AStrongest tier76/100
Dunkin Donuts: Litigation & Risk
Full-Service Restaurants · FDD Items 3, 4 & 5
Elevated Risk
16 cases disclosed in FDD Items 3 and 4.
Source: FDD Items 3–5
FDD Items 3 & 4
Litigation Metrics
- Cases disclosed
- 16
- Total from FDD Items 3 and 4
- Bankruptcy (Item 4)
- None
- Franchisor or officer bankruptcy
- Verdict score
- 76 / 100
- FranchiseVerdict composite · higher is better
- Rating
- A
- A / B / C / D / F verdict grade
7(a) FOIA data · FY2020–present
SBA Loan Performance
Aggregated from public SBA 7(a) loan disclosures. Charge-off rate is the share of loans that were charged off or settled for less than the full balance.
- Total 7(a) loans
- 1,341
- Government-backed loans issued
- Charge-off rate
- 7.5%
- vs 16% franchise average
- 5-yr charge-off rate
- N/A
- Defaults
- 75 loans
- Loans charged off or defaulted
- Total loan volume
- $782.5M
- Avg loan size
- $584K
- Participating lenders
- 121
FDD Items 5, 6 & 17: What You Give Up
Contract Risk Indicators
- Mandatory arbitration
- Not required
- You retain the right to sue in court
- Non-compete
- 2 yrs
- Post-termination restriction on similar businesses
- Franchisor can compete
- Yes
- Franchisor can open competing locations in or near your territory
- Right of first refusal
- Yes
- Franchisor can match any purchase offer when you try to sell
Extracted from FDD Item 3
Litigation Detail
Item 3 discloses 4 pending cases (Minda's Donuts wrongful-termination suit in NH; Dunkin'/BR v. Shree Krishna Donuts trademark/breach counterclaim in NJ; multiple related Phoenix Food (Pvt) Ltd. Pakistan suits over a terminated master development agreement; Fahrad Salari Lak bakery-supply dispute in PA dating to 2011), 3 arbitration/IP matters commenced by Dunkin' against franchisees/infringers, and numerous concluded matters (Shetty discrimination suit, Airport Mart breach/fraud suit, Coffee & Brands Sweden AB arbitration, Newburyport Donuts arbitration, California and New York AG actions re no-poaching provisions and data-breach notification respectively, Ram Donuts trademark/breach litigation settled for $110,000). No bankruptcy disclosed.
Litigation data from FDD Items 3, 4, and 5. SBA data from public 7(a) FOIA records (FY2020–present). Not legal advice. Consult a franchise attorney before signing any franchise agreement.