | Page 40

D OM I N A T O R S Reconnect

accomplishments.” The announcement
was made during the Franchise Action
Network annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
When we profiled him in 2011, Branca
and his partners in the immediate family empire were operating 70 Dunkin’
locations and 5 Baskin-Robbins stores,
while the extended family was operating

a “mere” 700 units. Today, Branca and his
team operate 85 Dunkin’ stores with two
more scheduled to open before year-end.
During the past 5 years, he’s become
increasingly involved in advocating for and
defending his family’s stores, the Dunkin’
brand, and the franchise business model
from external threats. In that role, he has
served as chair of the Dunkin’ Donuts

Franchise Owners PAC, vice chair of the
Coalition of Franchisee Associations (CFA),
chair of the 2015 Multi-Unit Franchising
Conference (MUFC), an active member
of the IFA, and currently is the franchisee
chair of the Dunkin’ Donuts Government
Affairs Committee and an elected leader
on the Dunkin’ Brand Advisory Council.
Perhaps his biggest achievement during

PERSONAL
First job: Attorney.
Formative influences/events: The Dunkin’ Donuts franchise owners
that I represented as an attorney. I learned so much from their example that is
critical to our success today. My father was a very successful serial entrepreneur
who was astute enough that he was able to retire at an age only a few years
older than I am now, and my father-in-law was a wildly successful founding
franchisee in the Dunkin’ Donuts system. I am very fortunate to have them as
guides on this journey.
Key accomplishments: Participating in passage of California’s amended
franchise law to protect and enhance franchise owner equity. We have started a
new manufacturing business and become partners in various private equity vehicles, including NRD Partners, formed by my friend and current IFA Chair Aziz
Hashim. I have also invested in businesses with other Multi-Unit Franchising
Conference board members who have become my friends. We have expanded
our real estate development company fairly substantially and added more than
20 Dunkin’ units since last being profiled here.
Biggest current challenge: Franchisee chair of the Dunkin’ Donuts Government Affairs Committee. We routinely encounter important people who lack
even a basic notion of the franchise business model, and some who know it but
openly seek to destroy it.
Next big goal: Establishing legislation nationally and locally to moderate the
rapid escalation in labor costs and needless litigation.
First turning point in your career: Becoming a partner in a law firm.
Best business decision: Leaving a law partnership to become a Dunkin’
Donuts franchise owner.
Hardest lesson learned: As an attorney, your inventory is naturally limited

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to 24 hours in a day. Growth is extraordinarily difficult in that industry. I suppose this is why legal fees have skyrocketed for very good attorneys.
Work week: It varies, but can involve long days followed by permit hearings on new projects, or spending time in the pool with the kids. I see a lot of
airports some weeks.
Exercise/workout: High-intensity interval training mixed with weight training.
Best advice you ever got: Become a franchise owner.
What’s your passion in business? Finding new, diversified, but synergistic avenues for our businesses to grow. Meeting new people with new ideas.
How do you balance life and work? Having children is a natural balancing agent in our family, but we all tend to naturally outwork our competition.
Guilty pleasure: Having a full gym right in my home.
Favorite book: The next one.
Favorite movie: “Good Will Hunting” right now. I recently re-watched it and
enjoyed the Dunkin’ product placements (which were unpaid!).
What do most people not know about you? I am a very early riser.
Pet peeve: Government overreach by people with no experience or bad intentions for my family’s livelihood.
What did you want to be when you grew up? I’m still growing up!
Last vacation: São Miguel, Azores, Portugal.
Person I’d most like to have lunch with: Our next U.S. president, whoever that turns out to be. He or she will be faced with enormous challenges.
People in power need to understand franchising’s issues. The industry is too
important to the country for them not to know more.

MULTI-UNIT FRANCHISEE IS S UE IV, 2016

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