Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue IV, 2011 | Page 36

DOMINA
TORS
By Debbie Selinsky

Married with Donuts

Attorney-turned-franchisee builds on family tradition

R

obert Branca, Jr., and his family of Dunkin’ Donuts multiunit franchisees offer the kind
of advertisement for franchise
success that money can’t buy.
Case in point: Branca and his close
family own 60 Dunkin’ Donuts in New
England. His extended family, including
in-laws, their siblings, spouses, children,
and cousins, own more than 700 Dunkin’
Donuts in all and dominate the brand in
New York and New England.
“We’re all multi-unit franchisees,”
says Branca, who is married to the former
Lisa Batista and was the family lawyer
for years before he joined the family
business. He learned about franchising
and Dunkin’ Donuts from the best: his
father-in-law John Batista, a Dunkin’
pioneer who came to the U.S. from the
Azores and today owns the first-ever
franchised Dunkin’ Donuts store.
“He came from Portugal with noth-

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Multi-Unit Franchisee Is s ue IV, 2011

ing and worked for his brother in Rhode
Island before he went to Worcester in
Central Massachusetts to open his own
store. He’s been in the business for about
40 years,” says Branca, who holds a biology degree from Boston Colle